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Cologne, Römisch-Germanisch Museum 2001 |
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Page 3 of 3 The other inscriptions at RGM refer to a broadly-representative cross-section of the units which were stationed in and around Cologne, or of other units whose veterans had settled in and later died in the area. These units include Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix, Cohors I Classica and the Ala Noricorum (in numerous examples), and of course the Classis Germanica.Other units in evidence, not shown here, are the Ala Indiana (sic) and one Ala named Affro, which should probably read Ala Afrorum, and Legio XXII Primigenia.
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Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix is named on this dedication (left) by a centurion Titus Flavius Victorinus. The dedication is to Mercurius and was set up in gratitude for something the god evidently did for the centurion. Perhaps Mercury, god of trade, helped Victorinus realize a tidy profit in his business investments. |
| The next inscription is on a tombstone (right) of a soldier in a very interesting unit (in my opinion), Cohors I Classica. Lucius Valerius Verecundus came from the south of Gaul, from the tribe of the Ruteni, and was for 4 years a soldier in the Cohors I Classica, a unit that was called into being by Augustus and probably originally manned by former navy personnel. After the battle of Actium the later Augustus moved the fleet of Marcus Antonius to a base in Forum Iulii (now Fréjus, on the French Mediterranean coast). Some 10 or 20 years later, the fleet was abolished and apparently its remaining personnel were transferred into at least 2 Cohortes Classicae, as Cohors II Classica is also attested. Few inscriptions naming these units exist, so the one on display here is rather special. Another one was found in 2000, near Utrecht in the Netherlands. |
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There are several tombstones of the Ala Noricorum on display in the Römisch-Germanisches Museum. The representations of the deceased fall neatly in two categories. The one displayed at left is a very common depiction of cavalry troopers. The rider Titus Flavius Bassus is depicted in full combat action: trampling and stabbing a prone barbarian lying helpless under the horse's hooves.
The images in the other category are much more peaceful. They show the trooper reclined on his lectus in the top part of the stone. On the lower part his horse is shown, led by a trooper (himself?) or a servant, sometimes shields and spears are also shown.
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| At right, a restored tombstone missing its inscription, we see an engineer, as evidenced by the tools he and the servant are holding: some sort of measuring device or a square, a ball (perhaps for a plumb line) and another tool I didn't recognize. According to the description the clearly depicted belt on this figure marks him as an army engineer. |
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Finally there are some non-textual but army-relevant bits of stone. The one at right shows in excellent detail a shield, sword, coronae, a torque and another ring which I didn't recognize. This frieze fragment might once have decorated a unit monument, or the tomb of a very highly decorated officer veteran.
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