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Dromedarii
Dromedarii were camel-riding auxiliary forces recruited in the desert provinces of the Late Roman Empire in Syria. They were developed to take the place of horses, where horses were not common. They were also successful against enemy horses, as horses are typically afraid of camels' scents. Camels were seen as exotic and useful creatures, known for their ability to move over desert terrain. It is noted that dromedaries were used less often than bactrians, though the title "Dromedarii" may imply that dromedaries were used more often. However, the Romans could not distinguish between bactrians and dromedaries, thus using both as a means of transportation. This is very similar to the camel cavalry used often by the Ottoman Empire. It is noted that camel cavalry was more commonplace as a result of the desert terrain during the Muslim conquests. A 1,000-strong dromedarii unit, ala I Ulpia Dromedariorum milliaria, was established by Trajan in Syria. A small number of dromedarii is rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dromedaries
The dromedary (''Camelus dromedarius'' or ;), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel, or one-humped camel, is a large even-toed ungulate, of the genus ''Camelus'', with one hump on its back. It is the tallest of the three species of camel; adult males stand at the shoulder, while females are tall. Males typically weigh between , and females weigh between . The species' distinctive features include its long, curved neck, narrow chest, a single hump (compared with two on the Bactrian camel and wild Bactrian camel), and long hairs on the throat, shoulders and hump. The coat is generally a shade of brown. The hump, tall or more, is made of fat bound together by fibrous tissue. Dromedaries are mainly active during daylight hours. They form herds of about 20 individuals, which are led by a Dominance (ethology), dominant male. They feed on foliage and desert vegetation; several adaptations, such as the ability to tolerate losing more than 30% of its total water content ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auxilia
The (, lit. "auxiliaries") were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of infantry as the legions and, in addition, provided almost all of the Roman army's cavalry (especially light cavalry and archers) and more specialised troops. The ''auxilia'' thus represented three-fifths of Rome's regular land forces at that time. Like their legionary counterparts, auxiliary recruits were mostly volunteers, not conscripts. The Auxilia were mainly recruited from the ''peregrini'', free provincial subjects who did not hold Roman citizenship and constituted the vast majority of the population in the 1st and 2nd centuries (c. 90% in the early 1st century). In contrast to the legions, which only admitted Roman citizens, members of the Auxilia could be recruited from territories outside of Roman control. Reliance on the various c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camel Cavalry
Camel cavalry, or camelry (french: méharistes, ), is a generic designation for armed forces using camels as a means of transportation. Sometimes warriors or soldiers of this type also fought from camel-back with spears, bows or rifles. Camel cavalry were a common element in desert warfare throughout history in the Middle East, due in part to the animal's high level of adaptability. They provided a mobile element better suited to work and survive in an arid and waterless environment than the horses of conventional cavalry. The smell of the camel, according to Herodotus, alarmed and disoriented horses, making camels an effective anti-cavalry weapon when employed by the Achaemenid Persians in the Battle of Thymbra. Early history The first recorded use of the camel as a military animal was by the Arab king Gindibu, who is claimed to have employed as many as 1000 camels at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC. A later instance occurred in the Battle of Thymbra in 547 BC, fought between C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cohors XX Palmyrenorum
The Cohors XX Palmyrenorum ("20th Cohort of Palmyrenes") was an auxiliary cohort of the Roman Imperial army. It was a '' cohors equitata milliaria'', mixed infantry and cavalry regiment, originally recruited from the inhabitants of Palmyra in Roman Syria. There were also a small number (32–36) of dromedarii forces attached to the infantry. The unit was probably raised in the late 2nd century, when Palmyra became part of the Roman Empire. At first they served in the province of Dacia. In the early 3rd century they were stationed in Dura-Europos. The headquarters of the ''Cohors XX Palmyrenorum'' was the Temple of Artemis Azzanathkona aside the Praetorium.Peter Edwell: ''Between Rome and Persia. The Middle Euphrates, Mesopotamia and Palmyra Under Roman Control.'' Routledge, 2008, , p. 124. See also * ''Feriale Duranum'', a standard calendar of religious observances for the military issued to this cohort * List of Roman auxiliary regiments This article lists ', non-legionary auxil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, and was ruled by emperors. From the accession of Caesar Augustus as the first Roman emperor to the military anarchy of the 3rd century, it was a Principate with Italia as the metropole of its provinces and the city of Rome as its sole capital. The Empire was later ruled by multiple emperors who shared control over the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. The city of Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until AD 476 when the imperial insignia were sent to Constantinople following the capture of the Western capital of Ravenna by the Germanic barbarians. The adoption of Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire in AD 380 and the fall of the Western ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Syria
Roman Syria was an early Roman province annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia Tigranes the Great. Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea into tetrarchies in 6 AD, it was gradually absorbed into Roman provinces, with Roman Syria annexing Iturea and Trachonitis. Provincia Syria Syria was annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC, when Pompey the Great had the Seleucid king Antiochus XIII Asiaticus executed and deposed his successor Philip II Philoromaeus. Pompey appointed Marcus Aemilius Scaurus to the post of Proconsul of Syria. Following the fall of the Roman Republic and its transformation into the Roman Empire, Syria became a Roman imperial province, governed by a Legate. During the early empire, the Roman army in Syria accounted for three legions with auxiliaries who defended the border with Parthia. In 6 AD Emperor Augustus deposed the ethnarch Herod Archelaus and united J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, ''Eohippus'', into the large, single-toed animal of today. Humans began domesticating horses around 4000 BCE, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BCE. Horses in the subspecies ''caballus'' are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. These feral populations are not true wild horses, as this term is used to describe horses that have never been domesticated. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior. Horses are adapted to run, allowing them to quickly escape predators, and po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bactrian Camel
The Bactrian camel (''Camelus bactrianus''), also known as the Mongolian camel or domestic Bactrian camel, is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. It has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped dromedary. Its population of 2 million exists mainly in the domesticated form. Their name comes from the ancient historical region of Bactria. Domesticated Bactrian camels have served as pack animals in inner Asia since ancient times. With its tolerance for cold, drought, and high altitudes, it enabled the travel of caravans on the Silk Road. Bactrian camels, whether domesticated or feral, are a separate species from the wild Bactrian camel, which is the only truly wild (as opposed to feral) species of camelid in the Old World. Taxonomy The Bactrian camel shares the genus ''Camelus'' with the dromedary (''C. dromedarius'') and the wild Bactrian camel (''C. ferus''). The Bactrian camel belongs to the family Camelidae. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muslim Conquests
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He established a new unified polity in Arabia that expanded rapidly under the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate, culminating in Islamic rule being established across three continents. According to Scottish historian James Buchan: "In speed and extent, the first Arab conquests were matched only by those of Alexander the Great, and they were more lasting." At their height, the territory that was conquered stretched from Iberia (at the Pyrenees) in the west to India (at Sind) in the east; Muslim rule spanned Sicily, most of North Africa and the Middle East, and the Caucasus and Central Asia. English historian Edward Gibbon writes in ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'': Among other drastic changes, the early Musli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ala I Ulpia Dromedariorum Milliaria
Ala, ALA, Alaa or Alae may refer to: Places * Ala, Hiiu County, Estonia, a village * Ala, Valga County, Estonia, a village * Ala, Alappuzha, Kerala, India, a village * Ala, Iran, a village in Semnan Province * Ala, Gotland, Sweden * Alad, Seydun or Ala, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * Ala, Trentino, Italy, a comune * Alà dei Sardi, Italy, a comune * Alabama, a state in the United States * Alae (Cilicia), a town of ancient Cilicia Science * Acetylated lanolin alcohol * Ala of nose, in human anatomy * Alae (nematode anatomy) * Alanine, an α-amino acid * Alpha lipoic acid, a nutritional supplement * Alpha-linolenic acid, an omega−3 fatty acid * δ-aminolevulinic acid or δ-ALA Mythology and religion * Ala (demon), a female demon in Serbian mythology * Ala (Luwian goddess), a Hittite and Luwian goddess * Ala (Odinani), an Alusi (deity) in the Odinani beliefs of the Igbo people of Nigeria Military * , a US Navy tugboat * Ala (Roman allied military unit), a Republ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over one of the greatest military expansions in Roman history and led the empire to attain its greatest territorial extent by the time of his death. He is also known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programs and implementing social welfare policies, which earned him his enduring reputation as the second of the Five Good Emperors who presided over an era of peace within the Empire and prosperity in the Mediterranean world. Trajan was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in present-day Spain, a small Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in the province of Hispania Baetica. He came from a branch of the gens Ulpia, the ''Ulpi Traiani'', that originated in the Umbrian town of Tuder. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dura-Europos
Dura-Europos, ; la, Dūra Eurōpus, ( el, Δούρα Ευρωπός, Doúra Evropós, ) was a Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman border city built on an escarpment above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Salhiyé, in present-day Syria. Dura-Europos was founded around 300 BC by Seleucus I Nicator, who founded the Seleucid Empire as one of the Diadochi of Alexander the Great. In 113 BC, Parthians conquered the city, and held it, with one brief Roman intermission (114 AD), until 165 AD. Under Parthian rule, it became an important provincial administrative centre. The Romans decisively captured Dura-Europos in 165 AD and greatly enlarged it as their easternmost stronghold in Mesopotamia, until it was captured by the Sasanian Empire after a siege in 256–57 AD. Its population was deported, and the abandoned city eventually became covered by sand and mud and disappeared from sight. Dura-Europos is of extreme archaeological importanc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
