Cohors secunda Delmatarum ("2nd Cohort of Dalmatae") was a

Roman auxiliary The (, lit. "auxiliaries") were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen Roman legion, legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same ...

infantry regiment.

Etymology

It is named after the

Dalmatae The Delmatae, alternatively Dalmatæ, during the Roman period, were a group of Illyrian tribes in Dalmatia, contemporary southern Croatia and western Bosnia and Herzegovina. The region of Dalmatia takes its name from the tribe. The Delmatae ap ...

, an Illyrian-speaking tribe that inhabited the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

coastal mountain range of the eponymous

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

. The ancient geographer

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

describes these mountains as extremely rugged, and the Dalmatae as backward and warlike. He claims that they did not use money long after their neighbours adopted it and that they "made war on the Romans for a long time". He also criticizes the Dalmatae, a nation of pastoralists, for turning fertile plains into sheep pasture. Indeed, the name of the tribe itself is believed to mean "shepherds", derived from the Illyrian word ''delme'' ("sheep").Spaul (2000) 304 The final time this people fought against Rome was in the

Illyrian revolt The (Latin for 'War of the Batos') was a military conflict fought in the Roman Empire, Roman province of Illyricum (Roman province), Illyricum in the 1st century AD, in which an alliance of native peoples of the two regions of Illyricum, Roman D ...

of 6–9 AD. The revolt was started by Dalmatae auxiliary forces and soon spread all over

and

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...

. The resulting war was described by the Roman writer

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

as the most difficult faced by Rome since the

Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars between 264 and 146BC fought between Roman Republic, Rome and Ancient Carthage, Carthage. Three conflicts between these states took place on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region and i ...

two centuries earlier. But after the war, the Dalmatae became a loyal and important source of recruits for the Roman army.

Establishment

According to Holder, a total of 12 ''cohortes Delmatarum'' appear to have been raised after the suppression of the Illyrian revolt in two series, of 7 and 5 respectively. All these units were in existence by the time of emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

(r. 41–54)Holder (1980) 112 Of these, 9 appear to have survived into the 2nd century. The regiment was probably raised by founder-emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

(r. 30 BC-14 AD) after 9 AD. It was certainly in existence by the time of

(r. 41-54). Its early movements are unknown. Holder suggests that the regiment may have taken part in the

Roman invasion of Britain The Roman conquest of Britain refers to the conquest of the island of Britain by occupying Roman forces. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the southern half of Britain by 87 when the Staneg ...

(43), but there is no supporting evidence. It first appears in the datable epigraphic record in 105, in

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...

. It was still there in the 3rd century, the time of its last roughly datable inscription, a votive altar at ''Magnis'' (

Carvoran Magnis or Magna was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain. Its ruins are now known as and are located near Carvoran, Northumberland, in northern England. It is thought to have been sited with reference to the Stanegate Roman road, ...

, Northumbria). The ''

Notitia Dignitatum The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents of ...

'', a late Roman official document, records a ''cohors II Delmatarum'' at ''Magnis'' under the

dux Britanniarum ''Dux Britanniarum'' was a military post in Roman Britain, probably created by Emperor Diocletian or Constantine I during the late third or early fourth century. The ''Dux'' (literally, "(military) leader" was a senior officer in the late Roman ...

, the commander of ''

limitanei The ''līmitāneī'' (Latin, also called ''rīpēnsēs''), meaning respectively "the soldiers in frontier districts" (from the Latin phrase līmēs, meaning a military district of a frontier province) or "the soldiers on the riverbank" (from the ...

'' (border forces) along

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...

.''Notitia Dignitatum'' Title Occidens XL The Western section of the ''Notitia'' was drawn up in the 420s, but the British units must date to before 410, when the island was evacuated by the Roman army.

Known commanders

The names of two ''praefecti'' (regimental commanders) are attested. One, Iulius Maximus is attested as from the city of Rome (135). The other, Marcus Caecilius Donatianus, is attested in the votive altar at Carvoran (3rd century) to a ''virgo caelestis'' ("celestial virgin"), probably

Tanit Tanit ( Punic: 𐤕𐤍𐤕 ''Tīnīt'') was a Punic goddess. She was the chief deity of Carthage alongside her consort Baal-Hamon. Tanit is also called Tinnit. The name appears to have originated in Carthage (modern day Tunisia), though it doe ...

, the guardian-goddess of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

, implying that Donatianus was perhaps from

Africa proconsularis Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Also attested is an ''imaginifer'' (bearer of the imperial image) (3rd century) and a ''pedes'' (common foot soldier) of the

Treveri The Trēverī (Gaulish: *''Trēueroi'') were a Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringe ...

Gallic tribe (135).

Citations

{{reflist

References

* Holder, Paul ''Studies in the Auxilia of the Roman Army'' (1980) * Spaul, John ''COHORS 2'' (2000) 1st-century establishments in the Roman Empire 5th-century disestablishments in the Roman Empire Auxiliary infantry units of ancient Rome Dalmatia (Roman province) Military history of Roman Britain Tanit Claudius Augustus

Etymology

Establishment

Known commanders

See also

Citations

References