Publius Besius Betuinianus Gaius Marius Memmius Sabinus was a Roman ''

eques Eques, ''horseman'' or ''rider'' in Latin, may refer to: * Equites, a member of the Roman Equestrian order * the Latin word for a knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or ...

'' who held a number of military and civilian positions during the reign of the Emperor Trajan, and was twice decorated for his actions in battle. He is only known from inscriptions. Our primary source for the life of Betuinianus is an inscription from Tangi (modern Tangiers, Morocco). It was found there by

Fernando de Mascarenhas Fernando de Mascarenhas, the first Count of the Tower, (9 August 1651) was a military and colonial administrator and held the position of Portuguese governor-general of Brazil from January 20 of 1639 to November 20, 1639, appointed by King Phili ...

, Count of Torre, who was the Portuguese Governor of Tangiers from 1628 to 1637; his name is cut in the frame of the inscription with the date of its discovery, 1634. He took the stone to his castle, where it was seen by T. Smith in 1668; it was later purchased by Sir Hugh Cholmley who presented it to Oxford University. Currently part of the collection of the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

, the inscription is on display in the Randolph Gallery. From this inscription we know his father's name is Publius, and that Betuinianus belonged to the Quirina voting tribe. His first attested appointment was his commission as '' praefectus'' or commander of

cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit), ...

I Raetorum, whose official station was in Germania Inferior, but had been assigned to the Roman forces in Trajan's

First Dacian War The First Roman–Dacian War took place from 101 to 102. The Kingdom of Dacia, under King Decebalus, had become a threat to the Roman Empire, and defeated several of Rome's armies during Domitian's reign (81–96). The Emperor Trajan was set on ...

(AD 101–102). After the conclusion of that war, he was commissioned military tribune with Legio X Gemina, at the time also stationed in Germania Inferior. He was then commissioned ''praefectus'' of the

ala 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, Seydu ...

Dardanorum, which took part in Trajan's Second Dacian War (105-106). For his valor in these conflicts, Betuinianus received '' dona militaria'': the '' corona muralis'' and '' corona vallaris'' (mural and camp crowns), '' hastae purae'' (headless or "pure" spears), and a ''vexillus argentus'' (a silver staff). These are an unusually generous amount of decorations, far in excess of any other known case of a man passing through his '' tres militiae''.

Valerie Maxfield Valerie Maxfield FSA is a Roman archaeologist and emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Exeter. She is a specialist in the archaeology of the Roman army and frontiers, and edited the ''Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Socie ...

argues that "it would not be going beyond the evidence to see these dona as a total for two campaigns rather than as a single award", and allocates them thusly: "One decoration as Praefectus cohortis and one as praefectus equitum, the first with one crown and one hasta, the second with one crown, one hasta and one vexillum (the same as that received by the only other praefectus equitum known to have been decorated at this period)". Concluding his ''tres militiae'', Betuinianus then held a series of civilian administrative appointments. The first was as procurator or overseer of the imperial mint with a salary of 100,000

sesterces The ''sestertius'' (plural ''sestertii''), or sesterce (plural sesterces), was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The na ...

; he was then promoted to procurator of the imperial properties in Baetica, with a salary of 200,000 sesterces. This was followed by his appointment as ''procurator vicesima hereditatium'' or overseer of the 5% estate tax at Rome. The latest appointment was as procurator with the powers of a '' legatus'' of the province of Mauretania Tingitana; having the powers of a ''legatus'' implies Betuinianus was given command of legionary troops stationed in that province. J. E. H. Spaul dates his tenure in that province before 114, most likely from 112 to 114; Spaul further believes, based on the nature of the inscription and that it was set up by his staff, that Besius Betuinianus died while in office.Spaul
"Governors of Tingitana"
''Antiquités africaines'', 30 (1994), p. 239

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Further reading