GUARDING THE DANUBE AND BEYOND (I) COHORS II MATTIACORUM

Abstract

Organization and operation of the Danubian limes had been a concern of the Roman imperial administration for several centuries. The strategic conception for this space was translated into practice directly with the support of the Roman army. One of the early arrived units in the Lower Danube area was cohors II Mattiacorum; detachments of the unit would flank the river, being stationed in the “bridgehead” fortifications of Dinogetia and Barboși. The history of this auxiliary unit may be broadly restored pegged solely by epigraphic records which we shall review below, together with historiographical discussions related to the completion and interpretation of their text. Although many of the opinions mentioned below remain mere hypotheses until new archaeological discoveries are made, I believe based on the documentary material that we know now, that the evolution of the cohors II Mattiacorum can be reconstructed with some accuracy. Obviously, any new epigraphic find may confirm or “colour” what we know now. The unit’s development spans more than a century from the last quarter of the 1st century AD to the end of the 2nd century AD, leaving more consistent traces at Dinogetia and Barboși, Sexaginta Prista and Sostra. We know the names of some soldiers and unit commanders and the fact that the unit was transformed somewhere in the middle of its existence into a milliariaunit.