The auxilia and numeri raised in the Roman province of Syria
In classical times the military value of the Semitic peoples was often called into doubt. A superficial examination does not support the charges of the classical writers. This thesis sets out to examine the military contribution made by the native population of the province of Syria to the non-citizen regiments of the Roman army. Introduction: the current state of knowledge about the Syrian auxilia is briefly summarised. Chapter 1 defines the scope and objectives of the thesis: temporally, from the late Republic until the mid-third century; spatially, the area of the province of Syria on the eve of the annexation of Arabia; while, the units treated are those which are described as alae, cohortes and 'numeri'. Chapter 2 is devoted to a treatment of the literary, epigraphic, papyrological, archaeological and artistic sources. Attention is then given to fundamental criteria relevant to the examination of the individual units. Chapter 3 treats the background to the employment of Syrian soldiers from the Persian Wars onwards, but especially in the late Republic and very early Principate. Chapter 4 is the main part of the thesis, being a detailed discussion of all the evidence for some 57 regiments. Each group of
Kennedy, D. L.
Army ; History ; History, Military ; Rome ; Middle East ; To 622
The auxilia and numeri raised in the Roman province of Syria. In classical times the military value of the Semitic peoples was often called into doubt. A superficial examination does not support the charges of the classical writers. This thesis sets out to examine the military contribution made by the native population of the province of Syria to the non-citizen regiments of the Roman army. Introduction: the current state of knowledge about the Syrian auxilia is briefly summarised. Chapter 1 defines the scope and objectives of the thesis: temporally, from the late Republic until the mid-third century; spatially, the area of the province of Syria on the eve of the annexation of Arabia; while, the units treated are those which are described as alae, cohortes and 'numeri'. Chapter 2 is devoted to a treatment of the literary, epigraphic, papyrological, archaeological and artistic sources. Attention is then given to fundamental criteria relevant to the examination of the individual units. Chapter 3 treats the background to the employment of Syrian soldiers from the Persian Wars onwards, but especially in the late Republic and very early Principate. Chapter 4 is the main part of the thesis, being a detailed discussion of all the evidence for some 57 regiments. Each group of
raise roman_province syria classical time military value semitic people often call doubt superficial examination support charge classical writer set_examine military make native_population province syria non citizen regiment roman_army introduction current_state knowledge syrian briefly summarise defines scope objective temporally spatially area province syria eve annexation arabia unit treat described devoted treatment literary_epigraphic archaeological artistic source attention_give fundamental criterion relevant examination individual unit treat background employment syrian soldier persian_wars onwards especially late_republic early_principate main_part detailed_discussion evidence regiment group