Introduction

The culmination of military and political developments on the middle Euphrates, Mesopotamia and Palmyra in the second century ad came during the reigns of the Severan emperors. We have already seen that Mesopotamia was established as a two-legion province under Septimius Severus and that Palmyra’s garrison grew from an auxiliary ala to a cohort during his reign. On the middle Euphrates, new fortifications were constructed, such as that at Kifrin, while at Dura Europos the army camp and the garrison were enlarged towards the end of the first decade of the third century AD. A consequence of the formal extension of Roman power in Mesopotamia and also at Palmyra was the increased presence of Roman soldiers and fortifications along a considerable stretch of the middle Euphrates and Khabur river valleys. This probably began earlier than the Severan period; however, it was during the reign of Septimius Severus and his sons that this presence was expanded and intensified.

A recent study of Syria and Mesopotamia by Nigel Pollard, which focuses on relationships between the military and civilians under the Romans, provides some good insights into the activities and purposes of the Roman military presence in the Near East.1 Pollard sums up this purpose, generally speaking: ‘Ultimately the Roman army was the occupying force of an imperial power, and a primary function of the army was the control of conquered territory’.2 Apart from performing military and defensive functions when wars were fought there were numerous other ways in which the army was crucial to controlling conquered territory. While noting that there is little evidence for direct military involvement in the government of cities, even those such as Dura Europos located on the frontiers, Pollard suggests that this probably did take place, in most cases for the sake of public order.3 There is clear evidence for Roman officers being involved in civic politics in cities throughout Syria, particularly in

The second century AD, and there is also evidence for officers being honoured as benefactors in cities such as Dura.4

Of increasing importance during the period of Roman control in Syria and Mesopotamia were the judicial roles played by military officers. The fact that, up until the reign of Diocletian, governors of Syria were also military commanders meant that military authority and justice went hand in hand. Pollard notes the delegation of these judicial powers to legionary officers such as centurions and cites a number of relevant examples from Dura and Palmyra in the third century AD.5 Further to these judicial roles, and closely related to them, was the use of soldiers as police and in tax collection. Policing was the practical means by which judicial decisions were enforced and public order maintained. This was usually undertaken by centurions and often done at the request of a petitioner, as the Dura and Euphrates papyri demonstrate in the third century AD. Soldiers also emerged as increasingly important to the physical collection of taxes from the first century BC to the third century AD. This development is thought to have had its origins in soldiers assisting civilian officials in collecting taxes, and over time it saw soldiers increasingly involved in the physical collection of taxes themselves. There is also evidence for soldiers being stationed at customs points to give greater authority to civilian officials responsible for the collection of tariffs and tolls.