Evidence for the presence of legionary vexillations at Dura in the third century, combined with the evidence for Cohors XX Palmyrenorum, indicates a mixed garrison of legionaries and auxiliaries at Dura in the third century. Pollard claims that ‘the division of legions into vexillations for detached service seems to have been regular practice by the third century’.267 As noted earlier, we know little of how the different elements of the garrison interacted, and emphasis has been placed on the exclusive nature of the command and accommodation of the different components of the garrison, as shown above. There is some evidence for the presence of another cohort at the city late in the second century. An altar inscription of Cohors II Ulpia Equitata dated between 185 and 192 was found at the Palmyra Gate.268 This cohort is again attested at Dura in 194 and possibly on an undated altar inscription from a small Roman temple discovered near the palace of the Dux Ripae.269 The cohort is not attested again at Dura until 251.270 The existence of Cohors II Ulpia Equitata is known elsewhere as early as 156/157 and it is thought to have been ‘in the (Dura) garrison in the late second century, probably from the reign of Commodus’.271 It is also possible that this cohort was the regular garrison of one of the smaller fortifications near Dura and that its soldiers were sometimes present at Dura.
Legionary vexillations are attested at Dura Europos at various times in the third century. These vexillations were from the legions of Coele Syria, IV Scythica and XVI Flavia Firma, III Cyrenaica from Arabia and possibly X Fretensis from Judaea. Vexillations of IV Scythica and XVI Flavia Firma are first attested in the restored inscription found in the Mithraeum dating to 209-211.272 As discussed earlier, the inscription commemorates an
Figure 4.26 The dedicatory inscription found in the Mithraeum at Dura Europos naming one and possibly two legionary vexillations responsible for its enlargement, c. AD211/212. From M. I. Rostovtzeff, A. Bellinger, C. Hopkins and C. B. Welles, eds, The Excavations at Dura Europos: Freliminary Report of the Seventh and Eighth Seasons: 1933-1934 and 1934-1935, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1936, plate XLIX.
Enlargement of the Mithraeum undertaken by the two vexillations, and they may have been under a single commander.273 It has already been noted that the Mithraeum is often held to have become the temple of the two legionary vexillations from this time.274 The enlargement included the addition of four columns, which the excavators noted were covered in hundreds of painted and scratched inscriptions. Some of these were inscribed by soldiers of IV Scythica, XVI Flavia Firma and Cohors XX Palmyrenorum, which, as noted earlier, does not support this suggestion.275
An altar dedication in the temple of Jupiter Dolichenus (Dolicheneum) reveals a similar inscription to that in the Mithraeum and shows that vexilla-tions of both IV Scythica and XVI Flavia Firma made a dedication there in 211.276 The centurio principis praepositus of the vexillations was the same as that detailed in the Mithraeum inscription. In 216, a vexillation of IV Scyth-ica, along with one from III Cyrenaica, was responsible for erecting a small amphitheatre.277 Legio IV Scythica is further attested in a dipinto from the wall of a corridor in the praetorium.278 The inscription, tentatively dated to 222-223, details the names and ranks of five members of Legio IV Scythica who are thought to have been part of a vexillation of this legion. F. Dura 100, a roster of 219, shows that one soldier of Cohors XX Palmyrenorum was with Legio IV Scythica, which may mean that he was attached to the vexillation.279 The only other datable indication of IV Scythica’s presence at Dura is from two papyri of 251 and 254.280 The latter refers to a soldier as a member of the ‘local’ vexillation of Legio IV Scythica, indicating clearly that it was a permanent element of the garrison.
Soldiers from XVI Flavia Firma are also attested in the papyri in the reigns of Elagabalus, Severus Alexander and possibly Gordian III, although none of these are described as members of a vexillation of the legion.281 An undated inscription on a door jamb from the Dolicheneum was dedicated by a soldier of XVI Flavia Firma to Mithras Turmusgade.282 In this case the legion has the epithet ‘Antoniniarum’ which is suggestive of a date of 211 or later.283 There was no reference in this inscription to a vexillation, but it seems reasonable to conclude that the soldier was with the Dura vexillation.
Other undated inscriptions refer to soldiers from IV Scythica, XVI Flavia Firma and III Cyrenaica at Dura at a broadly similar time to those discussed above as they all bear the epithet ‘Antoniniarum’.284 It is likely that they were from the vexillations of the legions but there is no specific indication that they were. The presence of soldiers from Legio III Cyre-naica is problematic in some cases. The name of the legion appears clearly in only one instance - and that is an undated graffito from the house of Nebuchelus.285 It also appears during the reign of Caracalla, according to an unpublished inscription mentioned by Hopkins and Rowell.286 The identification of a vexillation of Legio III Cyrenaica, which was involved in the construction of the amphitheatre, with a detachment from IV Scythica was made only on the basis of the numeral and one letter ‘(r)’.287
As noted earlier, it is claimed that vexillations of Legio III Cyrenaica and IV Scythica were responsible for the dedication of the praetorium c.211/212, but the names of these legions were entirely restored in the inscription on the basis of references found to them elsewhere in the camp.288 An inscription thought to have dedicated a chapel of the standards in the praetorium was also restored to suggest that this was done by a combination of the legionary vexillations present at Dura c. 212.289 It was noted earlier that the inscription is so fragmentary that any restoration is virtually impossible, and the original excavators were unsure as to whether it was even a dedicatory inscription.
The presence of Legio Anto(niniana) X, identified as Legio X Fretensis by Gilliam, is indicated by a graffito from the praetorium.290 Soldiers of this legion were thought to have been at Dura at the same time as the vex-illations of IV Scythica and XVI Flavia Firma. The legion represented here could also be Legio X Gemina Pia Fidelis, a legion based in Pannonia and probably involved in the Parthian wars of either Septimius Severus or Caracalla on the basis of gravestones found in the vicinity of Antioch.291
The size of the legionary vexillations is estimated at anywhere between 500 and 2,000 men each.292 In a number of the cases discussed above, the epigraphic evidence for their presence was dedicatory in nature and dates to c. 209-211. This is indicative of the legionaries being responsible for the enlargement, and perhaps the establishment, of the army camp in the north-west corner of the city at this time. Evidence from a few years later indicates the construction of a 1,000 seat amphitheatre by legionaries from
Figure 4.27 The rampart pathway at Dura Europos looking north from the Palmyra Gate.
IV Scythica and perhaps III Cyrenaica. This shows that the camp continued to expand and that legionary vexillations were employed in the building projects. It is important to note that a number of references to soldiers of Legio IV Scythica and Legio XVI Flavia Firma do not refer to vexillations, but it is probably reasonable to infer that they were. Sometimes, however, legionaries may have been at Dura for specific purposes and not necessarily from the vexillations.
The argument that the praetorium was reserved as the headquarters of the legionaries and that the Temple of Azzanathkona was the headquarters to which Cohors XX Palmyrenorum was relegated underlines the extent to which archaeologists and historians bring preconceptions to the way the Roman military operated on the ground in a frontier region like the middle Euphrates. This is reflected in other assertions about Dura such as the conclusion that the Mithraeum became the temple of the two legionary vexil-lations from c. 211.293 The superiority of the legionaries and the inferiority of the auxiliaries is overstated and runs contrary to the evidence. While it can be shown that soldiers from three legions were present at some stage in the praetorium, this does not prove their dedication of the building or that it was their headquarters, an impression that the restoration of the so-called dedicatory inscription has succeeded in achieving. Similarly, while some of the files of Cohors XX Palmyrenorum and some inscriptions of the cohort were found in the Temple of Azzanathkona, this cannot prove that it was the cohort’s headquarters. The enlargement of the Mithraeum by vexillations of Legio IV Scythica and XVI Flavia Firma need not indicate any form of ownership of this temple by the vexillations. Indeed, the unpublished graffiti from the Mithraeum show that soldiers of both the vexillations and Cohors XX Palmyrenorum used the temple after its enlargement. The Dolicheneum, similarly dedicated by the vexillations, was used by soldiers of Cohors II Ulpia Paphlagonum c. 251 and it is likely that it was also used by soldiers of the Palmyrene cohort.294
A further example of modern preconceptions about the auxiliaries and legionaries is the proposition that the praepositus of the vexillations was the overall garrison commander.295 The relationship between Cohors XX Palmyrenorum and the vexillations is practically unknown to us. From the papyri, communication from provincial headquarters was made directly to the tribune or praepositus of Cohors XX Palmyrenorum, an unusual situation if he was not the garrison commander. Alternatively, are we to assume autonomy between the command of the two units and that separate orders, instructions and communications were made from provincial headquarters to the praepositus of the vexillations and the commander of the cohort? Adding further complication to this issue is the theory that the Dux Ripae was the overall commander of the military forces on this section of the middle Euphrates when there is no evidence on how the Dux Ripae’s command even extended to the Dura garrison, let alone anywhere else on the Euphrates. Indeed, it is possible on the basis of the evidence to argue that the office of Dux Ripae at Dura did not exist at all. Attempts at identifying separate command structures and headquarters of the components of the garrison tend to obscure the highly versatile nature of the Dura garrison, which in turn limits considerations of the practical versatility of Roman military structures in frontier regions across the empire. The versatility of the Dura garrison is demonstrated clearly in the wide distribution of its soldiers across the middle Euphrates and Khabur river, and the Palmyrene auxiliaries were ideal for the roles required of soldiers in this region.
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