In 171 BC a deputation arrived in Rome from Spain representing the children of legionaries who had settled down with Spanish wives, with whom they had no right of marriage. There were more than 4000 of them, and the senate decided they should be allowed to form a Latin colony at Carteia in Spain.145 An army of at least two legions was based permanently in Spain from the end of the second Punic War, and the soldiers could hardly be expected to remain celibate. In the imperial period, professional soldiers who were permanently based near civilian communities and often had no fighting in prospect will have tended to move outside the military environment and to establish relationships with the local population. Furthermore, the practice of local recruiting in some provinces meant that soldiers might have other kin in the vicinity, or at least within a few days’ journey.146 It is interesting to note the high level of commemorations among military populations by the nuclear family in provinces like Africa, Pannonia and Spain, where there was a significant degree of local recruitment.147 Then, again, the permanent movement of entire legions from one province to another became increasingly rare as the government preferred to send a detachment (vexillatio) of a legion if reinforcements were required; this would have had less impact on the local communities close to military bases.148
Now, Augustus had forbidden soldiers to contract a marriage during military service. It is not clear what his motive was. He perhaps thought that the army would be more efficient without ties, or that the government should be free of responsibility for dependants, or that there should be no distractions from loyalty to him. As it was, the rule was virtually unenforceable, since soldiers sought the comforts of family life. Many did form unofficial unions (there is no way of telling what proportion), and lived with women whom they regarded as ‘wives’ and fathered children whom they thought legitimate. The government was ambivalent and tended to turn a blind eye, while the children of unofficial unions with local women were often enlisted into the army and given Roman citizenship.149 However, officials continued to enforce the consequences of a ban that remained in place until Septimius Severus swept it away at the end of the second century. For example, since the children of these unions were illegitimate they could not inherit their father’s property in intestate succession and were subject to other legal restrictions. Furthermore, since illegitimate children could not be entered in the record of births, a soldier’s children might find it hard to prove their identity for claims in a will even if stated as heirs. Indeed, evidence from court cases shows that soldiers did not understand why their children should be disadvantaged. One soldier pleading his case before the prefect of Egypt asks: ‘What have the children done wrong?’150
Over the first two centuries ad, therefore, soldiers’ families emerged as a significant aspect of military life. Clearly wives and children could not live in the military camps or in military establishments in towns. Indeed, even after the ban on marriage had been removed there is little sign of the provision of married quarters in camps.151 Therefore families settled as close as possible to the camps, where soldiers presumably tried to visit them when they could (it may be that in peaceful conditions soldiers were not expected to sleep in the camp every night).152 These settlements were originally temporary, but in time others were attracted to them - traders, innkeepers, entertainers, craftsmen, women, hangers-on - all those who had something to gain from an area where soldiers and civilians could mix. And some veteran soldiers after discharge preferred to settle locally with their families, close to the comrades with whom they had served, rather than be part of a military colony in a distant region or live individually in villages.153 These communities that emerged adjacent to some legionary camps were known as canabae, while similar settlements called vici appeared on a smaller scale around camps and forts housing auxiliary soldiers. Auxilia often occupied outposts where larger concentrations of troops were either unnecessary or impracticable and presumably formed the same kind of relationships as legionaries.
As the canabae, which were under the jurisdiction of the local legionary commander, gradually acquired a more permanent structure and better amenities, and began to have the air of fully fledged communities, they began to attract more Roman citizens. Eventually some developed into independent communities with their own magistrates. For example, at Carnuntum on the Danube, in the province of Pannonia, a military camp had been built in the reign of Tiberius. On the division of Pannonia into two provinces under Trajan, Carnuntum became the seat of the governor of Upper Pannonia. The canabae grew up in an unsystematic fashion on three sides of the military camp of legion XIV Gemina, which was stationed here from the end of Trajan’s reign to the end of Roman control in the area. Close by, an amphitheatre and a forum were built. Then a separate civilian settlement was established to the west of the camp, with several large buildings including a new amphitheatre with a capacity of about 13,000. In AD 124 during a visit to Pannonia, Hadrian granted municipal status to Carnuntum, and in ad 194 Septimius Severus, who as governor of Upper Pannonia had launched his successful bid for power from here, granted colonial status with the title Septimia Carnuntum. This illustrates how the social, economic and political development of communities could be bound up with the army, warfare and the careers of powerful governors (see Figure 4.1).154
At Chester the canabae were established close to the legionary camp, with some civilian buildings grouped along the road from the east gate, others on the west side between the defences and the river Dee, with a limited settlement on the southern side. The amphitheatre outside the camp could accommodate 7000 spectators, and clearly served the legion and most of the civilian population, who also shared the water supply by tapping into the camp aqueduct. By the end of the second century there was a significant improvement in living conditions in the civilian sector as timber buildings were gradually replaced by stone and more elaborate houses were built.155
E modern village (Petronell) F municipal amphitheatre
Figure 4.1 Carnuntum (legionary base and settlement)
Source: Raaflaub and Rosenstein (1999, 225), by permission of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, DC
The auxiliary fort at Rapidum (Sour Djouab) in Mauretania Caesariensis, where from ad 122 the second cohort of Sardians was based, was sited in a fertile depression on an important route for east-west communications in the province. Here a civilian settlement grew up just a few feet away from two sides of the camp and was subsequently expanded. In about ad 167 the veterans and civilians dwelling in Rapidum built at their own expense a rampart around the settlement. Rapidum acquired municipal status in the third century, but in about 250 the cohort was withdrawn and the camp and the part of the town closest to it were abandoned. Subsequently more of the town was abandoned before it was eventually destroyed c. 275, and it had only partially been reoccupied by 300 (see Figure 4.2).156 Again we see the close relationship between the presence of the army, military policy and the success of adjacent civilian communities.
It is difficult to say what impact the proximity of soldiers had on local cultural and social practices. In some areas where troops were kept fairly much together and based in camps, and where recruits generally came from outside the province, as in the case of Britain, military contact with civilians
Figure 4.2 Rapidum (auxiliary fort and settlement). ABCD indicate the various stages of settlement and abandonment
Source: Laporte (1989, 26), by permission of the author
Might have been restricted to an area around the canabae and vici. Elsewhere, long familiarity with the locals, little active service and the dispersal of the troops into smaller units could provide opportunities for a considerable degree of integration as the soldiers lived and worked side by side with the local population. There is, however, little clear sign of this except in Egypt, where the unique evidence of papyri offers an insight into the personal lives of ordinary people.157 Although they were probably not particularly literate in the Latin language,158 soldiers naturally brought the images and authority of Rome, and demonstrated the advantages of the Roman way of life through the practices and rituals of the military camps: baths, amphitheatres, medical care. They also brought new deities, such as Jupiter Doliche and Mithras in Noricum, Pannonia and Moesia.159 On the other hand, Mithras tended to remain as a military cult with only limited impact on local elites. And at Dura on the Euphrates while the garrison officially followed the Roman military calendar, the community nearby worshipped a mixture of local gods and other deities.160
Of course, in everyday life soldiers were often comparatively well off compared to ordinary people, and they used their status and wealth to act on behalf of others in legal cases, or to present petitions to the emperor on behalf of local people.161 They also took part in business, owning and buying and selling property, contracting debts and lending money.162 There is a striking example of this in the archive of documents from the Judaean desert belonging to a Jewish lady, Babatha, showing how a Roman centurion in the camp at En Gedi had lent money to a local Jew named Judah, who owned a neighbouring palm grove.163 For many people in the Roman world, either in war or in peace soldiers were simply an unavoidable part of life.
World History
