A Roman military diploma of 2 July a.d. 133, discovered in August 1960 in the praetentura of the auxiliary fort at Gherla (Cluj dept., Romania), concerns soldiers discharged from the army of Dacia Porolissensis;Footnote ³⁵ only Tabella I was found, almost complete and in a good state of conservation, including the wires (fig. 4). The recipient of the diploma served in the coh. I Britannica milliaria. Its first editors chose to give his origo in the following manner: Sepenesto • Rivi • f(ilio) • Cor(i?)non.Footnote ³⁶ They noticed that the scribe first engraved PANNON, before substituting the first three letters with COR (fig. 5), in order to give, according to them, an ethnic COR(I)NON. Their hesitation between CORNON and CORINON opened up the possibility of a place-name in Britannia, in this case Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester). Accordingly, they considered that the two names (Sepenestus and Rivus/Rivius), which are otherwise unattested, were of Celtic derivation. Disagreeing with this view, the editors of the Journal of Roman Studies inserted a redactional note,Footnote ³⁷ proposing instead to connect the correction with the Cornacates (and their capital Cornacum), a tribe in Lower Pannonia. In support they quoted a diploma of 13 February, pre-dating a.d. 54, from Illyricum, which was granted equiti Dasenti Dasmeni f(ilio), Cornac(ati);Footnote ³⁸ they therefore argued that the two names on the Gherla diploma were of Illyrian origin.Footnote ³⁹ This was the beginning of a long-running controversy, with successive editors and commentators choosing between one of two positions — either CORNON or CORN(AC) or similar; most, however, have held to the Pannonian hypothesis. I.I. Russu, for instance, accepted: ‘Pannon. (Cornon?)’.Footnote ⁴⁰ In his commentary, however, he seems to agree with a Pannonian origin and that the father's name is either Illyrian or Celtic; if so, Sepenestus would have originated in Lower Pannonia, where his unit was garrisoned, before moving to Upper Moesia, then on to Dacia.Footnote ⁴¹ M.R. Roxan likewise accepted: ‘Cornon. (?) aut Pannon. (?)’.Footnote ⁴² She further quotes a letter of J.C. Mann, who preferred to accept CORNAC or the like.Footnote ⁴³

FIG. 4.

Military diploma from Gherla, Tabella I outer. (Reproduced courtesy of MNIR, Bucharest, inv. no. 37850)

FIG. 5.

Detailed photos and drawing. (After Daicoviciu and Protase Reference Daicoviciu and Protase1965a, pl. XXXI)

The same Pannonian origin (Cornacates) was vigorously defended by András MócsyFootnote ⁴⁴ and was also accepted by Anthony Birley, Constantin C. PetolescuFootnote ⁴⁵ and, more recently, by Diana Grbić.Footnote ⁴⁶ In his classic paper about the ‘soldiers’ homes’, M.P. Speidel gives the home of Sepenestus as ‘Pannon.’, and states: ‘One wonders why the Pannonian of diploma [RMD I] 35, having served in Dacia, tried to change his home from PANNON to CORNAC. Would it have made a difference if he had returned home?’, suggesting perhaps that the amendment was not an official attempt, but an unofficial, incomplete one; irrespective of this, the same Pannonian origin is privileged.Footnote ⁴⁷ While the debate might thus seem closed, my intention here is to re-examine both the reading and the understanding of this diploma.

Previous restorations can be dismissed, however, by a close examination of the correction made by the scribe, corroborated by other features. My starting point is the 1965 publication by the two Romanian editors — without accepting their reading of CORINON — which contained both photos taken through a microscope and a drawing presenting the layout of the two engravings (fig. 5).Footnote ⁴⁸ During the first engraving, the height of the letters was 3 mm; but during the secondary engraving, made by the same person, the height of the letters was increased to 4.25 mm, so as to cover the previous letters. A correction CORNA or the like is rejected by this detail, as is CORINON.Footnote ⁴⁹ My contention is that the result intended by the scribe was actually CORNOV. But how could such an error have occurred? There are two possibilities:

1. (1) Because the outer face would have been the most correct version of the text, as it remained visible (the inner faces being sealed), we might expect the process of producing such a text to involve an ink exemplar, then an engraved text and eventually changes to engraved texts at the checking stage.Footnote ⁵⁰ In the case of our diploma we may suppose that, once discovered, the incorrect letters which were the most obvious were corrected: P>C, A>O, N>R; the following N and O were correct; the final N was not amended, be it because there was no time or, more likely, because it looked sufficiently like a V. Despite an inspection of the diploma in the Bucharest Museum, no trace of any ink is now recognisable, most probably because it has been conserved and covered with some form of bright lacquer wax.

2. (2) The scribe simply made a mistake: in using a list of soldiers to be discharged, with their ranks and ethnics, he firstly engraved PANNON, because the preceding or subsequent soldier on the list was Pannonian; but he immediately corrected himself. He proceeded by recutting the letters, thus engraving COR over the first three letters, with the result CORNON; inspection of the diploma and the high-quality photos shows, however, that the scribe also partially obliterated the first vertical stroke of the letter N (fig. 6), with the result that this stroke appears less distinctly engraved than the other two, while the two remaining strokes are entirely similar to a V, as in other words on the same tabella.Footnote ⁵¹ The letter O has a sort of apex in the first engraved word, as elsewhere on the diploma (an observation made by the Romanian editors). Therefore, it is appropriate to understand the correction in this manner: PANNON → CORNOV (better than CORNO<V>).

FIG. 6.

Detail of the onomastic formula, with the correction of the origo. (Reproduced courtesy of MNIR, Bucharest, inv. no. 37850)

This kind of error is not unusual. For example, on a diploma of 11 August a.d. 106, found at Porolissum (Dacia),Footnote ⁵² the scribe, who had to write NOVANTICONI • RATIS on the outer face of Tabella I, actually engraved NOVANTICO • RATIS, before adding the NI above the last letter (O) (fig. 7); the inner face of Tabella II was not corrected, however. Likewise, on a diploma of 1 March a.d. 152, for a praetorian from Philippi,Footnote ⁵³ the inattentive scribe who had written PHILIPP on the outer face of Tabella I (though it looks as if it was added or was a correction, as it is squashed), actually engraved MARCIA (for Marcia(nopolis)) on the inner face of Tabella II; realising his mistake, he scored the MARCIA out, added PHILIPP in ink above and, for better comprehension, engraved PHIL after the scoring.Footnote ⁵⁴

FIG. 7.

Military diploma from Porolissum, Tabella I outer (CIL XVI, 160). (Reproduced courtesy of MNIR, Bucharest, inv. no. 69902; photo: George Nica)

If this argument is accepted, the definitive reading for RMD I, 35 should be:

The discharged infantryman was probably recruited in a.d. 107/8 or shortly before,Footnote ⁵⁵ to fill gaps in a cohort which had participated in the harsh war against the Dacians. He is, however, the second soldier known to have been recruited among the Cornovii, for a decade ago, a fragmentary military diploma for a soldier from this tribe was published, though unfortunately both the province and the unit remain unknown, as does the precise date (c. a.d. 126/40):Footnote ⁵⁶

This veteran from the Cornovii most likely remained in a Danubian province, where his diploma was found by modern treasure-hunters. The tribe is well known in Britain, with its capital at Viroconium (Wroxeter)Footnote ⁵⁸ being mentioned both by Ptolemy and in the Ravenna Cosmography.Footnote ⁵⁹ A dedication to Hadrian found at Viroconium, dated a.d. 130, was issued by the civitas Cornov[iorum].Footnote ⁶⁰ Elsewhere in the province, at Ilkley, we know of the epitaph of Ved[-]ic[- ---]riconis filia, c(ivis) Cornovia.Footnote ⁶¹ Finally, at an unknown date, a coh. I Cornoviorum was raised, this being the only ‘ethnic’ unit from Britannia to serve in the same province, even if in a different region, Northumberland; a tribunus of the same cohort is also attested at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the fourth century.Footnote ⁶²

This new reading of the diploma from Gherla allows us to enrich our understanding of the recruitment of Brittones in the Roman army.Footnote ⁶³ Many units of Brittones were raised and sent to the Danubian region, more specifically Pannonia; at the time of the Dacian Wars, they were moved to Upper Moesia and, after a.d. 106, many remained in the new province of Dacia.Footnote ⁶⁴ The evidence of the military diplomas, known either for some time or published in recent decades, enables us to catch a clearer image of the presence of British recruits in these units, before or contemporary with the setting up of local and regional recruitment. Here is the history of two of these units, the first one being that in which our Cornovius served.

Coh. I Britannica milliaria civium Romanorum equitata

This cohort is attested in a.d. 85 in Pannonia;Footnote ⁶⁵ at the time of the Dacian Wars, it was withdrawn by Trajan in order to participate in the north Danubian expeditions, together with many units from Upper Moesia (constitution in a.d. 103/5). After the conquest, it remained in Dacia, where it is attested in a.d. 109;Footnote ⁶⁶ thereafter it was in Upper Dacia in a.d. 119Footnote ⁶⁷ and, at least from a.d. 123, in Dacia Porolissensis,Footnote ⁶⁸ at the fort at Căşeiu.Footnote ⁶⁹

It is interesting to note another recruit from Britannia, during the presence of this cohort in Pannonia and Upper Moesia. The diploma of 12 January a.d. 105 for Lucco Trenni f(ilius), Dobunn(us) Footnote ⁷⁰ was found at Brigetio in the province of Upper Pannonia, where his unit was previously stationed and where he found a companion, Tutula Breuci filia, Azala, with whom he had three children. He chose, therefore, to return to the region where his wife was born, in the province he knew well. However, he was from the tribe of the Dobunni, whose capital was Corinium Footnote ⁷¹ (Cirencester).Footnote ⁷²

Coh. I Brittonum milliaria Vlpia torquata pia fidelis civium Romanorum

Garrisoned in Pannonia and thereafter in Upper Moesia, this part-mounted cohort (equitata) was also transferred to Dacia (later Porolissensis).Footnote ⁷³ In order to reward the soldiers of this cohort for their bravery during the war against Decebalus, a special constitution of 11 August a.d. 106 granted them Roman citizenship ante emerita stipendia,Footnote ⁷⁴ with its official name becoming coh. I Brittonum milliaria Vlpia torquata pia fidelis civium Romanorum. The unit is further attested on diplomas in Dacia,Footnote ⁷⁵ then in Upper Dacia in a.d. 119,Footnote ⁷⁶ and thereafter in Dacia Porolissensis. At least three recruits from Britannia are known in this cohort on diplomas:Footnote ⁷⁷

on a diploma found at Porolissum, dated 11 August a.d. 106 (but issued in a.d. 110 as he was still in service): M. Vlpius Adcobrovati f. Novantico, Ratis ( = Ratae Coritanorum/Leicester);Footnote ⁷⁸

on a diploma also found at Porolissum, dated 2 July a.d. 110: M. Vlpius Sacci f. Longinus, Belgus (civitas Belgarum, whose capital was at Venta Belgarum/Winchester); it also records that he had a son;Footnote ⁷⁹

on a diploma found at Domaşnea, Caraş-Severin dept., in Upper Dacia, dated 27 September a.d. 154: Ivonercus Molaci f., Britt(o).Footnote ⁸⁰

Table 1 catalogues the eight military diplomas known for recruits from Britannia (for a distribution map, see fig. 8). Recent studies have shown that most of the auxiliary units which remained in the new province of Dacia were detached from the army of Upper Moesia, supplemented at the time of the Dacian Wars by the addition of some units from Pannonia, including ala I Britannica/Brittonum c. R., which was moved to Dacia Porolissensis.Footnote ⁸¹ Many of the soldiers recruited from Britain chose at the end of their military service to stay in the provinces where their units were garrisoned, sometimes because of their families.

FIG. 8.

Map with the origins of soldiers recruited from Britannia (as recorded on military diplomas).

TABLE 1.

MILITARY DIPLOMAS KNOWN FOR RECRUITS FROM BRITANNIA

But recruits from Britannia also served in other non-ethnic units. As proof, we might cite the bearer of a generic ethnic Britto on a diploma of 17 July a.d. 122, which was granted to Bollico Icci f. Iccus, Britt(o), from ala I Claudia Gallorum Capitoniana (Lower Dacia, findspot unknown); it also records that he had four children.Footnote ⁸² We might also add the only diploma known for a soldier serving in Britannia, in his own province, and already a Roman citizen: [- --- Satu] rninus, from Glevum (Gloucester), from coh. I fida Vardullorum milliaria (probably from the year a.d. 160);Footnote ⁸³ the diploma was found in Britain, near Camulodunum.

The Cornovian origin presented here is also supported to some extent by the onomastics of our discharged soldier. While the two names in question, Sepenestus and Rivus/Rivius,Footnote ⁸⁴ are only recorded this once, it would seem unlikely that they are of Illyrian origin (as the derivation of the Cornacates undoubtedly was)Footnote ⁸⁵ as parallels are entirely lacking. Admittedly, neither name is attested as such in the Celtic domain, but arguably we may invoke the extreme rarity of Celtic names in the epigraphy of Britain,Footnote ⁸⁶ by contrast with the continental evidence, which is plentiful. Moreover, the three onomastic elements are attested in the Celtic sphere.Footnote ⁸⁷ Nothing, therefore, refutes a Celtic attribution for these names, the first at least being a compound one, whereas compound names are scarce in Illyrian onomastics.Footnote ⁸⁸

Sepenestus Rivi f., a Cornovian, was therefore part of a contingent raised in Britain and sent mostly in ‘ethnic’ units of Brittones in order to make up the considerable losses after the Dacian Wars. His case enriches our understanding where every new piece of evidence can help to reconstruct some of the complexity of the Roman army, in a period where several models of recruitment co-existed.