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Jovians And Herculians
The Jovians ( la, Ioviani) and Herculians (Latin: ''Herculiani'') were the senior palatine imperial guard units under the rule of Roman Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305). They continued in existence thereafter as senior units in the field armies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. History The name originated in the equation of the two co-emperors Diocletian and Maximian with the Roman gods Jove and Hercules. The old-established Praetorian Guard was based at the '' Castra Praetoria'' in Rome, and had frequently proved disloyal, making and deposing emperors and even on one occasion in 193 putting the Imperial throne up for auction to the highest bidder (cf: Didius Julianus). Thus Diocletian, who ruled from Nicomedia, promoted two faithful legions from the Illyricum ( Legio V ''Iovia'' and VI ''Herculia''), the area he was also descended from, to be the personal protectors of the Roman Emperors.Gibbon, Edward. ''The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire'' Vol 1 Chapter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Notitia Dignitatum
The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents of Roman government, and describes several thousand offices from the imperial court to provincial governments, diplomatic missions, and army units. It is usually considered to be accurate for the Western Roman Empire in the AD 420s and for the Eastern or Byzantine Empire in the AD 390s. However, the text itself is not dated (nor is its author named), and omissions complicate ascertaining its date from its content. Copies of the manuscript There are several extant 15th- and 16th-century copies of the document, plus a colour-illuminated iteration of 1542. All the known, extant copies are derived, either directly or indirectly, from ''Codex Spirensis'', a codex known to have existed in the library of the Chapter of Speyer Cathedral in 1542, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legio V Iovia
Legio V ''Iovia'' was a Roman legion levied by Diocletian in the end of the 3rd century, and was still in service at the beginning of the 5th century. The cognomen of the legion refers to Jupiter, to whom Diocletian (also known as ''Iovianus'', "the man like Jupiter") was devoted and identified. The V ''Iovia'' was stationed, together to her sister legion VI ''Herculia'', in Pannonia Secunda, a new province created with the segmentation of the old Pannonia province. The legion received the ordinal "Fifth" because in Pannonia there were already four legions. The purpose of the legion, having her permanent camp in '' Bononia'' and an advanced ''castellum'' in ''Onagrinum'', was to protect the imperial residence of Diocletian in ''Sirmium'' ( Illyricum). The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' locates the legion still in Illyricum at the beginning of the 5th century. It is possible that some men from this legion and from the VI ''Herculia'' formed the Jovians and Herculians, the new imperial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Units And Formations Of The Byzantine Empire
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform. It may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of the military is usually defined as defence of the state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms ''armed forces'' and ''military'' are often treated as synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include both its military and other paramilitary forces. There are various forms of irregular military forces, not belonging to a recognized state; though they share many attributes with regular military forces, they are less often referred to as simply ''military''. A nation's military may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infantry Units And Formations Of Ancient Rome
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine infantry. Although disused in modern times, heavy infantry also commonly made up the bulk of many historic armies. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery have traditionally made up the core of the combat arms professions of various armies, with the infantry almost always comprising the largest portion of these forces. Etymology and terminology In English, use of the term ''infantry'' began about the 1570s, describing soldiers who march and fight on foot. The word derives from Middle French ''infanterie'', from older Italian (also Spanish) ''infanteria'' (foot soldiers too inexperienced for cavalry), from Latin '' īnfāns'' (without speech, newborn, foolish), from which English also gets ''infant''. The individual-soldier term ''in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Primani
The ''Primani'' was a '' legio palatina'' of the Late Roman army, active in the 4th and 5th century. History They fought against the Alemanni under the ''Caesar'' Julian in the Battle of Strasbourg (357). They were deployed in the middle of the second line of the Roman formation, with three ''auxilia palatina'' units on their left and other three, among which '' Regii'' and '' Batavi'', on their right. During the battle, the Roman first line broke under the pressure of the Alamannic infantry, which pushed on the ''Primani''. The soldiers resisted and counter-attacked, causing the enemy to flee. The ''Notitia Dignitatum'', a document describing civil and military offices in the Western Roman Empire around 420 and in the Eastern Roman Empire in 395 circa, records the existence of the ''Primani iuniores'' under the command of the ''comes Britanniarum'', therefore within the ''comitatus'' of the ''Magister peditum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level milit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Roman Legions
This is a list of Roman legions, including key facts about each legion, primarily focusing on the Principate (early Empire, 27 BC – 284 AD) legions, for which there exists substantial literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence. When Augustus became sole ruler in 31 BC, he disbanded about half of the over 50 legions then in existence. The remaining 28 legions became the core of the early Imperial army of the Principate (27 BC – AD 284), most lasting over three centuries. Augustus and his immediate successors transformed legions into permanent units, staffed by entirely career soldiers on standard 25-year terms. During the Dominate period (near the end of the Empire, 284–476), legions were also professional, but are little understood due to scarcity of evidence compared to the Principate. What is clear is that late legions were radically different in size, structure, and tactical role from their predecessors, despite several retaining early period name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gildonic Revolt
The Gildonic War ( la, Bellum Gildonicum) was a rebellion in the year 398 led by ''Comes'' Gildo against Roman emperor Honorius. The revolt was subdued by Stilicho, the ''magister militum'' of the Western Roman empire. Background Revolt of Firmus Gildo was a Berber by birth, the son of the immensely rich and prestigious Moorish lord Nubel.Edward Gibbon, ''The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', (The Modern Library, 1932), chap. XXIX., p. 1,040 Under the reign of Valentinian I, Nubel's death resulted in a succession dispute between his sons, and Gildo's brother Firmus emerged victorious, after assassinating his brother Zamma. But when the governor of Africa, the unpopular count Romanus, disputed Firmus' claim, the latter used his influence, and the effects of the public outrage at Romanus' maladministration, to raise the province into open revolt, and only the swift response of the Imperial court and the energetic conduct of the general Theodosius prevented the provinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Africa (Roman Province)
Africa Proconsularis was a Roman province on the northern African coast that was established in 146 BC following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of Algeria, and the coast of western Libya along the Gulf of Sirte. The territory was originally inhabited by Berber people, known in Latin as ''Mauri'' indigenous to all of North Africa west of Egypt; in the 9th century BC, Phoenicians built settlements along the Mediterranean Sea to facilitate shipping, of which Carthage rose to dominance in the 8th century BC until its conquest by the Roman Republic. It was one of the wealthiest provinces in the western part of the Roman Empire, second only to Italy. Apart from the city of Carthage, other large settlements in the province were Hadrumetum (modern Sousse, Tunisia), capital of Byzacena, and Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Algeria). History Rome's first province in northern Africa was establishe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magister Militum
(Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the emperor remaining the supreme commander) of the empire. In Greek sources, the term is translated either as ''strategos'' or as '' stratelates''. Establishment and development of the command The title of ''magister militum'' was created in the 4th century, when the emperor Constantine the Great deprived the praetorian prefects of their military functions. Initially two posts were created, one as head of the infantry, as the ''magister peditum'' ("master of foot"), and one for the more prestigious cavalry, the ''magister equitum'' ("master of horse"). The latter title had existed since republican times, as the second-in-command to a Roman ''dictator''. Under Constantine's successors, the title was also established at a territoria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scholae Palatinae
The ''Scholae Palatinae'' (literally "Palatine Schools", in gr, Σχολαί, Scholai) were an elite military guard unit, usually ascribed to the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great as a replacement for the ''equites singulares Augusti'', the cavalry arm of the Praetorian Guard. The ''Scholae'' survived in Roman and later Byzantine service until they disappeared in the late 11th century, during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos. 4th–7th centuries: imperial guards History and structure During the early 4th century, ''Caesar'' Flavius Valerius Severus attempted to disband the remaining units of the Praetorian Guard on the orders of Galerius. In response, the Praetorians turned to Maxentius, the son of the retired emperor Maximian, and proclaimed him their emperor on 28 October 306. When Constantine the Great (), launching an invasion of Italy in 312, forced a final confrontation at the Milvian Bridge, the Praetorian cohorts made up the most prominent element of Maxentius' ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine I
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea (now Niš, Serbia), he was the son of Flavius Constantius, a Roman army officer of Illyrian origin who had been one of the four rulers of the Tetrarchy. His mother, Helena, was a Greek Christian of low birth. Later canonized as a saint, she is traditionally attributed with the conversion of her son. Constantine served with distinction under the Roman emperors Diocletian and Galerius. He began his career by campaigning in the eastern provinces (against the Persians) before being recalled in the west (in AD 305) to fight alongside his father in Britain. After his father's death in 306, Constantine became emperor. He was acclaimed by his army at Eboracum ( York, England), and eventually emerged victorious in the civil wars against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
