Cohors tertia Delmatarum equitata civium Romanorum pia fidelis ("3rd part-mounted Cohort of

Dalmatae The Delmatae, alternatively Dalmatæ, during the Roman period, were a group of Illyrian tribes in Dalmatia, contemporary southern Croatia and western Bosnia and Herzegovina. The region of Dalmatia takes its name from the tribe. The Delmatae ap ...

Roman citizens, dutiful and loyal", abbreviated ''COH III D''), was a

Roman auxiliary The (, lit. "auxiliaries") were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of inf ...

cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit) ...

mixed infantry and cavalry unit. 300px, Tombstone of ''Tiberius Claudius Halotus'', erected by his father ''Claudius Iustus'' ()

Origins

It was named after the

, an Illyrian-speaking tribe that inhabited the Adriatic coastal mountain range of the eponymous

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, stre ...

. The ancient geographer Strabo describes these mountains as extremely rugged, and the Dalmatae as backward and warlike. He claims that they did not use money long after their neighbours adopted it and that they "made war on the Romans for a long time". He also criticises the Dalmatae, a nation of pastoralists, for turning fertile plains into sheep pasture. The name of the tribe itself is believed to mean "shepherds", derived from the Illyrian word ''delme'' ("sheep"). The final time this people fought against Rome was in the Illyrian revolt of 6–9AD. The revolt was started by Dalmatae auxiliary forces and soon spread all over

and

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...

. The resulting war was described by the Roman writer

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

as the most difficult faced by Rome since the

Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars between 264 and 146BC fought between Rome and Carthage. Three conflicts between these states took place on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region and involved a total of forty-three ye ...

two centuries earlier. But after the war, the Dalmatae became a loyal and important source of recruits for the Roman army. The regiment was probably raised by founder-emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

() after 9AD. Its early movements are unknown. According to Holder, a total of 12 ''cohortes Delmatarum'' appear to have been raised after the suppression of the Illyrian revolt in two series, of seven and five respectively. All these units were in existence by the time of emperor Claudius ()Holder (1980) 112 Of these, nine appear to have survived into the 2nd century.Spaul (2000) 302-14

Home base

It first appears in the datable epigraphic record in 80, in

Germania Superior Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesontio ...

. It was still there in 134. Not later than 179, it was transferred to Dacia where it remained at least until 257–260, the time of its last datable inscription, a stone dedicated to the safety of emperor

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; c. 218 – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empi ...

(r. 260–268). Shortly afterwards, Dacia was definitively evacuated by the Roman army and the regiment presumably withdrawn. Brick or tile stamps of this regiment have been found at the following Roman forts in Germania Superior, at

Rottweil Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years. Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,000 ...

, Oberscheidenthal, Grosskrotzenburg, Rückingen,

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, all on the line of the

Main Main may refer to: Geography *Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries * ...

river. Attestations have also been found at Martinsfeld (

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the nort ...

) and

Colonia Agrippina Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium was the Roman colony in the Rhineland from which the city of Cologne, now in Germany, developed. It was usually called ''Colonia'' (colony) and was the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inferior and t ...

(

Germania Inferior Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed Germania Secunda in the fourth century, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Agrippine ...

). In Dacia the unit has left traces at

Dierna ''Dierna'' is a genus of moths of the family Erebidae erected by Francis Walker in 1859. Description Palpi with second joint upcurved, slender and reaching above vertex of head. Third joint long and acute. Thorax and abdomen smoothly scaled ...

,Academia Română: Istoria Românilor, Vol. 2, Daco-romani, romanici, alogeni, 2nd. Ed., București 2010, castra of Moldova Veche,

Sucidava Sucidava (Sykibid, Skedevà after Procopius,Olga Karagiorgou Σucidava after Vasile Pârvan, where Σ is pronounced "sh"Pârvan - știri din Dacia Malvensis http://www.cimec.ro/Arheologie/ParvanArticole/ParvanStiriNouaDinDaciaMalvensis.pdf)) ...

Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa was the capital and the largest city of Roman Dacia, later named ''Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa'' after the former Dacian capital, located some 40 km away. Built on the ground of a camp of th ...

, Praetorium (Mehadia)Mihail Macrea, Nicoale Gudea, Iancu Moțu - ''Praetorium - Castrul și așezarea romană de la Mehadia'', Ed. Academiei Române, 1993Constantin C. Petolescu: Dacia - Un mileniu de istorie, Ed. Academiei Române, 2010, Petru Ureche: Tactică, strategie și specific de luptă la cohortele equitate din Dacia Romană
/ref> and

Porolissum Porolissum was an ancient Roman city in Dacia. Established as a military camp in 106 during Trajan's Dacian Wars, the city quickly grew through trade with the native Dacians and became the capital of the province Dacia Porolissensis in 124. The s ...

. The latter are the only datable evidence, for early/mid-3rd century.Spaul (2000) 305

Soldiers

The name of one ''

praefectus ''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) but ...

'' (unit commander), one ''

signifer A ''signifer'' () was a standard bearer of the Roman legions. He carried a ''signum'' ( standard) for a cohort or century. Each century had a ''signifer'' so there were 59 in a legion. Within each cohort, the first century's ''signifer'' would ...

'' (standard-bearer) and three '' caligati'' (common soldiers) are attested: * Aurelius Cornelius – '' veteranus'' * Aurelius Proculinus – ''signifer'' * Aurelius Surus – ''miles'' * Antestinus Valentius – ''miles''

Name and titles

The regiment's ''c.R.'' title does not appear in the record until 222–35, but must have been granted considerably earlier, as after 212 all inhabitants of the empire were granted Roman citizenship. The regiment also appears to have acquired a number of titles. ''Pia fidelis'' first appears in 116. In 222, it was referred to as ''Alexandriana'' after emperor

Severus Alexander Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself wa ...

(r.). In 257, it was called ''Valeriana Galliena'' after Gallienus. At that time it is also referred to as ''milliaria'' (double-strength), likely a late upgrading. The last epigraphical record mentioning the unit dates around 268.

Citations

References