Cohors quarta Gallorum equitata ("4th part-mounted Cohort of Gauls") was a Roman auxiliary cohort containing both infantry and cavalry contingents.

History

It was probably raised in

Gallia Lugdunensis () was a province of the Roman Empire in what is now the modern country of France, part of the Celtic territory of Gaul formerly known as Celtica. It is named after its capital Lugdunum (today's Lyon), possibly Roman Europe's major city west of ...

by emperor

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

(30 BC – 14 AD). It is first attested in

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballi ...

in 75 AD and was still in

Moesia Inferior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballi ...

in 105. It therefore probably took part in emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

's Dacian Wars (99–106). After a brief stay in

Thracia Thracia or Thrace () is the ancient name given to the southeastern Balkans, Balkan region, the land inhabited by the Thracians. Thrace was ruled by the Odrysian kingdom during the Classical Greece, Classical and Hellenistic period, Hellenis ...

(where it is attested in 114), it was transferred to

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

not later than 122. In Britannia, the regiment was stationed in various forts. In the 3rd century it is attested, from 213 onwards, in the fort at

Vindolanda Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort ('' castrum'') just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD. Located near th ...

(Chesterholm) near

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

, but the regiment's inscriptions have also been found, undatable, at Risingham, Templeborough, Castlehill, Castlesteads and High Rochester. According to Holder, the sequence was Castlehill 144–60, Risingham 160–80 and then at Vindolanda. Castlehill was a fort on the

Antonine Wall The Antonine Wall () was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twenty years after Hadrian's Wall to the south ...

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the forested region in the central and western Scottish Highlands, particularly stretching through parts of what are now Lochaber, Badenoch, Strathspey, and possibly as ...

(Scotland) that was held for only 20 years by the Romans. Its last datable attestation is in 276-82 at Vindolanda. But the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') 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 ...

'', a late Roman official document, records a ''cohors IV Gallorum'' at Vindolanda under the dux Britanniarum, the commander of ''

limitanei The ''limitanei'' (Latin, also called ''ripenses''), meaning respectively "the soldiers in frontier districts" (from the Latin word '' limes'' meaning frontier) or "the soldiers on the riverbank" (from the Rhine and Danube), were an important par ...

'' (border forces) along

. The Western section of the ''Notitia'' was drawn up in the 420's but the British units must date to before 410, when the island was evacuated by the Roman army. The names of ten ''praefecti'' (regimental commanders) are preserved, of which the origin of just one is certain: Quintus Petronius Urbicus from Brixia (

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

) in northern Italy (). Of the common ranks, the origin of just one is known: an Illyrian ''eques'' (common cavalryman), C. Iulius Valens of the Tralli tribe, attested in 114.Spaul (2000) 164

Citations

References

* Holder, Paul ''Studies in the Auxilia of the Roman Army'' (1980) * Holder, Paul ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'' 79 (1997) * Spaul, John ''COHORS 2'' (2000) {{Authority control Military of ancient Rome Auxiliary equitata units of ancient Rome

History

See also

Citations

References