Legionary Recruitment and Veteran Settlement During the Principate by J.C. Mann Margaret M Roxan

Author:J.C. Mann, Margaret M Roxan [J.C. Mann, Margaret M Roxan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780905853116
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 1983-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

RECRUITMENT UNDER THE FLAVIANS AND TRAJAN

Under the Flavians and Trajan, the numbers of Italians willing to serve in the legions steadily declined, in spite of the increase in pay under Domitian and the increase in the praemia awarded to veterans which no doubt accompanied it. That Vespasian did not deliberately exclude Italians has been sufficiently proved by Forni 1953: (cf. esp. 65-75).558 Of the more Romanised provinces of the west, Africa normally supplied men to the African legion only (apart from a few men to Egypt), and Spain now only to those of Spain and Britain, with a very few to Germany. Narbonensis, with no legionary garrison of its own to supply, still supplied men to almost every part of the empire, although the number began to decline in this period. In fact, only in Britain and Spain did their numbers exceed those of the Italians. The conditions which deterred Italians from legionary service apparently had the same effect in Narbonensis.

The distribution of recruits was still apparently centrally controlled, and the evidence, although often limited, offers some suggestions as to the controlling factors. In all of the western and Danube provinces, Italians still appear. In Africa and Spain, the number of Italians was small, since a large number of recruits could be obtained in Africa and Spain respectively: they mainly came from the areas in which intensive settlement from Italy had taken place, and from the veteran colonies in and near those settled areas. But the other provinces had no such abundant local sources on which to draw, and hence had the greatest claim on the ‘central’ sources. Men from Narbonensis, and such men from Spain as were surplus to the requirements of the Spanish legion, accounted for about half of the recruits to the British legions, where they outnumbered the Italians. In Germania Inferior, men from Italy and Narbonensis were about equal in number. But Italians considerably outnumbered men from Narbonensis in the legions of Germania Superior and of the Danube provinces, while Spaniards there were very few. Clearly, men from the ‘central’ sources were distributed, to some extent, on a geographical basis, presumably in order to obviate unnecessary travelling: Narbonensis and Spain were nearer than Italy to Britain, and to Germania Inferior, but Italy was nearer to the Danube provinces. Further, since the total number of recruits available from Narbonensis must have been smaller than the total available from Italy, and since men from Narbonensis were primarily needed for Britain and Germania Inferior, Italians predominate in Germania Superior, even though it is near Narbonensis.

All the western and Danube provinces, except Britain, began to receive legionary recruits from more local sources in this period. Little Roman settlement had taken place in Britain itself, and the only important source on which its legions drew, in addition to those mentioned above, was Noricum. This province supplied men to Germany also, but here local recruits - from Colonia Agrippina and later Colonia Trajana - were just beginning to appear. Pannonia also had

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