CARVORAN AND YORK OF ROMAN DALMATIAN MILITARY UNITS: WERE ONE OF THESE PLACES THE ORIGIN OF THE ARTHUR NAME?

York and Carvoran in Relation to Four Arthurian Battle Sites, Including Camboglanna/Castlesteads

The Multangular Tower is a remnant of the Roman Legionary fortress (http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/yorkshire/york_walls_eboracum.html)

Originally built to protect the junction between the Stanegate Road and Maiden Way, Carvoran Roman Fort (known as Magna) later became part of the defences associated with Hadrian’s Wall and the northern frontier of the Roman Empire (http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/north_east/roman_army_museum_carvoran.html)

In previous articles, I've shown pretty conclusively that the 2nd century Roman officer Lucius Artorius Castus, who served in Britain as prefect of the Sixth Legion at York, was of Dalmatian origin.  Furthermore, commanders with whom he was directly or indirectly associated also seemed to have been born in Dalmatia. For these pieces, see the following links:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/07/lucius-artorius-castus-no-sarmatian.html

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/10/lucius-artorius-castus-birth-and-death.html

A related question concerns the presence in Britain during the late Roman period of Dalmatian military units.  Such units are attested in several places, and in garrison at three.  Two forts in particular are of potential interest to us when it comes to exploring how the Roman/Latin name Artorius happened to appear in Northern Britain in 5th-6th century under its native spelling of Arthur.  

These forts are Carvoran and York. The first definitely housed a Dalmatian cohort.  I have mentioned that a memorial stone there was erected in honor of a woman from Salona in Dalmatia - the birthplace of Lucius Artorius Castus.  York is a bit more problematic, as while the actual legionary fortress was the headquarters of the Sixth, there is a good possibility the colonia across the river (the Praesidium of the NOTITIA DIGNITATUM?) was garrisoned by Dalmatian cavalry.  A corrupt Welsh TRIAD states that an Arthur Penuchel or 'the Overlord' (translation Professor Patrick Ford) was a son of Eliffer of York.  

I've pointed out that Carvoran is the next Hadrian's Wall fort to the east of Banna/Birdoswald, which I selected as Arthur's most likely birthplace in my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY.  Camboglanna/Castlesteads, Arthur's Camlan, is immediately to the west of Banna and is, like the latter fort, in the Irthing Valley.  The Irthing may be derived from the Cumbric word for bear, and the Artenses or 'People of the Bear' (a tribal designation preserved in the Arthwys of Welsh tradition) almost certainly resided in this valley.  The name Arthur is linked to arth, 'bear', in early Welsh poetry.  The prominence given to the draco in the admittedly questionable Galfridian tradition prompted me to look towards the Dacian garrison at Banna as the home of Arthur's father Uther Pendragon. 

Now, on the one hand, all of these seeming correspondences could merely be coincidence.  If they are and we cannot support the argument for actual ethnic continuation as a means of explaining the presence of the Artorius name in sub-Roman northern Britain[1], how could we best account for Arthur there at that time?

Well, we need only accept the proposition that, say, the sub-Roman population inhabiting the area about Carvoran had inherited the Artorius name from the earlier period.  In other words, the name alone was passed down through the generations.  The presence of the neighboring Artenses or 'People of the Bear', and a Cumbric tendency to relate the name Artorius/Arthur to their own word for bear, 'arth', may have prompted the chieftain ruling from Banna in the Irthing Valley (viz. the 'terrible/horrible chief-dragon') to adopt Arthur as his son's name. He may have been related to the people at/near Carvoran. We might go further with an unprovable, but intriguing supposition, i.e. that Uther's wife and Arthur's mother came from Carvoran. In which case, she would have brought the Arthur name with her.  We should remember that Carvoran is only 3 miles east of Birdoswald.

Obviously, we cannot discount the colonia of York as either the birthplace of Arthur or the home of his mother. We lack evidence for the occupation of Carvoran in the sub-Roman period, yet can easily supply proof of such for York. Still, given the significant geographical gap, establishing a connection between Banna and York seems a great deal more tentative.  The Welsh genealogies, however, had no problem with the additional distance, for they made Arthwys (the man of the 'People of the Bear') the father of Eliffer of York.  

We should also bear in mind the Constantine said by Geoffrey of Monmouth to be the father of Uther Pendragon, a personage derived primarily from the usurping emperor Constantine III.  This Constantine - hailing as he did from Britain - had consciously modelled himself after Constantine the Great (so much so that he named or, rather, renamed his sons after those of his more famous predecessor).  Constantine the Great is intimately associated with York. His father died there and he was proclaimed emperor there.  In Welsh tradition, Constantine father of Uther is given the epithet Waredwr, 'Deliverer, Liberator'.  This matches the Liberator title taken by Constantine the Great, which is found in Greek sources as eleutherios.  Eliffer of York is a Welsh form of Eleutherius.  I mentioned above that a corrupt Welsh TRIAD gives an Arthur as son of this Eliffer.  We know that Eliffer belongs to York not only because of his Welsh epithet ('of the Great Retinue', a poetic reference to the legion at York), but because in later Welsh literature his son Peredur is called son of Ebrauc/Efrawg, the latter being an obvious eponym for Eboracum, the Roman name of York.  

And I keep coming back to the rather remarkable Dalmatian presence in Roman Britain before and during the time of LAC:  Julius Severus, a Dalmatian, served as governor.  Statius Priscus, the governor at the time of LAC, was quite probably Dalmatian and served under Severus.  He may have been hand-picked for the governorship by Severus.  Severus's son Julius Verus also served as British governor.  Thus at least for this period some of the top positions in Britain were held by Dalmatians. 

Finally, we must not forget that LAC most likely derived considerable fame not only from his actions in Armenia, but by heroic deeds performed while he was in Britain.  This is LAC’s career as arranged by Miletic (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330926088_Lucius_Artorius_Castus_i_Liburnia):

dies natalis c. 104 miles 121-135 centurio legionis III Gallicae 135-138 centurio legionis VI Ferratae 139-142 centurio legionis II Adiutricis 143-146 centurio legionis V Macedonicae 147-150 primus pilus legionis V Macedonicae 151 praepositus classis Misenatium 152-154 praefectus castrorum legionis VI Victricis 155-162 dux legionariorum  et auxiliorum  Britannicorum adversus Armenios 162-166 procurator centenarius provinciae Liburniae 167-174

While these dates are broad, general estimates, let us assume the years for LAC in Britain in close to being correct.  I have these things as happening -

c. 157 (or even earlier; see Anthony Birley's THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN)

Gnaeus Julius Verus, Governor

Brigantes subdued

c. 158 Antonine Wall permanently abandoned

Reconstruction of Hadrian's Wall commences

160

. . . ]anus Lep. [ . . . ] =?[M(arcus) Pisib]an(i)us

Lep. [idus], Governor

161/2

Marcus Statius Priscus, Governor

In other words, LAC almost certainly played a role in major operations along both Walls.  This would have been more than enough to earn him significant glory and to cause his name to be heralded among fellow Dalmatians.  

I took my question on the survival of the Artorius name either at or near Carvoran or York  - versus actual ethnic continuity within a population at least in part descended from a Dalmatian garrison - to Professor Doctor Drazen Marsic of The University of Zadar (http://www.unizd.hr/arheologija/djelatnici/drazen-marsic).  His reply was very supportive:

"As far as I know about the subject of LAC and from the data you presented to me I think your theory has a good basis. If the LAC gained fame in Britain and if there were Dalmatians in the garrisons there, and there were, then the story of him had to / could remain in the oral tradition of local population - Dalmatian, mixed, it doesn't matter. I think the gradual loss of the Dalmatian character of the dalmatian units is not crucial on the issue. But I have a feeling that if this really happened the name Artorius / Arthur could have had some meaning close to the some word / name in local language. And maybe that also helped in the preserving of LAC's memory. Everything said here works if the LAC was Dalmatian. Artorii in Dalmatia have been followed only since the 2nd century AD and according to the opinion of my colleague prof. Glavičić [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269990062_Artorii_u_rimskoj_provinciji_Dalmaciji_The_Artorii_in_the_Roman_Province_of_Dalmatia] LAC could be the founder of a branch of Artorius family in Dalmatia... But I suppose he did not know about Marcianus' inscription from Adana province. And yes, it's really interesting one and it might be worth examining whether there were other Dalmatians in the legion of XII Keraunophoros." 

Roger Tomlin merely said, "I can't deny the possibility, of course." 

If we may allow for the name Artorius having been transmitted through the centuries in Northern Britain, then the most likely place for that to have happened would have been Carvoran (see the italicized section of Dr. Tomasz Dziurdzik's statement in Note 1 below). While such transmission cannot be proven to have occurred, I do think for the reasons expressed above that it is a reasonable assumption.  

[1]

Professor Roger Tomlin on the possibility of ethnic/cultural continuation among Dalmatian units in Roman Britain:

"I agree that Artorius Castus likely came from Salona, but his name is Italian and he would have been descended from a legionary veteran settled there. His name would not have been regarded as distinctively 'Dalmatian'.

The Carvoran tombstone (Magnis being garrisoned by Dalmatians) does indeed show a connection with Salona, but if the woman was married to a serving soldier, she would be third-century. Trouble is, the Second Cohort of Dalmatians came to Britain at the Conquest, and it is most unlikely that it recruited from Dalmatia for centuries afterwards. The only member whose origin I know is the recipient of the diploma of AD 135, and he came from Trier. The bulk of the evidence shows that frontier units recruited locally – true, many recruits would have been descended from earlier members of the unit, so you may have some Dalmatian DNA, not that they would have known it – and I can't imagine that a 'Dalmatian' tradition lasted for centuries at Carvoran or elsewhere.

Likewise the equites Dalmatae at Praesidium. These units are thought to be originally detachments from Gallienus' field army when it was broken up. Centuries of continued recruitment from Dalmatia is most unlikely.

A Latin nomen such as Artorius would be transmitted by descent, by manumission of slaves, as a compliment to the patron who gained one citizenship. None of these mechanisms seems likely with a mid-second century officer in Britain whose military distinction was only achieved after he had left Britain. 

I am all for continuity, but I don't think we can accept this one."

And the following from Dr. Tomasz Dziurdzik of the University of Warsaw, who has studied the Dalmatian Roman units in detail:

"Please take into consideration that I am by no means an expert on Britannia, however, if I can offer you some of my thoughts, I would suggest the following:

1. the name Artorius indeed appears several times in Dalmatia, but it seems to be limited to the part of the population of non-native descent - the settlers from Italia. Not only the name itself is of foreign origin, but the assumption that it was only used by this part of Dalmatia's population is strengthened by several factors. Firstly, there is no example I can find of the name attested in an inscription from the hinterland (where there were fewer Italic settlers than on the coast). Moreover, it is never present in an inscription together with any names that are considered "local" (mostly Illyrian). Additionally, when it is used, the persons mentioned in the inscriptions bear names which follow the Roman naming practices, and the use of tria nomina suggests that they were Roman citizens - which is of importance for further consideration. I believe that "LAC" himself was of settler origin and from an onomastic point of view should be viewed as an "outside" element in his native province.

2. Turning to the "Dalmatian" elements in Britannia, the problem with Late Roman "Dalmatian" units is that they had little or virtually no connection to Dalmatia at all. The units at Branodunum and Praesidio belonged to the class of "equites Dalmatae". They were either created from a part of the original formation (which was named after the place it was probably organized from remnants of other units, not after the ethnic origin of soldiers) and sent to Britannia; or created in Britannia as an emulation of a particular class of light cavalry. So far I haven't been able to find a single soldier of the entire class in the whole Empire who I could say with any degree of confidence was of Dalmatian origin. On the contrary, there are multiple cases of non-Dalmatians serving in such units, and in most of those cases they were recruited somewhere in the near vicinity of where the unit was garrisoned. 

As such I believe only the unit at Magnis could possibly be considered for your idea, as it is a cohort from the early Principate (cohors II Delmatarum), when ethnic/regional recruitment was a thing. Indeed it appears that there were still ethnic Dalmatians in the unit when it arrived there in the early 2nd century (or earlier, the exact date is not really clear from what I see). It may be possible that some kind of "cultural memory" existed in the area they were garrisoned, especially if some of them arrived with their spouses, but it would be difficult to prove without a very detailed study - and very much dependant on the available evidence. Even if so, if naming customs could survive 400+ years in a community surrounded by "others" is another question in itself... Especially since later recruitment, while often included sons of soldiers, would contribute to the constant "dilution" of the original ethnic composition of the unit, as would intermarriage with neighbouring groups.

3. However, I strongly believe that the people serving in this unit would not be using the name Artorius at all. The group which would use the name Artorius in Dalmatia, the Italic settlers, would simply not contribute to the unit. In the early Principate, when regional recruitment was still practiced for this unit, it was the non-citizens who would be drafted in Dalmatia. It was in fact a matter of policing the provincial population - sending some of the young men of the most unreliable part of the population away from their area of origin decreased the chances of any unrest. As such, if any traditional names were to survive among the offsprings of soldiers from Dalmatia in Britannia, I believe it would be the names they themselves carried, the "local" names.

To sum up, I think that unfortunately the possibility of the "Dalmatian connection" for the name Artorius arriving in Britain, surviving long enough and turning into Arthur is too weak to follow. I understand how you came to this interesting idea, but unfortunately the combination of local, Dalmatian realities & the way Roman recruitment worked make it rather impossible."

And this from Professor Dino Dimicheli from the University of Zagreb:

 "I'm glad you're trying to expand some new thoughts and ideas about

Artorius and Dalmatian population in Roman Britain.

The Artorius' place of origin is Salona or its surroundings, several

scholars pointed to that. Beside the most popular inscription, there is

another one mentioning his achievements from the second half of his

career.  I presume you're familiar with the volume published after the

international conference about Artorius held in Podstrana.

The linguistic path from Artorius to Arthur is explainable, but one of the

most acceptable theories to link these two characters (if there is a link

at all) is that the name Artorius should be understood as a title whic was

given to the extraordinary individuals for their bravery or some similar

qualities. It means that Artorius was so popular for his achievements

among the population in Britain that he became a legend and his name

remained as a metaphor for a man with exceptional leading qualities.

I don't know if the members of Dalmatian cohorts garrisoned in Britain had

some active role in keeping this legend alive, but I must say that in that

period (late 2nd century and later) I'm not sure how many Dalmatians we

can expect in the Dalmatian cohort in Britain. Namely, after one or two

generations of its establisment, almost every national cohort recruited

its newcomers either locally or from other provinces. After more than a

century of its establishment the name does not prove the ethnic majority

of the cohort. I can't claim that in second half of the 2nd century

Dalmatian peregrines didn't serve in Britain in larger scale, but

onomastic picture doesn't corroborate this because of the small number of

monuments. Aurelia Aia, which you mentioned, is only an indirect proof

that in the 3rd century there were Dalmatians served in Britain.

Unfortunately, we don't was it Dalmatian cohort or some other unit.

Your opinion does have sense in theory, and it is very interesting, but at

this moment is a bit stretched since one cannot confirm it due to the lack

of the epigraphic monuments.

Though, it seems that the Dalmatian generals were quite popular in Britain

during second century :) You mentioned Sextus Julius Severus, his son was

also governor there, than Artorius (although not as senator). In the third

century there was Desidienus Aemilianus*, prefect (perhaps of cohort I

Tungrorum, RIB 1589), who also could have been from Salona.

You've mentioned the possible Dalmatian origin of M. Statius Priscus.

The Statii were quite important family in Dalmatia, especially in Risinium."

* J. Wilkes, http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10470/2/10470_7267-vol2.PDF: "The prefect at Housesteads (of I Tungrorum) bears an unusual nomen not found in any province except Dalmatia where Desidieni occur

amonst the honestiores of Salonae.  The name appears to be manufactured from an Illyrian root and we can confidently suggest a Dalmatian origo for the prefect at Housesteads."  

Housesteads or Vercovicium is near the center of Hadrian's Wall.