Lucius Artorius Castus and Warfare in Britain

Hadrian's Wall

According to my final theory, the prefecture of Lucius Artorius Castus over the Sixth Legion can first be dated to the governorship of Statius Priscus.  I base this solely on the probability that LAC, with legionary detachments from Britain, accompanied the governor to Armenia in the early 160s.  

The action in Armenia was completed, so far as can tell, in 163.  Had LAC and his men proceeded to the next phase of the war in Parthia, he would have put this on his stone.  We also know that after his Armenia victory, Statius Priscus "is not heard of again, and may have died soon afterwards [Anthony Birley, THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN]."  It is reasonable to assume that LAC returned to Britain with his men and resumed his duties with the Sixth.

Because the Dark Age Arthur (British form of the Latin Artorius) appears to have been born at Ribchester, site of the Roman fort of the Sarmatian veterans, we can really only explain the survival of the name there by postulating the fame of the 2nd century Lucius Artorius Castus among the Sarmatian troops sent to Britain by Marcus Aurelius in 175.  Professor Roger Tomlin has expressed his opinion that had LAC been commissioned into the centuriate, he could well have still be serving in Britain in 175.  He did not think we could further extend LAC's tenure as prefect of the Sixth to 185, the time of the deputation of British troops to Rome and their execution of Perennis.

This leads us, naturally, to wonder what action LAC may have seen inside Britain.  While anything we come up with for this is speculation, we can at least establish a fairly detailed chronology which contains within it several possible major military events.  To discover what these events were, I will quote here from passages on several British governors from Anthony Birley's THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN.  References to war in Britain are highlighted.  Note that the references we have are presented to us in very general terms.  No specifics are given.  Trying to "flesh out" these references, while an amusing imaginative exercise, cannot be viewed as anything more than possibilities, some of which we may deem as being more plausible than others. Efforts to define LAC's role during this time period in detailed terms that are presented to us as a factual account should be discounted as impassioned fictions.   

I hasten to add that while there are those who would try to make more out of LAC than a prefect of the Sixth, and even to try and fill one of the "gaps" in the governor list with LAC as acting governor, there is no evidence for this, and no good argument for it, either.  The attaining of either legate status or the assuming of the role of governor would have been mentioned on his memorial stone.  As they are not, this simply did not happen, and claiming that they did is not only indefensible, but utterly fanciful.

161 Marcus Statius, Marci filius, Claudia, Priscus Licinius

Italicus (cos. ord. 159)

It may have been the sudden death of a recently appointed governor of
Britain (Gov. 28), or perhaps just the difficult military situation in the north of
the province, that led the emperors to transfer [Statius] Priscus there soon 

after their accession. As stated by the HA: ‘a British war was also threatening’ 

in 161 (M. Ant. Phil. 8. 7) and had to be dealt with by Priscus’ successor (Gov. 30).⁷

161/2–163– Sextus Calpurnius Agricola (cos. 154)

Agricola’s consulship, once assigned to 159, can now be dated to September
154.⁸⁴ He is next recorded as governor of Upper Germany in 158, probably
soon after the beginning of his term of office.⁸⁵ The context of the sentence in
the HA which refers to his dispatch ‘against the Britons’ suggests that he was
replaced in Germany by Aufidius Victorinus and transferred to Britain in
autumn 161 or early 162 at the very latest.⁸⁶ It indicates that there were hostilities

 in progress in Britain (already referred to in HA M. Ant. Phil. 8. 7, quoted 

under Gov. 29).⁸⁷ A mention in Polyaenus’ Strategica (6, pr.) of ‘the Britons 

being defeated’ may refer to this war, since the work was dedicated to 

Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus in 162. From the inscription at Ribchester 

it can be inferred that he took some extra cavalry from Germany with him—unless
they had been sent under one of his predecessors.

The dedication at Corbridge firmly dates his governorship to the year 163
and has already disposed of the possibility that he was the predecessor of
Priscus, rather than his successor.⁸⁸ The distribution of his inscriptions, at
Carvoran on Hadrian’s Wall, and Vindolanda, just south of the wall, as well
as at Corbridge, also at Ribchester, and perhaps at Hardknott, in north-west
England, indicates that Hadrian’s Wall and the Pennines were occupied at the
time. It now seems clear that the Antonine Wall had been given up under
Julius Verus several years earlier (see under Gov. 27).

At least one unknown governor must be postulated between Calpurnius

Agricola and Antistius Adventus.

c.172–174/5? Quintus Antistius Adventus

His governorship of Lower Germany is the latest post recorded on the cursus inscription 

from Thibilis. His presence is recorded in the province by his dedication at Vectio to a series 

of deities appropriate to the troubled times.¹⁰⁵ If he did go to Lower Germany 

c.169 or 170, he probably moved to Britain— by this period a sequence of offices 

for which there was ample precedent— about three years later. At least one 

unknown governor must be postulated in the interval between Calpurnius 

Agricola and Adventus, whose governorship may be tentatively assigned to 

c.172–5 or 173–6. The HA refers to ‘the threat of a British war’ (M. Ant. Phil. 22. 1), 

apparently a second one under Marcus Aurelius, in a context that seems to 

refer to the early 170s.¹⁰⁶ Further, Adventus may have had the task of absorbing 

into the army of the province the 5,500 Sarmatians sent to Britain following 

M. Aurelius’ armistice with that people in 175 (Dio 71. 16. 2). The need for 

the governor to give attention to the military districts of the province may explain 

the appointment of a iuridicus, datable to the period c.172–5, Sabucius Major (iurid. 5).

32. c.174/5–177? (Caerellius) (cos. a. inc.)

His governorship of Britain would then run from c.175 to 177—for in the latter 

year, at latest in the autumn, it may now be argued that Ulpius Marcellus (Gov. 33) 

had taken over in Britain.

28 March 178, 184 Lucius(?) Ulpius Marcellus (cos. c.173?)

However, the new Antonine Wall seems only to have been occupied for 

about twenty years and Hadrian’s Wall, with a few outposts forts to its north, 

became the frontier again from c.158 (see under Gov. 27). Further fighting in 

the north is attested under Marcus Aurelius (see Gov. 29–30). Soon after Commodus’
accession the province was invaded by the northern peoples ‘crossing the
Wall’, who killed a Roman general. The war was ended by Ulpius Marcellus
(Gov. 33) in 184, when Commodus took the title Britannicus.