AELIUS DRACO THE DACIAN AND THE BANNA/BIRDOSWALD ROMAN FORT OF UTHER PENDRAGON

NOTE: Since publishing this piece, I have had the following response on the matter from Professor Roger Tomlin:

"I don't really have anything to add to my original publication of the bowl in Britannia 35 (2004). I cite the imperial freedman Aelius Draco there. He would be an important bureaucrat, but Rome-based and unlikely to visit Hadrian's Wall, then commission the Pan and lose it in Staffordshire. Also, as you know, he is 'Antonine', so rather late for the building of the Wall.

The Pan is published by the British Museum on their site (Inv. no. 2005, 1204.1) – britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_2005-1204-1 – which cites the full publication and discussion by Flügel and Breeze. I don't have this – I only read a draft of it – but they argue that Aelius Draco was a military surveyor, hence the emphasis on rigore.

As I say in my Britannia entry, the name 'Aelius Draco' might well identify an auxiliary soldier called Draco who served on Hadrian's Wall, of which he commissioned a souvenir after being discharged as a veteran in the reign of Hadrian. You can go further if you like, and argue that the name Draco is exclusively Dacian, and thus that he served in the cohors I Dacorum. Since the name is quite widespread, and other people used the draco, I am not entirely happy with this idea. But it is quite possible."

Ilam or Staffordshire Moorlands Pan

A few weeks ago I posted an article about the 'aeli draconis' found on a Roman bronze bowl called the Ilam or Staffordshire Moorlands Pan (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1577008&partId=1).  I had pointed out what to me appeared to be a remarkable coincidence.  For this name- Aelius Draco - was found in place of the Banna listed on both the Amiens Patera and the Rudge Cup.  As Banna was garrisoned by the Aelian Dacians, who sported the draco standard and were the only Aelian regiment serving on the Wall, it seemed to me that the presence of this "Dragon" at Banna might have some bearing on Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon.  Unfortunately, at the time I had not gathered sufficient supporting material to make a really strong case.  As a result, I pulled the piece and embarked on additional research in order to prepare it for republishing at an unknown future date.  

Having since engaged in extensive correspondence with Dr. Mark Hassall, a noted expert on things Roman, I'm happy to say that I'm able to put this post forward once again - secure in the knowledge that it can stand up to scholarly scrutiny. I had initially contacted Dr. Hassall because he is listed as co-author of the following study on the Ilam Pan: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/35459/1/4128635.pdf (pp. 344-45, including the lengthy notes). This article is taken from Britannia Vol 35 92004 and, according to Dr. Hassall, was actually written entirely by Professor Roger Tomlin, perhaps the world's top Roman epigrapher. 

The conventional view, as expressed by Tomlin, is that either 1) ael is for Aelian, and is meant to be connected with the previous word, vallum, giving an otherwise unattested 'Aelian Wall' for what we routinely refer to as Hadrian's Wall or 2) ael is for Aelius, and is part of the fuller personal name-form Aelius Draco.  In support of the first idea is the presence of Pons Aelius, a fort at the eastern end of the Wall.  However, No. 2 is thought to be the more likely reading for this portion of the bowl's inscription.

Without my prompting, and merely out of his own curiosity and desire to help me in my own efforts, Dr. Hassall set about actually trying to identify a known Aelius Draco who fits the bill.  And he succeeded in locating an excellent candidate.  I am pasting below his discussion regarding this man, and will follow that with a statement by his esteemed colleague, Dr. John Nandris, who agrees with Hassall's assessment.

"I agree that it is interesting that Dracones - dragons - are a Dacian symbol (and as such appear on the Column of Trajan - the emperor who preceded Hadrian and defeated the Dacians) ,  and it is an interesting coincidence that there was a unit of Dacians  stationed at Banna.  Perhaps it is not after all a coincidence!  Even if as an imperial freedman Aelius Draco lived under Antoninus Pius, it is possible that he originated as a man called Draco in Dacia - perhaps a nickname  - where he was a slave and that he retained this name as his cognomen - Draco - when made free by Antoninus Pius. As an imperial slave he could have come to Britain under Hadrian in the company of the Dacian auxiliaries - all themselves free men -  But what was he himself or his master doing on Hadrian's Wall? Could Draco or his master have been a military surveyor?  And does the phrase rigore Valli Aeli(i) Draconis refer to a survey of forts at the west end of the wall?

Yesterday I went into the Institute of Classical Studies Library to check one or two things raised by your interesting arguments. Basically I still think Aelius Draco was the name of a  person. Roman citizens as you are no doubt aware, regularly had three names  as for example Gaius Julius Caesar where Gaius is the praenomen or forename, Julius is the nomen or family name /surname, and Caesar is the cognomen, or additional given name. In the case of Aelius Draco the prenomen has been omitted - not unusual. Aelius is the nomen and was the nomen of the emperor Hadrian's family  from whom on this interpretation, Draco or an ancestor received Roman Citizenship, and Draco is the cognomen, so there are no problems about Aelius Draco being the name of the man who had commissioned the construction of the vessel and was its owner - especially as the names are in the genitive case. But could Aelius Draco rather be the name of a place as you suggest? Here as again you are no doubt aware, one thinks of the Roman name of Pons Aelius, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 'the Bridge (Pons) of Aelius (=Hadrian). Draco would then be the equivalent of Pons. But why Draco?   I take your point abut there possible being a Dacian connection for Banna - the name for the fort where Cohors I Aelia (!)  Dacorum was in garrison,  but it still seems odd - unless there was a giant statue of a Dacian Dragon there!!!  Doesn't seem likely, and IF it were a place name the equivalent of Banna, why in the genitive when the other place name are all in the nominative?

So much for this but I thought I would also investigate a little about Draco, the name itself. You point out that the name Draco is rare in the western Roman provinces but is found in Italy, Greece Africa and the Balkans.  This is not in itself a probIem because Aelius Draco could have come from outside Britain and either been stationed on Hadian's Wall or visited it.  thought I would look at the examples of the name from Rome in Vol VI of the Corpus of Latin Inscriptions  (CIL = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.) There I found to my amazement an actual example of the name Aelius Draco!!! - though of course there could be other examples  of the two names together from elsewhere, so this Aelius Draco doesn't have to be the same as the one on the Staffordshire pan, though I personally think it quite likely! The inscription which mentions him was found 'in aedibus Antonini Phrygepani, regione Capitolini - 'in the residence on Antonino Phrygepani (=Frangipani)  in the ares of the Capitol'.

CIL  VI,  part 3 20505                           D  M

                                                     IVLIAE   HELPIDI

                                                   CONIVGI BM FECIT

                                              T. AELIV AVG LIB DRACO                                                    

                                                      ET SIBI ET SVIS

                                                   POSTERIS EORVM

D(is) (Manibus)  Iuliae Helpidi coniugi bene merenti fecit, T(itus) Aeliu(s), Augusti Lib(ertus), Draco et sibi et suis posteris eorum

'To the spirits of the departed of Julia Elpis, well deserving wife, Titus Aelius Draco, freedman of the emperor made this, and for himself  and for their posterity'

Incidentally if he was an actual freedman of Hadrian and got Roman citizenship from him, this would date the vessel to the reign of that emperor - or in theory that of his successor but Hadrian's Wall - or part of it - is  unlikely to have been commemorated on souvenirs after the move to the Antonine Wall.   

If this Aelius Draco is our man what was doing up on Hadrian's Wall? Perhaps acting as some sort of military bureaucrat? And how come that his souvenir ended up in Staffordshire and didn't return to Rome with him?

I realise I made a slip in the email I sent. At the very end I wrote that Ti(tus) Aelius Draco received Roman  citizenship either from the Emperor Hadrian or his successor - Antoninus Pius. In fact it has to be Antoninus Pius because the praenomen of Draco was Ti(tus). The praenomen of Hadrian was P(ublius), and the imperial freedman Draco will have used the praenomen of the emperor from whom he received  Roman Citizenship. The praenomen of Antoninus Pius was Ti(tus) and he was emperor from 138-161.

One thing I can agree on: he may well have been - probably was - a Dacian." [Emphasis mine.]

The following was published in THE TELEGRAPH on 3 October 2003 and was written by Dr. John Nandris:

"I have not handled the fine second-century AD enamelled bronze bowl shown in your report of Oct 1, but it is most unlikely that its owner, Aelius Draco, was a Greek. His Latin name, the link to service on Hadrian's Wall, the date of the bowl and the Celtic style of its decoration all suggest that he was a Dacian. [Again, emphasis mine.]

After the conquest of Dacia by Trajan (103-106), many Dacians served with distinction in the Roman legions on the Wall. Their admiration for Roman culture helped to transmit late provincial Latin into today's Romanian language. Dacians had been in close symbiotic contact with Celts since the fourth century BC, while "Draco" is an allusion to the Dacian battle standard." 

So, what we appear to have here is a Dacian, operating out of Banna, where a Dacian garrison was stationed, who was given the name Draco because of the special significance that monster had for the Dacians in general, and the Dacians at Banna in particular.  

We need only postulate, not at all unrealistically or implausibly, that the dragon and what it represented - both as a Dacian religious/mythological symbol and a Roman battle standard - continued to hold power for the inhabitants of the Banna fort into the sub-Roman period.  This would allow us, ultimately, to trace Uther Pendragon to this military station on the Wall.  I've suggested before that Pendragon may be a literal translation into Welsh of the late Roman military rank of magister draconum.  While this remains possible, and is highly attractive, we could just as easily opt for 'Chief Dragon' as simply an honorific for the leader of the sub-Roman martial elite at Banna.

It was from this Dragon that the famous Dark Age Arthur sprung.  His name, a Roman decknamen, was chosen because Artorius, made famous by the 2nd century dux of York, was likened to the *Arto-/"Bear" name of the river upon which Banna (and Camboglanna) sat.  I've not yet decided where Arthur's power center may have lain.  It could have been one of these two forts in the Irthing Valley or, as I've argued before, at Uxellodunum/Stanwix, the largest cavalry fort in Britain and the command center of the Wall.  Relatively late tradition records an 'Arthur's Burg' at Stanwix (actually, adjoining Etterby, which has no fort or camp).  And given that Pedr/Petrus of Dyfed named a son Arthur, it is tempting to say he did so because the garrison of Stanwix was the Ala Petriana.  The NOTITIA DIGNITATUM calls Uxellodunum "Petrianis".  This has been assumed to be an error, but it may also be a nickname for the fort.  In any case, Stanwix is roughly equidistant between the Irthing Valley, the Carwinley of Gwenddolau and the Aballava/Avalana/"Avalon" Roman fort at Burgh-By-Sands.  My candidate for the Northern Arthur is Ceidio son of Arthwys ('man of the Arth', an eponym for the River Irthing), father of Gwenddolau. Ceidio's hypocoristic name almost certainly originally meant 'Battle-leader', a Cumbric version of the dux bellorum title used to describe Arthur in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM.  So if Ceidio = Arthur, his ruling center should probably be sought at Uxellodunum.  

Dacian or Sarmatian rider with draco from Deva Victrix. In display at Grosvenor Museum.

Photo Courtesy Wikipedia.

NOTE:  In Geoffrey of Monmouth, Uther places one of his dragon standard's in Winchester, the Roman period Venta Belgarum.  I would suggest this might be a reflection of BannaVENTA Bernia, a designation for the Banna Roman fort of the Dacians on Hadrian's Wall.