It has become customary to assume that the approximate date of the procuratorship of Lucius Artorius Castus in Liburnia was 184-185. The date was most firmly established, at least in the minds of Croatian scholars, primarily by J. Medini (https://dokumen.tips/documents/julijan-medini-provincia-liburnia.html).
Dr. Linda A. Malcor and her colleagues (Malcor, L.A., Trinchese, A., Faggiani, A., Missing Pieces: A New Reading of the Main Lucius Artorius Castus Inscription, Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 47, no 3 & 4 Fall/Winter, 2019, pp. 415-437) accept this date as they wish to refute the reading of ARMENIOS for the fragmentary ARM[...]S of the LAC memorial inscription. They need to be able to do this to show that LAC was present in Britain when 5,500 Sarmatians were sent there in AD 175.
Discounting the ARMATOS reading proposed by Malcor (something I have dealt with in detail elsewhere), and accepting ARMENIOS - as all other scholars I've checked with do - we encounter a problem with the later Armenian wars. Tomlin had this to say to me regarding the placement of Lucius Artorius Castus in the reign of either Caracalla or Alexander Severus:
“The British legions contributed to Caracalla's German campaign, to judge by RIB 369, but I don't know any evidence that they contributed further east. Nor, I think, does Birley. He would surely have said so, and I don't know why he didn't suggest Lucius Verus as well.” [NOTE: Birley has since come around to acknowledging Tomlin's judgment on the date of the LAC stone. "Roger has solved this. A pity I didn't see his book [ BRITANNIA ROMANA ROMAN INSCRIPTIONS AND ROMAN BRITAIN, 2018] before I wrote my article ("Viri militares...")."]
This campaign ‘against the Armenians’ has been attributed to the eastern wars of Caracalla or Severus Alexander, but the inscription looks earlier than the third century, and a more attractive attribution is to Statius Priscus’ invasion of Armenia in AD 163."
What main argument does Malcor and colleagues offer to support the late procuratorship date for LAC?
Well, they insist on his dux title being an official rank that, in turns, means he must have been a de facto governnor of Britain. They claim this could only have happened under Commodus. Furthermore, they insist on LAC's movement of three entire legions. I and others have already shown that this is not the case. Dux in this context merely means that he was specially appointed to lead some detachments and, logically speaking, these may well have accompanied governor Statius Priscus from Britain to Armenia. We have plenty of precedents for this use of dux in the period.
Fergus Miller in his THE ROMAN NEAR EAST, 31 B.C. - A.D. 337 (Harvard U. Press, 1993, p. 191; https://books.google.com/books?id=IA-YlZqHv90C&pg=PA191#v=onepage&q&f=false) says this about the role of the dux in the Roman empire:
"Before the third century it [dux "as a regular expression for a military commander"] had not been an official term at all... and had therefore come into use by the 250s."
Commenting on this, Roger Tomlin told me that
"I would trust anything Fergus Millar says, since he was a very great scholar. dux, as I have said, was an ad-hoc term going back for centuries, and I would be happy to accept the 250s for what becomes regular under Diocletian."
J. F. Hall, Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Brigham Young University (in his The Military Reforms of the Emperor Diocletian), states merely that
"The military command of the governors was superseded by the creation of a new officer—the dux. “The appointment of an equestrian military officer as general commander of the troops of a province or of more than one province, the dux provinciae or dux limitis provinciae,” was “a natural sequel”42 after the separation of military from civil powers. Jones asserts that “In the system of command Diocletian introduced one innovation, establishing in certain frontier areas zone commanders (duces) distinct from the provincial governors, who retained civil functions only. This change however was far from universal: in many areas the provincial governor continued to command the local forces as heretofore.”43 The origin of the dux is rightly attributed to Diocletian. The initial existence of the office in the time of his reign is certain."
Once they decided LAC was made dux under Commodus, and thus assumed the office of governor of Britain, it naturally followed that his procuratorship had to have happened in 184-185 or thereabouts.
Fortunately, we need not abide by such a chronology - one that would force us to either accept the untenable ARMATOS reading for the stone, or to allow for a much later Armenian campaign. We may instead opt for LAC being made procurator with special powers in 168, when Lucius Verus (under whom Statius Priscus had served in Armenia) and Marcus Aurelius reorganized Illyricum:
"Finally, they crossed the Alps, and pressing further on, completed all measures necessary for the defence of Italy and Illyricum.97
97 The war in Pannonia was prosecuted successfully, and after a victory the emperors were acclaimed Imperatores for the fifth time and gave honourable discharge to some soldiers; see CIL III p888 (dated 5 May, 167)."
Fuller accounts of the 168 campaign run thusly:
13 While the Parthian war was still in progress, the Marcomannic war broke out, after having been postponed for a long time by the diplomacy of the men who were in charge there, in order that the Marcomannic p167 war92 might not be waged until Rome was done with the war in the East. 14 Even at the time of the famine the Emperor had hinted at this war to the people, and when his brother returned after five years' service, he brought the matter up in the senate, saying that both emperors were needed for the German war. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 13 1 So great was the dread of this Marcomannic war,93 that Antoninus summoned priests from all sides, performed foreign religious ceremonies, and purified the city in every way, and he was delayed thereby from setting out to the seat of war. 2 The Roman ceremony of the feast of the gods94 was celebrated for seven days. 3 And there was such a pestilence,95 besides, that the dead were removed in carts and waggons. 4 About this time, also, the two emperors ratified certain very stringent laws on burial and tombs, in which they even forbade any one to build a tomb at his country-place, a law still in force. 5 Thousands were carried off by the pestilence, including many nobles, for the most prominent of whom Antoninus erected statues. 6 Such, too, was his kindliness of heart that he had funeral ceremonies performed for the lower classes even at the public expense; and in the case of one foolish fellow, who, in a search with divers confederates for an opportunity to plunder the city, continually made speeches from the wild fig-tree on the Campus Martius, to the effect that fire would fall p169 down from heaven and the end of the world would come should he fall from the tree and be turned into a stork, and finally at the appointed time did fall down and free a stork from his robe, the Emperor, when the wretch was hailedº before him and confessed all, pardoned him.
Legamen ad paginam Latinam 14 1 Clad in the military cloak the two emperors finally set forth, for now not only were the Victuali and Marcomanni throwing everything into confusion, but other tribes, who had been driven on by the more distant barbarians and had retreated before them, were ready to attack Italy if not peaceably received. 2 And not a little good resulted from that expedition, even by the time they had advanced as far as Aquileia, for several kings retreated, together with their peoples, and put to death the authors of the trouble. 3 And the Quadi, after they had lost their king, said that they would not confirm the successor who had been elected until such a course was approved by our emperors. 4 Nevertheless, Lucius went on, though reluctantly, after a number of peoples had sent ambassadors to the legates of the emperors asking pardon for the rebellion. 5 Lucius, it is true, thought they should return, because Furius Victorinus, the prefect of the guard, had been lost, and part of his army had perished;96 Marcus, however, held that they should press on, thinking that the barbarians, in order that they might not be crushed by the size of so great a force, were feigning a retreat and using other ruses which afford safety in war, held that they should persist in order that they might not be overwhelmed by the mere burden of their vast preparations. 6 Finally, they crossed the Alps, and pressing further on, completed all measures necessary for the defence of Italy and Illyricum.97 7º They then decided, at Lucius' insistence, that letters should first be sent p171 ahead to the senate and that Lucius should then return to Rome. 8 But on the way, after they had set out upon their journey, Lucius died from a stroke of apoplexy98 while riding in the carriage with his brother.
7 When the German war broke out, the two Emperors went to the front together, for Marcus wished neither to send Lucius to the front alone, nor yet, because of his debauchery, to leave him in the city. 8 When they had come to Aquileia,63 they proceeded to cross the Alps, though this was contrary to Lucius' p229 desire; for as long as they remained in Aquileia he did nothing but hunt and banquet while Marcus made all the plans. 9 As far as this war was concerned, we have very fully discussed in the Life of Marcus64 what was accomplished by the envoys of the barbarians when they sued for peace and what was accomplished by our generals. 10 When the war in Pannonia was settled, they returned to Aquileia at Lucius' insistence, and then, because he yearned for the pleasures of the city, they hastened cityward. 11 But not far from Altinum, Lucius, while in his carriage, was suddenly stricken with the sickness which they call apoplexy, and after he had been set down from his carriage and bled, he was taken to Altinum,65 and here he died, after living for three days unable to speak.
Note that Illyricum was originally comprised of Dalmatia and Pannonia (see https://www.academia.edu/5577275/SOME_NOTES_ON_THE_DIVISION_OF_ILLYRICUM).
Roman Liburnia within the boundaries of Roman Dalmatia (created by A. Kurilić and Z. Serventi for https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306134397_Buried_far_away_Easterners_in_Roman_Liburnia/download)
Now, we do have to be careful here, because the passage cited on Illyricum mentions the emperors first going north of the Alps before they saw to the defenses of the region. However, Dalmatia is mentioned in this same context specifically, and in terms that mention military process. And, actually, the Augustan History might mention the formation of Liburina implicitly -
"21 1 Against the Mauri, when they wasted almost the whole of Spain,128 matters were brought to a successful conclusion by his legates; 2 and when the warriors of the Bucolici did many grievous things in Egypt,129 they were checked by Avidius Cassius, who later attempted to seize the throne.130 3 Just before his departure,131 while he was living in retreat at Praeneste, Marcus lost his seven-year‑old son, by name Verus Caesar,132 from an operation on a tumour under his ear. 4 For no more than five days did he mourn him; and even during this period, when consulted on public affairs he gave some time to them. p185 And because the games of Jupiter Optimus Maximus133 were then in progress 5 and he did not wish to have them interrupted by public mourning, he merely ordered that statues should be decreed for his dead son, that a golden image of him should be carried in procession at the Circus, and that his name should be inserted in the song of the Salii.134
6 And since the pestilence135 was still raging at this time, he both zealously revived the worship of the gods and trained slaves for military service — just as had been done in the Punic war — whom he called Volunteers, after the example of the Volones.136 7 He armed gladiators also, calling them the Compliant, and turned even the bandits of Dalmatia and Dardania137 into soldiers."
The pestilence being alluded to is the same one already mentioned above:
"13 1 So great was the dread of this Marcomannic war,93 that Antoninus summoned priests from all sides, performed foreign religious ceremonies, and purified the city in every way, and he was delayed thereby from setting out to the seat of war. 2 The Roman ceremony of the feast of the gods94 was celebrated for seven days. 3 And there was such a pestilence,95 besides, that the dead were removed in carts and waggons. 4"
Professor Peter Kovacs, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Bölcsészettudományi Kar, an expert on the Roman military in Pannonia, has this to say concerning the most likely foundation date for the province of Liburnia:
"It seems to me much more probable that the province should have been founded at the beginning of the war, as you suggest. I would put it before 170 AD."
"It seems to me much more probable that the province should have been founded at the beginning of the war, as you suggest. I would put it before 170 AD."
Professor Davide Ambrogio Faoro, Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia,Università degli Studi di Firenze, author of "Pro legato" (in Klio Volume 99 Issue 1, 2017), has told me that one of the functions of the Roman procurator was "the recruitment of troops."
"The creation of a province given to a procurator by a part of a province of a legatus is also witnessed in Hispania Inferior under Caracalla. The reason is not military defense, but financial or related to the recruitment of troops."
For more on the recruitment of troops by procurators, Faoro referred me to ADVERSUS REBELLES. FORME DI RIBELLIONE E DI REAZIONE ROMANA NELLE SPAGNE E IN ASIA MINORE AL TEMPO DI MARCO AURELIO by Alister Filippini, Gian Luca Gregori (Mediterraneo Antico, xii, 1-2, 2009, 55-96).
I would propose that the transformation of Dalmatians into soldiers under the two emperors implies the creation of Liburnia, and that it was Lucius Artorius Castus as procurator whose job it was to get this done.
As it happens, we have a remarkable parallel for LAC's procuratorship of Liburnia in an example from the Dacia of Hadrian's time. I here offer this example as drawn from Anthony Birley's MARCUS AURELIUS: A BIOGRAPHY:
This man was, as it happens, like LAC, an equestrian.[1] From The Equestrian Officials of Trajan and Hadrian: Their Careers by Raymond Henry Lacey (Princeton University Press):
Professor Roger Tomlin's assessment of my view of LAC's career was forthcoming (via private communication) only just on 8 February 2021:
Thus Malcor and Co. are wrong to seek to put the foundation of Liburnia around 180. There was far too much to do in the North, and that is where things were done.
"Both points seem good to me: that we do not have a firm date for the creation of Liburnia as a separate province, and the comparable case of the procurator in Dacia being given a quasi-senatorial command in emergency. I am once again much reminded of the career of Valerius Maximianus (AE 1956, 124), an equestrian officer whom Marcus Aurelius appoints to senatorial commands because of his ability; we have discussed this remarkable man before. This is quite understandable in the 160s, when Marcus needed competent generals even if they were not senators. People have made too much of the complaint that Perennis appointed equestrians to senatorial commands in the reign of Commodus – as if this had never happened before.
dux and praepositus, as we have both said already, are informal titles at this date – for someone who is appointed to an acting-command. It is absurd to say that Castus should command three whole legions against 'armed men' in Britain. R. Saxer, Untersuchungen zu den Vexillationen(etc.) (1967), is rather old now, but it would be a useful place to look for the way in which ad-hoc commanders are described."
THERE IS NO OTHER MENTION IN ANY EXTANT SOURCE OF DALMATIA BEING REORGANIZED MILITARILY. All historians I have consulted, in addition, favor the formation of Liburnia for defense purposes at the beginning of the Marcomannic Wars, rather than towards the end or even later. As this is so, the only reasonable assumption is that Liburnia was founded in 168 or thereabouts. To insist on a later date that is both unsupported by the source material and runs counter to rational contextual argument is to fall back on one's own personal belief only, and that is not deemed acceptable in scholarship.
Dr. Linda A. Malcor and her colleagues still opt for c. 180 for the foundation of Liburnia, following Medina, rather than Miletic (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/11/english-translation-of-zeljko-miletics.html). They base this claim on Commodus' continued actions against the Germans at the conclusion of the Marcomannic War. However, as it well-demonstrated on pp. 59-62 John McHugh's THE EMPEROR COMMODUS: GOD AND GLADIATOR, Commodus' actions against the Germans c. 180 were decided well to the North, and any refortifications or additional troop supplements were also well to the North of Dalmatia. There is no hint of anything being done to Dalmatia up through 185. We are talking about things like the erection of guard posts in Lower Pannonia, improvement of fortifications on the Danube and Rhine, a stone wall in Raetia, possible stuff done in Moesia Inferior, etc. Noricum, Raetia and the Pannonias remained the frontier. Forts were replaced in Upper and Lower Germany. These are all areas well to the North of Liburnia, and the reason for that is because Marcus had done so well in forcing the enemy to the North and containing them there. Commodus through treaties and some forward actions put an end to the conflict. Once again, a detailed reading of the events of 180 shows that Dalmatia was not involved in any way. It is never mentioned in the context of Commodus' actions at the terminus of the Marcomannic War. Whatever had been done there had been done by Marcus in anticipation of possible incursion of the Germans at the beginning of the war.
Thus Malcor and Co. are wrong to seek to put the foundation of Liburnia around 180. There was far too much to do in the North, and that is where things were done.
[1]
"A man who was 'pro legato' was acting-governor (in the sense of being the Emperor's direct representative), this title including military tribunes of senatorial family ('laticlavius') who temporarily replaced the commander (legate) of their legion. 'ius gladii' enhanced the ordinary powers of a post – for example it was sometimes granted to prefects of the annona – and in theory allowed him to execute Roman citizens. A financial procurator might be granted special authority in this way, without (in theory at least) actually replacing the governor. Arguably, Castus exercised this special authority within only part of a larger province, Liburnia as opposed to Dalmatia." - Roger Tomlin (personal communication)
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