What is the proper rendering of ARM[...]S on the 2nd century L. Artorius Castus stone? There are only two possible readings for this word: ARMENIOS or ARMORICOS. The recent attempt to see this fragmented word as ARMATOS has been universally rejected and I do not myself consider it a viable contender. For more on ARMATOS for ARM[...]S, see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/11/my-rebuttal-of-antonio-trincheses.html and many other articles here on my blog site.
The other reading, ARMENIOS, is also quite plausible. Statius Priscus as goveror of Britain was sent to head up the army in Armenia. And our only record of the reorganization of Dalmatia (quite possibly when Liburnia was created as a separate province) occurred under Marcus and Verus only a few years after the end of the Armenian War. However, if Castus went to Armenia with British troops, he did this before the Sarmatian troops were in Britain. And that means that our attempt to link the Dark Age Arthur with Sawyl of Ribchester loses its appeal.
Armenia was also very far from Britain. My analysis of British vexillations on the Continent and beyond (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2022/12/vexillations-sent-from-britain-to-fight.html) revealed that other than a proposed Armenia expedition, the two other most distant postings for British vexillations were Carnuntum in Austria and Sirmium in Serbia.
I should mention that the claim made by some that ARMORICOS will not fit on the Castus memorial stone is wrong. See https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-lucius-artorius-castus-stone-with_14.html.
My Reconstruction, Using Identical Sized Letters from Appropriate Lines
Computer Reconstruction Courtesy Alessandro Faggiani
Quite a bit has been written on the topic of Armorica and the Maternus rebellion. For more on the subject, please consult the following sources:
Castus' fame would have been magnified even more if we can assign him to the deputation that went to Rome to force the execution of the Praetorian Prefect Perennis. We are told by Cassius Dio that 1500 spearmen went on the mission, and the Greek word to describe these troops may well imply that they were Sarmatian contus-bearers. Of course, the account of this deputation has been doubted by Classical scholars, as it is difficult if not impossible to account for how it may have happened.
I now believe I can easily do so. It is not difficult to do, as the dates for the Perennis affair and the Deserters' War match up quite nicely.
Commodus makes his call for forces to be contributed in the battle against the deserters. This was issued to those provinces which were affected. I can only assume if Armorica is having serious problems, this would, indirectly at least, affect Britain. And there was always the danger the movement would spread to Britain.
But, in Britain, the legates have just been removed from office. So it is Castus who becomes dux and leads large legionary detachments to Armorica. At the same time, it is necessary to send the three senators back to Rome under escort. Castus arranges for the detail to be sent. When it is in Rome, the senators make their case for Perennis' removal.
Castus, meanwhile, would certainly have remained in Armorica with the bulk of his troops.
Now, granted, the 1500 number is large, and that sounds like the kind of force Castus would have brought to bear against the deserters; it does make sense for the composition of a simple escort. So I would suggest the number was wrongly applied by Dio to the escort itself, when originally it belonged to the much larger force that crossed into Armorica.
As being dux of this military force automatically implies full command of it, no matter what it happens to do, there was no need to add to the memorial stone any information referring to the escort sent to Rome - and, indeed, there was not sufficient room on the stone for this information.
I consider this a very adequate explanation of the events involving both Castus' dux command and the fall of Perennis.
I could go further, even. A separate delegation, sent from Britain to Rome at the same time as the force was sent to Armorica to deal with deserters, might well have become conflated in memory and/or tradition. Especially if both reached Dio by second-hand witness reports.
The reference in Dio's story to the "deputies of the army" (see https://www.jstor.org/stable/638138) as the ones who sent the 1,500 may be the source of the original confusion. I would make these out to be the representatives of the delegation to Rome, and not the party responsible for sending LAC to Armorica. Commodus himself, according to Herodian, was the one who ordered provinces to send forces against Maternus:
"When he was informed of these developments, Commodus, in a towering rage, sent threatening dispatches to the governors of the provinces involved, charging them with negligence and ordering them to raise an army to oppose the bandits." (https://www.livius.org/sources/content/herodian-s-roman-history/herodian-1.10)
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