Highlighted Text of Inscription
[with ARM...S restored as per my proposed reading of arm(atas) gentes]:
leg(ionis) V Ma/c(edonicae) item p(rimus) p(ilus) eiusdem [leg(ionis)] praeposito / classis Misenatium [pr]aef{f}(ectus) leg(ionis) VI / victricis duci legg(ionum) [triu]m Britan(n)ic{i}/{mi}arum adversus arm[gente]s
In the context of my proposed new reading for the L. Artorius Castus memorial stone, it occurred to me that I needed to attempt to come up with a reasonable reconstruction of the most relevant portion of Castus' military career as that might fit into recorded historial events.
We may start with his service with the V Macedonica:
"In 193, the governor of Pannonia Superior, Lucius Septimius Severus marched on Rome to expel Didius Julianus, who had become emperor after the respected old Publius Helvius Pertinax had been lynched by his soldiers. The governor of Dacia Porolissensis was his brother Geta, and V Macedonica immediately sided with the new ruler, whose reign was to last until 211. A mixed subunit of V Macedonica and XIII Gemina accompanied Severus to Rome, during his war against his rival Pescennius Niger, and against the Parthians. It would be interesting to know the attitude of the soldiers towards the next civil war, which Severus fought against Clodius Albinus, a former officer of V Macedonica."
We might suggest, then, that while he was with the Macedonian legion he served under the future emperor Severus when the latter marched to Rome.
What about Castus' following stint as temporary commander of the Misenum fleet?
"After his victory over Iulianus, Septimius Severus treated the
Italian fleets in more kindly fashion than the old praetorian
guards, for he needed their support in his campaign against an-
other claimant, Pescennius Niger. In July of 193 Severus started
east to aid his generals who were holding Pescennius at the Helles-
pont; while he moved by land, the Italian fleets transported part
of the army to Dyrrachium and then proceeded to the Aegean.
They probably arrived at the Hellespont after Pescennius had
fallen back into Asia Minor, but may have aided the crossing in
turn of the Severan generals. Some portion of the navy perhaps
made a demonstration toward Egypt, for this province had come
over to Severus before the final battle of Issus gave him definitive
victory in the East.
While Septimius returned to the West to crush his last op-
ponent, Clodius Albinus, in Gaul,86 the greater part of the Italian
fleets remained in the East to aid in the siege of Byzantium, which
had declared for Niger and held out after his suicide. The rapid
current of the Bosporus prevented a fully effective blockade of
the city, but its supplies grew steadily less, and the war fleet com-
pletely annihilated a last desperate plundering sortie of the Byzan-
tines by sea. With the fall of the besieged town in the winter of
195-196 the fleets returned to their Italian ports. Tiberius Clau-
dius Subatianus Proculus, subpraefect of the Misene fleet, ren-
dered such great service in the naval operations that Septimius
Severus advanced him to the Senate by the urban quaestorship
and promoted him steadily thereafter; the navarchs and trierarchs
of the Misene fleet set up a dedication to Caracallus, both to com-
memorate the victory and possibly to indicate their gratitude for
Septimius’ leniency in 193."
We can, therefore, have him commanding a fleet that is transporting Severus' forces east to fight Pescennius Niger. I asked about the actual nature of the praepositus rank, just to make sure this made sense.
<Am I correct in assuming the praepositus rank of Castus over tge Misenum fleet was an ad hoc command similar to his later dux? And that this praepositus position would have been held by Castus for some specific fleet mission or operation? It wasn't just a command position he would have held for a particular pre-determined period of time (i.e. X number of years before advancing to his next post)? I find a lot of praefecti for the fleet, but not praepositi.>
"Yes, that's right. The fleet would be commanded by a praefectus, a praepositus being an ad hoc commander until the next praefectus was appointed. Look at Aelius Marcianus (Dessau, ILS 2738), who is variously prefect and praepositus of different units, then praepositus of the Syrian fleet followed by prefect of the Moesian fleet."
- Dr. Roger Tomlin
At this point it becomes allowable to look at Severus' defeat of the next big imperial contender, Albinus, governor of Britain. I approached another noted expert on this possible action for Castus.
<If Castus is Severan, as I've proposed (with your help on the stone), his being with the V Macedonica, then the Misenum fleet as interim commander (praepositus) before becoming the camp prefect of the Sixth in Britain seems to fit nicely with units of the Macedonian legion going to Rome with Severus to get rid of Didius Julianus, then with the fleet going east under Severus to deal with Pescennius Niger. Following the defeat of Albinus, the British army's officers would need replacing and Castus might well have been tapped for the Sixth Legion's prf c. If we allow a decade in that post under Severus, he might then have commanded legionary detachments in the Severan invasion of Northern Britain.
Look good to you?>
"That chronology is certainly workable, yes. Certainly nothing to prevent a decade-long tenure."
- Benet Salway
<But Brian Dobson assumes 3 years as an average tenure for a camp prefect, but on what basis I don't know:
"The rank of the praefectus castrorum seems to be third in the legionary hierarchy on the evidence of VIII 18078, where the first named appears to be the tribunus laticlavius (cf. AE 1898, 12) and the second the prefect of the legion (cf. VIII 2666). To supply the prefects, assuming a three-year tenure of office on average, perhaps ten of each year's supply of primipili might be required, fewer if tenure was for longer than three years and some vacancies were being filled by primipili iterum."
Your thoughts on that?>
"As these posts are open-ended appointments, there can be no hard and fast rule; hence Dobson’s calculations are based purely on the pragmatic."
- Benet Salway
After his installation as camp prefect, and during Severus' invasion of Northern Britain, Castus would have taken on his second temporary military rank, that of dux. He was put in charge of three legions (or, more likely, three legionary vexillations or his own entire Sixth Legion along with two generous detachments from the other British legions). And with that force he fought major engagements against "armed tribes".
Thus the legend of Arthur was born.
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