Original scientific paper
A Review of the Itinerary of Ala Tungrorum and Ala Frontoniana
Nikola Cesarik
orcid.org/0000-0002-0128-0687
; University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia
Abstract
The following paper reviews the identification and the itinerary of two Roman cavalry units, which have been deployed during the first century – inter alia – in the province of Dalmatia. Comprehension of these military units is further supplemented by the revision of an inscription from Dugopolje, as well as new sources from Britannia and Dacia. Earlier works have identified the deceased soldier mentioned on the tombstone from Dugopolje as a member of ala IV Noricorum. However, accompanied by newer views by several authors and an improved insight into the inscription, it has come to our knowledge that the latter was a member of the Ubii recruited in ala Tungrorum. Since there is a testimony of ala Frontoniana on a tombstone from Dalmatia, which was also known as ala I Tungrorum Frontoniana from the second century onward – as attested on military diplomas, as well as few public and dedicatory inscriptions from Dacia, some authors identified the military unit inscribed on the tombstone from Dugopolje with this unit. The author rejects this possibility, offering a different opinion, according to which these units are disjoint and have resided in Dalmatia at different times. Furthermore, the potential unification of these units during the second century, which has been used as an argument for the later appearance of the Tungrorum ethnic within the title of ala Frontoniana on several monuments from Dacia Porolissensis, is also declined.
Keywords
ala Tungrorum; ala (I Tungrorum) Frontoniana; Ubii; Dugopolje
Hrčak ID:
130962
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2014.
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