This page created 5 August 2014, and last modified: 28 June 2015 (Maier reference numbers added)

The following units of Equites stablesiani are to be found in the Notitia (the numbers in front of the names refer to Ingo Maier's numbering scheme):

In the eastern half of the empire:

15.7 Equites secundi stablesiani, a vexillationes comitatenses under the Magister Militum per Orientem
15.8 Equites tertii stablesiani, another vexillationes comitatenses under the Magister Militum per Orientem
52.4 Equites stablesiani, at Pelusio, under the Comes limitis Aegypti
74.4 Cuneus equitum stablesianorum, at Cii, under the Dux Scythiae
74.5 Cuneus equitum stablesianorum, at Bireo, also under the Dux Scythiae
76.8 Cuneus equitum stablesianorum, at Sucidava, under the Dux Moesiae secundae
80.8 Cuneus equitum stablesianorum, at Almo, under the Dux Daciae ripensis

And in the western half of the empire:

102/5.23 Equites stablesiani Africani, a vexillationes comitatenses listed in the Magister Equitum's cavalry roster and assigned (102/5.233) to the Comes Africae as the Equites stablesiani seniores
102/5.41 Equites stablesiani Italiciani, a vexillationes comitatenses listed in the Magister Equitum's cavalry roster and also assigned (102/5.231) to the Comes Africae
102/5.254 Equites stablesiani, under the Comes Britanniae
132.6 Equites stablesiani Gariannonenses, at Gariannonor, under the Comes litoris Saxonici per Britanniam
143.5 Cuneus equitum stablesianorum, at Ripa Alta-now at Conradcuha, under the Dux Provinciae Valeriae ripensis
145.3 Cuneus equitum stablesianorum, at Arrabonae, under the Dux Pannoniae primae et Norici ripensis
147.2 Equites stablesiani seniores, at Augustanis, under the Dux Raetiae primae et secundae
147.3 Equites stablesiani iuniores, at Ponte Aoni near Febiens, also under the Dux Raetiae primae et secundae
147.4 Equites stablesiani iuniores, at Submuntorio, also under the Dux Raetiae primae et secundae.

Of these, the Equites stablesiani under the Comes Britanniae and the Equites stablesiani Gariannonenses would appear to be the same unit. Only the shield patterns for the two units in the Magister Equitum's cavalry roster are shown; both under the same simple label: Stablesiani.

Those under O come from the Bodleian manuscript in Oxford, those under P from the Paris manuscript, those under M from the first portion of the Munich manuscript, those under W from the second portion of the Munich manuscript, and those under B from the Froben edition.

The precise meaning of the name stablesiani (pertaining to stables) in the context of the late Roman army is unsure. Various theories have been propounded; they are usefully summarised by Philip Rance in "The Third Equites Stablesiani at Cyrrhus", Chiron 42 (2012), 347-360, available here, at page 349, note 8.

In addition to the 15 (or so) units listed above in the Notitia, inscriptional evidence (SEG 6.187) dating to the late 4th century - i.e. roughly contemporary with the drawing up of the "original" Notitia - has been found in Sebaste, Phrygia (Selcikler in Turkey) on a stele witten in Greek for a "kortas stablesianon". More interestngly, an early 4th century inscription (AE 1927, 153) from Deurne near Tessenderlo in Belgium gives evidence for a STABLESIA VI, i.e. a unit of Equitum "stablesianorum VI"; as does another (AE 1974, 466), this one inscribed on a helmet. This implies not only the existence of a some-time Equites sexti stablesiani unit, but also 5th, 4th and 1st Equites stablesiani units to go with the 2nd and 3rd units listed in the Notitia (if not necessarily contemporaneously, of course).

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