The Catarienses



This page created 13 December 2015, and last modified: 13 December 2015

Spear

The last of the units listed (102/5.113 in Ingo Maier's numbering scheme) under the command of the Comes Illyricum is called the Catarienses. It is not immediately clear which unit, if any, in the Magister Peditum's infantry roster this unit corresponds to; no shield pattern bearing such a name is shown.



Disclaimer: Remember, a lot of what comes below is speculation. Hopefully informed speculation, but speculation nonetheless. Comments welcome! (lukeuedasarson "at" gmail.com)


Jones identified the unit not with any of the units listed in the Magister Peditum's infantry roster, but with a unit attested (CIL 13.7628 = ILS 2626; photo here) from Moguntiacum (Mainz in Germany). The inscription's find spot is actually Castellum Mattiacorum (modern Wiesbaden), 8 or so km north of Mainz, and gives the unit's name in the form N CADDARENSIUM; i.e. the numerus Caddarenses. This is just one of a number of inscriptions from the area mentioning the unit, some of which were listed by Seeck. One example is CIL 13.7298, giving the N CATTHARENSUM. Another (CIL 13.7545), from gives MAUVRI CATTA, which establishes the unit as a unit of Mauri (i.e. "Moors" - whatever meaning that may have had by the 4th century); other infantry Mauri listed in the Notitia are:

Mauri Honoriani iuniores (102/5.77), in the Magister Peditum's Italian command (i.e. the Honoriani Mauri iuniores, an auxilia palatina unit)
Mauri Honoriani seniores (102/5.102), under the Comes Illyricum (i.e. the Honoriani Mauri seniores, an auxilia palatina unit)
Mauri cetrati (102/5.107), a legionary comitatenses unit, also under the Comes Illyricum
Mauri Osismiaci (102/5.146), a pseudocomitatenses unit in the Magister Equitum's Gallic command
Mauri tonantes seniores (102/5.188), an auxilia palatina unit under the Comes Tingitaniae
Mauri tonantes iuniores (102/5.189), another auxilia palatina unit under the Comes Tingitaniae
Milites Mauri Beneti (151.4), at Benetis, under the Dux tractus Armoricani et Nervicani
Milites Mauri Osismiaci (151.5), at Osismis, and also under the Dux tractus Armoricani et Nervicani.
The unit, judging by the other units from the region commanded by the Dux Mogontiacensis, is more likely to have been a legionary unit than an auxiliary one.

An alternative derivation for the unit may lie in the men commanded by the Tribunis cohortis Caratensis (145.18) under the Dux Pannoniae primae et Norici ripensis. Such spelling mistakes are by no means unknown in the Notitia.


References:

1. Maier, Ingo; "Appendix 4: Numeration of the new edition of the compilation 'notitia dignitatum' (Cnd)"; last accessed 26 October 2015. See also for here for numbering examples. Return
2. Jones, A.H.M.; "The Later Roman Empire, 284-602; A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey"; Blackwell, Oxford, 1964 (3 volumes). Return
3. Seeck, Otto (Ed.); "Notitia Dignitatum accedunt Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae et Latercula prouinciarum", Weidmann, Berlin, 1876; available here (last accessed 26 October 2015). Return

Spear

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