This page created 26 August 2014, and last modified: 7 December 2015 (Maier reference numbers added)

The Equites sagittarii clibanarii is listed (102/5.26 in Ingo Maier's numbering scheme) as the 14th of the 32 vexillationes comitatenses in the Magister Equitum's cavalry roster; it is assigned (102/5.236) to the Comes Africae as the Equites clibanarii. Its shield pattern (101#4) as shown in various manuscripts, under the plain label (101.d) Clibanarii, is as below:

The shield pattern has a green rim (rather broad in the case of O, and faded to light yellow in M), a white boss (yellow in B) encircled by a blue band (faded to light yellow in M, and white in B), and a plain yellow main field. As such, the pattern's colour scheme is not particularly close to that of any other unit in the Notitia.

The name sagittarii implies (but does not establish) the unit was bow-armed; while clibanarii may mean something like "oven men", possibly alluding to the stuffy conditions clibanarii troopers had to endure due to their unusually comprehensive armour. The Equites sagittarii clibanarii is the only clibanarii unit in the Notitia stationed in the western half of the empire; in contrast, six are stationed in the east.

1. Ingo Maier; "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

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