09-07-2017, 08:11 PM
Nathan Ross said: “I'd always assumed that the theory rested on the note in Cedrenus that Gallienus first created the hippeon tagmata - which seems to refer to the 'new style' equites units that certainly seem to have appeared by the end of the third century.”
I am currently researching the possibility that the cavalry tagma of Cedrenus are the Scholae:
*
George the Monk:
p. 461.1 – 19:
31. About Jounor (Gordianus III)
And after Pouplianus (Maximus), Jounor (Gordianus III) reigned 3 months, he who first formed Candidates and Protectores and, having organized the detachment of the Scholarii, he called it “Jounor” in his own name.
[01904] Μετὰ δὲ Πούπλιον ἐβασίλευσε Βαλβῖνος Ἰου νίωρ μῆνας γʹ , ὃς πρῶτος ἐποίησε κανδιδάτους καὶ προτήκτορας·
[01905] καὶ τὸ τάγμα τῶν σχολαρίων συστησάμενος ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸ Ἰουνιώρων εἰς τὸ ἴδιον ὄνομα.
*
Cedrenus:
p. 450.21 – 452.3:
After him, Junior (Gordianus III) reigned three months, he who first formed Candidates and Protectores, and, having organized the detachment (tagma) of the Scholarii, he called it the “Juniors,” in his own name.
*
Chronicon Paschale:
pp. 501.3 – 504.6:
Indiction 4 (AD 243). (Year) 3. Consuls: Aurelianus (sic, PIR2 A 635) and Pappus (PIR2 C 684).
Gordianus (III) Augustus made a unit (arithmon) of those called Candidates, having elevated them by selection as mature, strong, and of magnificent appearance, from the formation (tagmatos) of those called Scholarii, having called the school of the same unit (arithmou) “Seniors” in his own name. These are those of the sixth school.
Indiction 11 (AD 250). (Year) 4. Consuls: Decius (PIR2 M 520) and Gratianus (sic, PIR2 V 328)
The sovereign Philippus, together with his son Philippus, constituted a unit (arithmon) of those called Candidates, elevating chosen young men from the Scholarii, having called the school of the formation (tagmatos) they constituted “Juniors,” by the name of Philippus, the father. These are those of the Sixth School.
*
Also the Passion of Sergius and Bacchus (BHG 1624) Analecta Bollandia XIV 1895 p.376:
It states a Schola Gentilium for the year 303 AD.
*
The equites units are probably not created by Gallienus, for there is an earlier historical example of “equites” (if one forgoes the existence of the equites legionis, and equites singulares):
In the Historia Augusta, Caracalla, 6, 7 one can read: “equitibus extraordinariis” or the equites extraordinarii.
The text does not say: vexillationi equitibus extraordinariis.
*
Mr. Dogmatius said: “Surely the question we ought to ask is when this common word for a detachment came to be used instead for a single unit of cavalry. Most likely it seems to have been a gradual thing, rather in the way that numerus changed in meaning over the centuries, from an irregular unit to a generic term for all units.”
Warren Treadgold says: The reason historians of Byzantium lag behind cannot be a lack of information, because their evidence is, if anything, better than that for the Roman Army…
Yet what one reads about the Byzantine army in general works is usually vague. While Roman military reforms are always attributed to specific emperors, Byzantine military changes are commonly spoken of as processes of gradual evolution, as if soldiers simply decided for themselves whether they were soldiers or not, what and how they should be paid, where to gather in units, and how those units should be organized.
*
Sources:
Warren Tradgold Byzantium and its Army 284-1081
The History of Zonaras, from Alexander Severus to the death of Theodosius the Great, translation by Thomas M.Banchich and Eugene N.Lane
Documenta Catholica Omnia MIGNE JP Georgius Cedrenus - Compendium Historiarum (MPG 121 0023 1166) [1100-1200]
Documenta Catholica Omnia MIGNE JP Georgius Monachus - Chronicon breve [Tomus 2] [0800-0900]
Chronicon Paschale, Volume 1 Ludwig August Dindorf
I am currently researching the possibility that the cavalry tagma of Cedrenus are the Scholae:
*
George the Monk:
p. 461.1 – 19:
31. About Jounor (Gordianus III)
And after Pouplianus (Maximus), Jounor (Gordianus III) reigned 3 months, he who first formed Candidates and Protectores and, having organized the detachment of the Scholarii, he called it “Jounor” in his own name.
[01904] Μετὰ δὲ Πούπλιον ἐβασίλευσε Βαλβῖνος Ἰου νίωρ μῆνας γʹ , ὃς πρῶτος ἐποίησε κανδιδάτους καὶ προτήκτορας·
[01905] καὶ τὸ τάγμα τῶν σχολαρίων συστησάμενος ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸ Ἰουνιώρων εἰς τὸ ἴδιον ὄνομα.
*
Cedrenus:
p. 450.21 – 452.3:
After him, Junior (Gordianus III) reigned three months, he who first formed Candidates and Protectores, and, having organized the detachment (tagma) of the Scholarii, he called it the “Juniors,” in his own name.
*
Chronicon Paschale:
pp. 501.3 – 504.6:
Indiction 4 (AD 243). (Year) 3. Consuls: Aurelianus (sic, PIR2 A 635) and Pappus (PIR2 C 684).
Gordianus (III) Augustus made a unit (arithmon) of those called Candidates, having elevated them by selection as mature, strong, and of magnificent appearance, from the formation (tagmatos) of those called Scholarii, having called the school of the same unit (arithmou) “Seniors” in his own name. These are those of the sixth school.
Indiction 11 (AD 250). (Year) 4. Consuls: Decius (PIR2 M 520) and Gratianus (sic, PIR2 V 328)
The sovereign Philippus, together with his son Philippus, constituted a unit (arithmon) of those called Candidates, elevating chosen young men from the Scholarii, having called the school of the formation (tagmatos) they constituted “Juniors,” by the name of Philippus, the father. These are those of the Sixth School.
*
Also the Passion of Sergius and Bacchus (BHG 1624) Analecta Bollandia XIV 1895 p.376:
It states a Schola Gentilium for the year 303 AD.
*
The equites units are probably not created by Gallienus, for there is an earlier historical example of “equites” (if one forgoes the existence of the equites legionis, and equites singulares):
In the Historia Augusta, Caracalla, 6, 7 one can read: “equitibus extraordinariis” or the equites extraordinarii.
The text does not say: vexillationi equitibus extraordinariis.
*
Mr. Dogmatius said: “Surely the question we ought to ask is when this common word for a detachment came to be used instead for a single unit of cavalry. Most likely it seems to have been a gradual thing, rather in the way that numerus changed in meaning over the centuries, from an irregular unit to a generic term for all units.”
Warren Treadgold says: The reason historians of Byzantium lag behind cannot be a lack of information, because their evidence is, if anything, better than that for the Roman Army…
Yet what one reads about the Byzantine army in general works is usually vague. While Roman military reforms are always attributed to specific emperors, Byzantine military changes are commonly spoken of as processes of gradual evolution, as if soldiers simply decided for themselves whether they were soldiers or not, what and how they should be paid, where to gather in units, and how those units should be organized.
*
Sources:
Warren Tradgold Byzantium and its Army 284-1081
The History of Zonaras, from Alexander Severus to the death of Theodosius the Great, translation by Thomas M.Banchich and Eugene N.Lane
Documenta Catholica Omnia MIGNE JP Georgius Cedrenus - Compendium Historiarum (MPG 121 0023 1166) [1100-1200]
Documenta Catholica Omnia MIGNE JP Georgius Monachus - Chronicon breve [Tomus 2] [0800-0900]
Chronicon Paschale, Volume 1 Ludwig August Dindorf
