The Centurion and his horse questions.

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On the general point, I seem to remember Caesar (B.G. 7.65) taking horses from his military tribunes, the other Romans of equestrian rank, and his euocati (recalled or retained time-served veterans) to give to his German mercenaries, whose own horses weren't good enough. The fact that he doesn't mention centurions here might be significant (if only for the late Republic).

One translation says: "On their arrival, as they were mounted on unserviceable horses, he takes horses from the military tribunes and the rest, nay, even from the Roman knights and veterans, and distributes them among the Germans."
Now whether the "rest" includes Centurions I don't know. What other officers that were known to be mounted might have the "Rest" have included?

I'm not sure about that translation. The latin is: "Eorum aduentu, quod minus idoneis equis utebantur, a tribunis militum reliquisque equitibus Romanis atque euocatis equos sumit Germanisque distribuit." I would keep reliquisque with equitibus Romanis myself.

The "other Romans of equestrian rank" need not be officers (although some might have been prefects). Caesar's cohors included a large number of Roman equestrians - generally young members of the elite keen to get a bit of experience and cash (cf. Caesar B.G. 1.39). See also Plutarch, Cato min. 9.2, where the younger Cato (a military tribune) walked on the way to his camp, while his friends, and possibly also his two freedmen - all of whom were accompanying him on the campaign - rode.

The lack of a mention of centurions in the Caesar passage is rather curious (and remains so however one translates it). As you mention in an earlier post, it seems odd that veterans got to ride, while centurions (especially the primi ordines) walked.

I'd be tempted to say that the bottom panel signifies his service as a cavalryman, while the top two panels (especially the right hand panel, with greaves and what I think is a centurion's helmet), signify the latter part of his career.

Hmmm ... I disagree, Tom. I think all of the iconography relates to Severus's final posting as a centurion. The clincher for me has always been the Epidaurus centurion's tombstone (see below), which I have only ever seen illustrated in Roy Davies' article on "Police Work in Roman Times", History Today 18 (1968), p. 707.

As a said, I'm not an expert on iconography, especially that which doesn't relate to equestrians! My post was more directly concerned with the inscription than the iconography. Is there a good primer for general military iconography? There has to be something in German

blue skies

Tom