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Who exactly were the Cannenefates?
#1
While looking through the book The Roman Cavalry by Dixon and Southern I saw a diagram of a tombstone at Tipasa in Algeria for a certain Aduitor, eques of Ala I Caninafatium. This cavalryman was using the contus which tickled my interest so I assume his unit must have served after Hadrian but can’t find anything about them.

   


 What little I do know about the Cannenefates is that they are probably descended from the Chatti and lived in the north-western part of Holland, according to Velleius Paterculus they were subdued by Tiberius in 4 AD "He at once entered Germany. The Canninefates, the Attuarii, and Bructeri were subdued " and probably sided with Civilis when he rebelled n 69-70 AD but after that revolt was suppressed they remained loyal Roman subjects. They seem to have disappeared leaving only a trace in the territorial name Kennemerland.

 I was wondering if there was any other information about this unit and the people that served in Algeria?
Regards
Michael Kerr 
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
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#2
(01-20-2018, 04:10 PM)Michael Kerr Wrote: I was wondering if there was any other information about this unit and the people that served in Algeria?

I can't help you on the ethnic group - but, as you know, auxiliary units did not often preserve their 'ethnic' composition for long.

The cavalry unit turns up on a number of inscriptions, with various spellings - ala I  Cannanefatium is most common. They first appear in Germania Superior under Vespasian, then appear to move to Gerulata in Pannonia Superior, where there are several tombstones. This was probably around the time of Trajan.

The temporary transfer to Mauretania was probably connected with the war of Antoninus Pius in that province (date unclear, probably some time c.145-152), which involved the transfer of several detachments from the Danube and elsewhere.

At a guess, the unit may have started using the contus while they were based in Pannonia.
Nathan Ross
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#3
Thankyou Nathan, I had never heard of them before although I did find this on the Livius site.

http://www.livius.org/pictures/algeria/t...-horseman/

And a little more information from the same site.

http://www.livius.org/articles/people/cananefates/
 
Seems you are correct some of them served at Carnuntum in Pannonia.

Regards
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
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#4
This may be of interest to you:

Unarmed Cananefates? Roman military equipment and horse gear from non military context in the civitas Cananefatium

https://www.academia.edu/1882513/Unarmed...nanefatium

Best wishes
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