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Vexillum and Victory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

M. Rostovtzeff
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Extract

The square piece of linen cloth (pl. iv) which I propose to discuss in this note was acquired by V. S. Goleniščev in Egypt some years ago, and forms part of his splendid collection of Egyptian antiquities, which was subsequently incorporated into the Alexander III Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, now the State Museum of Fine Arts. Years ago I reproduced and discussed it in a short paper (Monuments of Alexander III Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow iv, 1913, 149–153 (in Russian) and pl. xxiv in colour) in which I interpreted it as a military vexillum. My paper remained, however, unnoticed by students of military antiquities. For example, in 1923, so careful and well-informed a scholar as Kubitschek (P-W s.v. ‘Signa’ 2337 f.) in speaking of the inscriptions which appear on the vexilla, after quoting Cassius Dio xl, 18, and Vegetius ii, 13, says: ‘andere Bestätigungen haben wir nicht, und (fast darf man sagen: selbstverständlich) ist auch kein vexillum erhalten.’

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 32 , Issue 1-2 , November 1942 , pp. 92 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © M. Rostovtzeff 1942. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 The Golenišĉev vexillum was mentioned by F. Cumont, Fouilles de Doura Europos, 1926, 96, n. 7, but he was not able to consult my paper.

2 On the vexilla of the Roman army see Domaszewski, A. v., Die Fahnen im römischen Heere (Abh. d. Arch.-ep. Sem. der Univ. Wien v, 1885), 76Google Scholarff.; Ch. Renel, ‘Cultes militaires de Rome. Les Enseignes’ (Ann. de I'Univ. de Lyon, nouv. sér. ii, fasc. 12, 1903), passim (see Index); Liebenam, P-W s.v. ‘Feldzeichen’ 2160; A. Reinach in Daremberg et Saglio Dict, des Antiquités s.vv. ‘Signa Militaria’ and ‘Vexillum’; Kubitschek P-W s.v. ‘Signa’ 2338; W. Zwikker, ‘Bemerkungen zu den römischen Heeresfahnen in der älteren Kaiserzeit’ 27. Ber. der Röm.-Germ. Kommission 1937 (publ. 1939), 7 ff.

3 On the vexillum of the emperor, Zwikker op. cit. 15, n. 35; Alföldi, A., Pisciculi. Festschr. F. J. Dolger (Antike u. Christentum Ergänzungsband i, 1939) II, n. 37Google Scholar. To Zwikker's references I may add that bn the column of M. Aurelius, the Emperor, when performing acts described in the text, is regularly accompanied by two vexillarii (Reinach, S., Rép. de rel. i, 300Google Scholar, no. 24; 319, no. 100; 320, no. 106; 321, no. 109; 323, no. 118; 325, no. 123).

4 See Zwikker op. cit. (n. 2).

5 See n. 2.

6 Reproduced and discussed by F. Cumont, Fouilles de Doura Europos 95 ff and pls. 1 (in colour) and li; cf. id. Mon. et Mém. Piot XXVI, 1923, I ff. and coloured plate, and J. Breasted, Oriental Forerunners of Byzantine Painting 1924, pl. xxi (drawing); cf. also my remarks on the painting in general in ‘Dura and the Problem of Parthian Art’, Yale Cl. St. v, 1935, 247Google Scholar f. Add to my references as regards composition the ‘distance slab’ from Bridgeness of the time of Pius, CIL vii, 1088; G. Macdonald, Roman Wall in Scotland 1934, 362 ff., and pls. iii, 2, and lxi, and JRS xi, pl. I. On the right side of this inscription is represented a sacrifice—suovetaurilia, performed by the commander of the vexillatio in the presence of his detachment headed by a vexillarius (inscription on the vexillum: Leg. II Aug.). To the left of this group stands a man similar to Themes, the priest of the Dura painting, and in front the tubicen, the sacrificial animal and the victimarius(?). On Iulius Terentius, his date and his funeral epitaph see Welles, C. B., ‘The Epitaph of Iulius Terentius,’ Harv. Theol. Rev. xxxiv (1941), 96Google Scholar ff. The figure of the vexillarius is reproduced here. (pl. v) from a photograph taken by Dr. N. P. Toll, who helped me in my renewed study of the painting.

7 On the labarum see below, p. 104, n. 32. Cf. Amm. Marc, xvi, 10, 2.

8 See the remarks by K. Lehmann-Hartleben, Die Trajanssäule 1926, 67, and by E. Petersen, Die Marcussäule 1896, 44 f., and those by Richmond, I. A., ‘Trajan's Army on Trajan's Column,’ PBSR xiii (1935), 8Google Scholar, and W. Zwikker op. cit. (n. 2), 12.

9 Fröhner, pl. 32; Cichorius, pl. vii; Lehmann-Hartleben, pl. 6 (scene iv); cf. A. v. Domaszewski, Die Fahnen 78, fig. 98.

10 Reinach, , Rép. de Reliefs i, 300, no. 24Google Scholar. Cf. the five eagles on the tranverse bar of vexillum held by Virtus on the Arch of Trajan at Beneventum; see my Stor. Ec. e Soc. d. Imp. Rom. pl. lxviii, and p. 413, n. 6 (= Gesellschaft u. Wirtschaft im römischen Kaiserreich (1931) ii, pi. 52, I).

11 A. v. Domaszewski, Die Fahnen, fig. 94 (Condercum), and Haverfield, F., Arch. Ael. 3 iv, 1908, 264Google Scholar ff., fig. and 9, Eph. Ep. ix, 1147 (Corstopitum; just a little fragment of the crown remains). I have not had in my hands a photographic reproduction of the relief from Benwell which is now in the British Museum, but the reproduction in Bruce, Lapidarium Septentrionale 33, no. 33—hence Domaszewski, Die Fahnen 77, fig. 94—shows on the top of it a crown and not a hand; for the inscription on the standard see CIL vii, 517, and below, n. 15.

12 A. v. Domaszewski, Die Fahnen 74, fig. 87. A better reproduction from a photograph will be found in Hofmann, H., Römische Militärgrabsteine der Donauländer (Sonderschr. d. Oest. Arch. Inst. v, 1905) 72Google Scholar, no. 58, fig. 50, and in a good drawing (fig. 10) by (Sir) Evans, A. J., Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot, 1875 (ed. 2, Longmans 1877), 387Google Scholar, hence Archaeologia xlviii, 1885, 7Google Scholar, fig. I.

We are indebted to the Executors of Sir Arthur Evans and to the Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum for permission to reproduce the drawing in fig. 10, no scale to which can be given because no measurements are mentioned in any publication.—ED.

13 Below p. 104, n. 32.

14 See bibliography p. 93, n. 2.

15 Vexilla with the name of the legion inscribed on them appear occasionally in Britain. See, for instance, on the inscribed slabs which commemorate a building operation carried out by a vexillatio—from Benwell (Condercum) and the Bridgeness ‘distance slab’ both mentioned above (p. 94, nn. 6 and II)—the name, leg. II Aug., is written on both vexilla. Cf. above n. II for the richly adorned vexillum standing between two Corinthian pilasters on a fragmentary relief from Corbridge (Corstopitum); on the vexillum the inscription: vexillus leg. II Aug. The elaborate decoration of this vexillum especially of its border adorned with embroidery (above, p. 95) may suggest that the inscription was, like the ornaments of the border, inwoven or painted in gold. It is interesting to note that all the vexilla with inscriptions found in Britain are standards of vexillationes of the leg. II Aug., cf. Zwikker op. cit. (in n. 2) 12, n. 19. I may mention in addition the distance slab from Braidfield (near Duntocher on the Antonine Wall in Scotland) richly adorned with sculptures. Under the tabella ansata supported by two Victories stand to the left of the Victories Mars and to the right Virtus Augusti. The last holds a vexillum with the inscription Vir(tus) Aug{usti) (G. Macdonald, op. cit. (in n. 6) 384, f. pl. lxvi, 2; CIL vii, 1135). Outside Britain there are, for example, the funeral-stele from Pettau (CIL iii, 4061; A. v. Domaszewski, Die Fahnen fig. 95; Abramič Führer durch Poetovio, 1925, 139, no. 149, with poor illustration), and the vexilla represented on coins of Rhesaena in Mesopotamia (Alexander Severus) with the name of the leg. III Parthica, of which, a part was stationed at Rhesaena (G. F. Hill, BMC Arabìa, etc. 126, no. 9, pl. xviii, 6; cf. p. cxi); more often the name of the legion appears on the right and left of the vexillum (ibid. 125, nos. 2 and 3, pl. xviii, 2 and 3). For a list of legionary standards on coins see Mostra Augustea Catal. 1937–8. App. bib. (1939), p. 120, R. xvii, 201. À propos of inscriptions inwoven or painted in gold or other colours, they appear frequently on pieces of stuff found in South Russia and Egypt and are occasionally mentioned in our literary tradition (e.g. Pliny NH xxxv, 9 (62)—Zeuxis' pallium).

16 Gravestone of Vellaunus, eques of the ala Longiniana, found in Bonn published by Lehner, H., Bonn.Jahrb. 117 (1908), 279Google Scholar ff., Taf. I; Zwikker, op. cit. (in n. 2), 10 and pl. i, I.

17 E. Babelon, Bibl. Nat. Cat. des Camées no. 308; Bibl. Nat. Lès Pìerres gravées 1930, p. 104, no. 308, pl. xxv; R. Delbrück, Antike Porphyrwerke 1932, p. 127, pl. 60a; A. Grabar, L'Empereur dans l'Art Byzantin (Publications de la Fac. des Lettres, Univ. de Strasbourg, fasc. 75, 1936), 10 ff., and 239, n. 4.

18 The coins and the relief are reproduced by P. V. C. Baur, Dura Rep. iii, pl. xviii, 6–8 (coins), and pl. xiv (reliefs); cf. Stocks, H., Berytus iv, 1937, IGoogle Scholar ff. and pl. i (coins), pl. ii (relief). The coins are rare and generally badly worn.

19 Hoey, A. S., Trans. APA lxx, 1939, 471Google Scholar f.

20 The bibliography will be found in G. F. Hill, BMC Arabia, etc., p. xcii.

21 It must be emphasised that the temples in which the signa appear in Hierapolis and Carrhae cannot possibly be the military temples or chapels in the headquarters building of a camp, like the temple represented on the coins of Rhesaena of Trajan Decius and Herennia Etruscilla with the legionary eagle inside it (BMC Arabia etc. pp. cx f., 127 f.—nos. 15–20, pl. xviii, 8 and 9—and p. 133, no. 40, pi. xviii, 17). Their form and their cult-statues exclude such an idea.

22 See the coins with the vexillum of the vexillatio of the leg. III Parthica stationed at Rhesaena quoted above, p. 96, n. 15.

23 Hill, G. F., JRS vi, 1916, 153Google Scholar; id. BMC Arabia etc. p. xcii f. Cf. Dussaud, R., Syria xix, 1938, 367Google Scholar f.

24 Fink, R. O., Hoey, A. S., and Snyder, W. F., ‘The Feriale Duranum,’ Yale Cl. St. vii, 1941, 205Google Scholar ff.

25 On the problem of the σημήιον in Hierapolis see the recent contributions of Frothingam, A. L., AJA xx, 1916, 208Google Scholar; Baur, P. V. C., Dura Rep. iii, 120Google Scholarff.; du Buisson, Du Mesnil, Rev. des Arts Asiatiques xi, 1937, 75Google Scholarff.; Clemen, C., Lukians Schrift über die Syrische Göttin (Der Alte Orient xxxvii, Heft 3/4, 1938) 42 f.Google Scholar; Stocks, H., Berytus iv, 1937, I ff.Google Scholar; cf. Clemen, C., Pisciculi. Festschr. F. J. Dölger (Antike u. Christentum, Ergänzungsband i, 1939), 66 ffGoogle Scholar. In these papers the reader will find references to the previous studies of the problem. On the Carrhae standards P. V. C. Baur and H. Stocks in works cited in n. 18. On the Dolichenea Hoey, A. S., Trans. APA lxx, 1939, 471 fGoogle Scholar.

26 The history of the religious banners and of their connection with the military standards has never been carefully studied. This study ought to be a comparative one in the light of the results achieved in some valuable but incomplete investigations devoted to the religious and military standards in various countries and at various times. A bibliography here is out of place. A partial one will be found in a paper by Professor K. Lehmann-Hartleben which will shortly appear in Dura Rep. ix, in connection with an interesting bronze object found at Dura. which the author regards as the top of a standard. Very little is known of the evolution of standards in Syria and Mesopotamia in the Persian and Hellenistic periods, as well as in early Roman times. The forms of religious standards in those periods certainly varied. Those few, however, which are known are not of the type of the Roman signa. I may quote for example a Palmyrene clay tessera in possession of Abbot Jean Starcky which shows on the obverse a sacrifice by a certain Ogilô to a deity hidden in a tent on camel-back, and on the reverse a figure of a priest in front view holding two standards with statues of deities on the top of each, see Starcky, Abbot Jean, Palmyre, Guide archéologique (Mél. de l'Univ. St. Joseph xxiv, 1941), 11Google Scholar, figs. 5 and 6.

27 Hoey, A. S., ‘The Feriale Duranum’, Yale Cl. St. vii, 1941, 117Google Scholar, and Trans. APA lxx, 1939, 488Google Scholar f.

28 Cumont, F., Dura Rep. i, 68Google Scholar ff., and pls. iv, 2, and v and cf. pp. 20 and 45, and du Buisson, Du Mesnil, Rev. des Arts Asiatiques xi, 1937, 75Google Scholar ff. Similar to the cult-scenes represented on the little altar is that drawn on the wall to the left of the cult-niche of the naos of Aphlad in Dura. We see an arched temple and in the temple a horned altar with an eagle crowned by a Victory (Hadad's bird? Note that Aphlad was regarded as the son of Hadad). Before the altar a priest is performing a sacrifice: a little below the scene we find a representation of a vexillum. Hopkins, C., Dura Rep. v, 104Google Scholar ff., pl. xxxvii, and my Dura and Parthian Art 249.

29 Usually in similar inscriptions the formula μνησθᾒ (or similar) is followed by the formula πρόσ; or ἐπι θεόν or θεούσ in general or the name of a given god (e.g. πρòσ τòν Ἀπό;λλωνα); see Dura Rep. ii, 165; v, 16 f., and 122, no. 426; vi, 133, no 655, 657; vii–viii, 130, no. 868.

30 BMC Galatia etc. 294, no. 29, pl. xxxvi, II; for a more exact description and more probable interpretation of the reverse, Ronzevalle, S., S.J., Mél. Univ. St. Joseph xviii, 1934, 142Google Scholar ff., and pl. vi, 3 (hence our pl. vi, 4). For a less well-preserved specimen in the possession of Abbot N. Karam, see S. Ronzevalle, Jupiter Heliopolitain nova et vetera (ibid, xxx, 1), 1937, 27, pl. iii, 4 and 129 f., pl. xxxvii, 3a and b.

31 Cf. Seyrig, H., ‘Heliopolitana,’ Bull. du Musée de Beyrouth i, 1937, 91Google Scholar ff., and his substantial paper, ‘La triade Heliopolitaine et les temples de Baalbek,’ Syria x, 1929, 314Google Scholar ff.

32 An excellent bibliography on the labarum will be found in Baynes, N. H., ‘Constantine the Great and the Christian Church,’ Proc. Br. Ac. xv, 1929, 398Google Scholar ff.; for a list of more recent works on the subject see Alföldi, A. in Pisciculi. Festschr. F. J. Dölger (Antike und Christentum, Ergänzungsband i, 1939) 8Google Scholar n.

33 I regard the reconstruction of Wilpert, J., Die römischen Mo aiken und Malereien, i, 33Google Scholar ff and iii, pl. 51, 2, as the most probable of those which have been suggested; cf. Cavalieri, P. Franchi de', Studi Romani i, 1913, 161Google Scholar ff., andii, 1914,216 ff.

34 Alföldi, op. cit. 7, pl. i, I.

35 Maurice, J., Numismatique Constantinienne ii, 538Google Scholar, no. xiii (pl. xv, 10) and Alföldi, op. cit. pl. ii, 2 (after H.V. Schoenefobeck, in ‘Beiträge zur Religionspolitik des Maxentius u. Constantin’ to be published as a Klio Beiheft; if this work has appeared, it is not yet available in U.S.A. or England). Cf. the well-known coin of Constantine (Spes Publica), Maurice, , op. cit. ii, 506Google Scholar, no. vii (pl. xv, 7) where three globuli are seen on the labarum (certainly not the busts of Constantine and his sons).

36 Brown, F. E., Dura Rep. vii–viii, 77Google Scholar f. and pl. lvii and plan, fig. 43 (facing p. 150). Though in my short survey of religious signa and vexilla I have limited myself to Syria and Mesopotamia, religious standards were probably used elsewhere. I may mention, for example, the enigmatic σημιαϕόροι(σ) τοῦἈρχηγέτἈϕ ὀλλωνοσ in Hierapolis in Phrygia. I agree with Judeich (Alt. von Hierapolis no. 153) in regarding them as an association of standard-bearers of the temple of Apollo, but see Ramsay, W. M., Cities, etc., 1895, i, 115Google Scholar, no. 19 and Poland, F., Gesch. d. gr. Vereinswesens (Preisschriften herausg. von der Fürstlich Jablonowskίschen Gesellsch. zu Leipzig xxxviii, 1909), 573Google Scholar, inscr. B 433 and p. 562 s.v. σημιαϕόροι. In Russian churches to be a banner-bearer used to be a high distinction.

37 The literary and epigraphical evidence will be found in an article by Kornemann in P-W s.v. ‘Collegium’ 414; cf. Ch. Renel, , ‘Cultes militaires de Rome.’ Les Enseignes' (Ann. de l'Univ. de Lyon, n.s. ii, fasc. 12, 1903), 305Google Scholar f.

38 Nogara, B., Le Nozze Aldobrandine, etc. (Collez. arch, artistiche e numis. dei Palazzi Apostolici ii, 1907), pls. xlvii–xlixGoogle Scholar; cf. my A History of the Ancient World ii, 267, pl. lvii.

39 Egger, R., Jahresh. d. Oest. Arch. Inst. xviii (1915), 165Google Scholar ff., fig. 65 and Führer durch die Antikensammlung des Landesmuseums in Klagenfurt 1921, 24; and my Storia Ec. e. Soc. d. I. R. 54.

40 Vexilla as dona militaria, Steiner, P., ‘Die dona militaria,’ Bonn. Jahrb. 114/5, 1906, 29Google Scholar ff. The two altars of Sex. Vibius Gallus CIL iii, 13648 (and 14187, 3), and 14187, 4 and 5 (=ILS 2663 and 4081). Excellent reproductions of the reliefs with the representation of the dona militaria, CIL iii, 13648; cf. E. Kalinka, Festschr. O. Benndorf 1898, 215 ff., and Steiner, op. cit. 33, 35, figs. 22 and 23 (time of Septimius Severus). On the dona militaria in general and on the vexillum as donum militare in particular see Domaszewski, A. v., ‘Die Rangordnung d. röm. Heeres’ (Bonn. Jahrb. 117, 1908), 137Google Scholar f.

41 Lauersfort, , Germania Romana 2, 1930, v, pl. xxxviGoogle Scholar, I, 2–4; the glass emblemata or phalerae, ibid, and F. Drexel, ‘Ein Bildnis der älteren Agrippina,’ Antike Plastik. Festschr. W. Amelung 1928, 67 ff.