Among the many documents on papyri recovered through excavation at Dura Europos (mod. Salihye) are those from the files of the Cohors Vicesima Palmyrenorum. It was formed probably from a contingent of Palmyrene archers who were known to be in the city in 170/1 and the oldest document which names the cohors is dated to AD 208. The unit was the main garrison of Dura until the fall of the city to the Persians in 256. It was a cohors miliaria divided with a maximum of six centuries of infantry, augmented by cavalry and dromedarii. The following three texts are chosen because of their uniqueness, their relatively good state of preservation and the fact that they fall chronologically into the period covered by this collection.
(For translation of military terms, see Glossary, pp. 401–402.)
Unit journals had been in existence for the Roman Army since the Late Republic and the specimens from Dura are among the fullest preserved anywhere. Besides giving the total of the available manpower with separate statements of their NCOs for the infantry, the dromedarii and the cavalry, they also include such material of interest as the name(s) of the tribune, the full title of the unit (which changes with each new emperor) and departures and returns of detachments or individuals on specific tasks. For full discussion, see Fink, 1971:179–82.
(i) PDura 82 (Inv. D.P. 3 R, Latin) (c. AD 233)
Col. i
March 27: net number of milites caligati 914,1 including 9 centurions, 8 duplicarii, 1 sesquiplicarius, 34 dromedarii (including 1 sesquiplicarius), 223 equites, (including 5 decurions, 7 duplicarii, 4 sesquiplicarii), (total strength) of the Twentieth Palmyrene Cohort, Severiana Alexandriana.
Iulius Rufianus tribune: watch-word [ ] from the septizonia.2 Sent out [ ] 5 soldiers including [2?] dromedarii: from the century of Marianus, Aurelius Licinnius; from the century of Pudens, Aurelius Demetrius; from the century of Nigrinus, Aurelius Romanus and Aurelius Rufus; from the turma of Antoninus, Iarhaboles son of Odeatus.
Returned: Those previously dispatched with [ ] from the turma of Tiberinus [ ]. Timinius Paulinus, decurion, proclaimed the orders which had been sent […We will do what is ordered,] and at every command we will be ready. There are standing watch at the signa of our lord Alexander Augustus: decurion Timinius Paulinus, aedituus Aurelius Silvanus, [ ] son of Vabalathus, curator Aurelius Rubathis, (title)3 Iarhaeus son of Malchus, curator II Claudius Agrippas, eques [ ].
March 28: net number of milites caligati 914, including 9 centurions, 8 duplicarii, 1 sesquiplicarius, 34 dromedarii (including 1 sesquiplicarius), 223 equites (including 5 decurions, 7 duplicarii, 4 sesquiplicarii), (total strength) of the Twentieth Palmyrene Cohort, Severiana Alexandriana.
Iulius Rufianus tribune: [ ] from the septizonia. [ ] Antoninus; from the century of Antoninus, Aurelius Marinus and (cancelled) Aurelius Heliodorus; from the century of Gaianus, Iarhaboles son of Iarhaeus; from the century of Nigrinus, Aurelius Apollinarius.
[ ] Gaianus son of Iarhaboles. [ ] Becchuf(rayn?) [ ] one soldier, from the century of Gaianus [ ].
[ ], from the century of Antoninus [ ].
Timinius Paulinus, decurion, proclaimed the orders which had been sent [… Because…] will be discharged (?) on March 29, supplicatio and animal sacrifice; and at every command we will be ready. There are standing watch at the signa of our lord Alexander Augustus: decurion Timinius Paulinus, [ ] Aurelius [ ], aedituus Aurelius Silvanus, signifer Claudius Natalius, librarius Aurelius Capiton, (title) Antonius Valentinus, optio II Ogelus son of Malchus, eques [ ] Malchus son of Zebidas, eques Aelius Heliodorus [ ] Claudius Iulius Menander [ ].’
Col. ii
March 29: net number of milites caligati 914 [ ], (total strength) of the Twentieth
Palmyrene cohort, Severiana Alexandriana.
Iulius Rufianus tribune [ ]. Sent to procure barley [ ] soldiers, including [ ] equites [ ].
Sent to arrange for transportation (or as escort) for the barley-collectors [ ] soldiers, from the century of Marianus [ ].
Returned: those previously dispatched to Atha: two soldiers, from the century of Nigrinus, Iulius Zabdibolus [ ].
Returned: those previously dispatched to the governor’s headquarters with letters [ ] soldiers [ ].
Returned from among those previously dispatched with them to the governor’s headquarters from the cohors II eq [ ] Sent to procure wood for the bath 1 soldier, from the century of Nigrinus, Zebidas son of Barneus.
Sent (cancelled).
Timinius Paulinus, decurion, proclaimed the orders which had been sent [… There are standing watch…]: decurion Timinius Paulinus, aedituus Aurelius Silvanus [ ] III Aurelius Bassus, IIII Aurelius Heliodorus [ ].
March 30: number of milites caligati 914 [ ], (total strength) of the Twentieth Palmyrene Cohort, Severiana Alexandriana.
Iulius Rufianus tribune: [ ].
[ ]
Absent without leave: four soldiers, from the century of [ ] from the century of Marianus [ ] son of Themarsas, from the century of [ ].
Missing (?): one eques [ ].
Transferred (?) [ ] from among those previously dispatched [ ].
Transferred (?) [ ] from [ ].’
(ii) PDura 89 (Inv. D.P. 9 R, Latin) (AD 239)
Aurelius Germanus, first centurion, proclaimed the orders which had been sent [ ] We will do what is ordered, and at every command we will be ready. There are standing watch at the signa of our lord the Emperor Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus: centurion Aurelius Germanus, [ ] signifer Ulpius Marianus, bucinator Aurelius Priscus, sacerdos Themes son of Mocimus, tesserarius Aurelius Mocimus, (title) Ulpius Silvanus, signifer II Flavius Demetrius (the second of that name?), signifer III Aurelius Malchus, discens mensorem [ ] Aurelius Iarhaboles [ ] and [ ] four [ ] are ready.
May 27: there are in the winter quarters of the Twentieth Palmyrene Cohort, Gordiana, the net figure of (?) [ ], 781,4 including 6 centurions, 8 duplicarii, 1 sesquiplicarius, 36 (?) dromedarii including [ ] sesquiplicarii, 233 (?) equites, including 4 decurions, 6 duplicarii, 2 sesquiplicarii: the total strength (?) of the Twentieth Palmyrene Cohort, Gordiana. [All (?)] were present.
‘[ ] Avitus, legionary centurion, praepositus [ ]; sent as watch-word Security.
‘Aurelius Germanus, first centurion, proclaimed the orders which had been sent [ ] We will do what is ordered, and at every command we will be ready. There are standing watch at the signa of our lord the Emperor Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus: centurion Aurelius Germanus, signifer Ulpius Marianus, bucinator Aurelius Priscus, sacerdos Themes son of Mocimus, tesserarius Aurelius Mocimus, (title) Ulpius Silvanus, signifer II Flavius Demetrius, signifer III Aurelius Malchus, discens mensorem [ ] Aurelius Iarhaboles [ ] and [ ].
May 28: there are in the winter quarters of the Twentieth Palmyrene Cohort, Gordiana, a net figure (?), 781, including 6 centurions, 8 duplicarii, 2 sesquiplicarii: [the total strength (?)] of the Twentieth Palmyrene Cohort, Gordiana. [All (?)] were present. ‘[ ] Avitus, legionary centurion, praepositius [ ]; sent as watchword Iuppiter Dolichenus sanctus (?).
Recruits approved by […]nius, vir clarissimus, our consularis, two in number, [ ], Aurelius Germanus, effective from May 10, AD 239.
[ ] Two recruits whose names [ ] also heights I have ordered appended [ ] approved [ ] in the Twentieth Palmyrene Cohort, Gordiana [ ].
This unique document lists in detail cavalrymen of the cohort who had lost their mount and establishes the identity of each man’s horse and the authority by which it had been approved or assigned. The names of those listed probably came from the same turma. As six men out of nineteen had recently lost horses, the unit might well have been in action. The prospects of the unit could not have been very bright, with a quarter of its horses having to be replaced in a period of four months and a third of the equites still lacking mounts. Cf. Welles et al. 1959: 296–302 and Fink, 1971:340–4.
PDura 97 (Inv. D.P. 3 V, Latin) (AD 251, after 31 August):…].lus son of Malchus: lost his horse effective from the day before [date]. (The original entry, cancelled after ‘son of Malchus,’ ran as follows: ‘…].lus son of Malchus: a horse, four years old [ ], white [fore or hind feet?], brands on right thigh and shoulder, approved by the then prefects, October 20, AD 2465:125 denarii.’)
Malchus son of Goras: lost his horse [date].
Aurelius Alexander: a horse, aequatus (with smooth teeth?, i.e. seven or more years old), [ ], approved by Atilius Cosminus then consularis, March 16, AD 251: 125 denarii.
[Name: a horse, etc.], two years old, black brands on right thigh and shoulder, approved by then prefects, December 29, AD 251:125 denarii.
[Name]: lost [his horse, date].
[Name]: a horse, [ ], protruding muzzle, white hind feet, without brand, approved by Atilius Cosminus then consularis, March 16, AD 251:125 denarii.
[Name]: a horse, [ ], mouse-coloured, brands on right thigh and left shoulder, approved by the then prefects, December 29, AD 245: 125 denarii.
[Name]: a horse, [ ], approved by the then prefects, same day and year: 125 denarii.
[Name] son of Vhabalathus: a horse, [ ], approved by the then prefects, September 10, AD 249:125 denarii, Aurelius Bar[…]s: lost his horse [date].
[Name]: a horse, [ ], white hind feet, without brand, approved by Atilius Cosminus then consularis, January 22, AD251:125 denarii.
[Name: a horse, etc.], reddish-bay, brand on right shoulder, appraised (?) by Pomponius Laetianus, vir egregius, procurator of our two Augusti, April 13, AD 251:45 denarii[ ] 55 denarii. Aurelius Mambogeus: [a horse], four years old, [etc., appraised?] by Pomponius Laetianus, vir egregius, procurator of our two Augusti, May [8–14] AD 251:125 denarii.
Also SAL[ ].
Barhathes son of Maesum: a mare, aequata (with smooth teeth?), [ ], without brand, approved by the then prefects, September 21, AD 249.
[Name]: a mare, four years old, [ ], whitish fore feet, without brand, ‘sealed’ by Licinius Pacatianus then dux, August 10, AD 245.
[Name: lost] his horse August 31, AD 251.
[Name: a mare], aequata (with smooth teeth?), reddish-sooty? (or dirty red?), brand on left [ ], ‘sealed’ by Licinius Pacatianus then dux, August 11, AD 245.
[Name]: a horse, aequatus (with smooth teeth?), [ ], bluish-gray?, [brand on] left thigh, approved by Ulpius Tertius then dux, [day and month], AD 248.
The discovery from a house inside Dura of a letter in Middle Persian sent by an important official in charge of transportation who appears to be on familiar terms with Shapur seems to give support of Rostovtzeff’s hypothesis that the city was briefly held by the Persians in 253. Rostovtzeff (1943:52–60) adduced this from an incomplete wall painting of horsemen in a Sassanian style of a Persian (?) victory from a private house and a drawing found in the office of the actuarius of the XX Palmyrene Cohort, depicting a Roman officer sacrificing to the Palmyrene god Jarhibol in the presence of a mounted dignitary apparently in Palmyrene dress whom Rostovtzeff identified as Odaenathus and to whom he credited the restoration of the city to Roman rule during his first expedition against the Persians. Bellinger (1943:64–5 and 1949: 209) has shown that such a view appears to be supported by the provenance and the apparent date of burial of at least six coin-hoards in the city and its vicinity as these contain no coins issued later than 253. MacDonald (1986:56–60) has recently challenged Rostovtzeff’s interpretation of the paintings on the grounds that the mounted figure in the first lacked a number of Sassanian attributes and that the second represents the scene of an oft-repeated ceremony rather than a celebration of a Palmyrene victory. Although there is little doubt that the city finally fell in 256 (see above, Ch. 3, note 23), the fact the hoards only contain coins issued in 253 or earlier only points to a terminus post quern of the event. They might have been buried in 253 by citizens in panic when Shapur’s army advanced from Pirisabora to Anatha at the beginning of his ‘Second’ Campaign. Cf. Kettenhofen, 1982:78. The following letter, found behind Blocks L7 and L8 in Wall Street, therefore, could have been composed, mutatis mutandis, during or after the fall of the city.
PDura 154 (Inv. D. Pg. 37, Middle Persian):
(Recto)
…greetings, homage, much sent (to) all. And now:-
…so servants and slaves (?) did…
…then further you said that…
…whereas a rescript from Shapur…
5 …Shapur to M…
…gave [instructions?]that I…
…apart from…, that…
…I and you (?)…
(Verso)
Bring the load towards the Tigris…
there is not. Now send me something that…
where there be something of mine, as extra-load (?)…
apart from [that which is] herein required,…
5 [blank]
…the chief(?) army-corps (?)…
[blank]
(Henning, ap. Welles, 1959:416)
Among other sources possibly related to the history of the fall of the city are a number of dipinti and graffiti in Middle Iranian from the Jewish Synagogue at Dura in one of the buildings which were dismantled in the building of the embankment to counter Persian efforts at mining. The dipinti record the visit to the synagogue and the viewing of its famous wall-paintings by important persons, some accompanied by their scribes. Several of the dipinti are dated to the fourteenth or fifteenth years (presumably of the reign of Shapur, i.e. between 253 and 254).
A typical specimen reads:
In the month Mi r, in the year
fourteen, and on the day Sa revar,
when Yazda npe se , the scribe,
and the scribe of the radak
to this house
came
[and by them] this picture [was looked at]
[and] by them praise was made.
(No. 43, p. 302, trans. Geiger)
Geiger (ap. Kraeling, 1956:297–300) argues against the visitors being Jews from Babylonia on grounds of their unmistakably Iranian names, some even being theophoric of Zoroastrian deities. Some might have been Persian envoys sent to Dura before its fall who visited the synagogue as part of their sight-seeing. One, according to Geiger, even left a warning of the impending doom of the city by referring to the Jewish religious leader who accompanied him as zndky—a term which Geiger equates with mp. zndyky (heretic, esp. used of the Manichaeans):
In the month Mi r, in [the year] fourteen, and
on the day [Fravar]tin
When Hormazd, the scribe, and Kantak, the zandak,
and the scribe of the building,
and this zandak of the Jews to his edifice of the
God [of] the Gods
of the Jews came and by them […] this picture was
beheld,
and by them it was looked at and beheld […],
it was looked at,
[…] the picture […]’
(No. 44, p. 344, trans. Geiger)
Geiger’s interpretation of zndky has not won universal acceptance. (See e.g. Gignoux, 1972:38 who defines it as ‘(?) titulature juive’.) Moreover, as MacDonald (1986:62) has pointed out, ‘repetitive inspection of this small facility within a short time is hardly likely’, if we are to assume that the majority of these visits took place while the city was briefly held by the Sassanians. Some Jews in Babylonia were known to have become so Iranized that they had adopted Iranian names (cf. Neusner, 1966:100–3). The majority of these visitors were probably Jews from Babylonia where there were stronger Jewish communities than anywhere in the cities along the Eastern Roman frontier. The relevance of these texts to the political history of the city has been unjustifiably exaggerated.