UFR 8584/ EPHE-LEM, Paris Sorbonne Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Recovering and preserving minor testimoniae is part of the responsibilities of scholars working in the field. Some graffiti appear sometimes in the propitious light, like a Latin graffito of the IIIrd Cyrenaica Legion I was happy enough to notice by chance on the sandstone rock façade in the walk coming from the Dayr, in July 2009, while conducting a group in Petra. The abbreviated name of the legion is followed by an acclamation, a rare formula I found in two other places; one incomplete Latin inscription found at Humayma, in the Hisma (restored); and the other one in a Latin graffito at Namara, south Syria, where the full inscription is easily legible, ending with a particular acclamation, Feliciter Invitta (sic). The issue of the presented evidence is the presence of the IIIrd Cyrenaica Legion in these three sites, presumably at an early time of the Provincia Arabia; these documents question the circumstances of the Roman occupation of Nabataea in the context of the Parthian wars.
Introduction
Recovering and preserving minor testimoniae is part of the responsibilities of scholars working in the field. In epigraphy for example, some graffiti appear sometimes in the propitious light, and then bring new information.
The graffito I present is an original addition to a list of five inscriptions and graffiti from Petra mentioning the Legio III Cyrenaica. Several other inscriptions issued by the members of the Third Legion were found in various sites of the Provincia Arabia, namely, from North to South: Bostra/Buṣrā (where the Legion was stationed from the early second century AD), An-Namara, Umm al-Quṭṭayn, An-Nmayra in South Syria; Khirbat as-Samra, Umm al-Jimal, Gerasa / Jarash,
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Philadelphia / ‘Amman in North Jordan, Humayma, Hegra, Azraq, Dumat Aelia Capitolina / Jerusalem, and especially in Bostra/Buṣrā in South Syria, where the Legion was stationed from the early second century AD (at the time of Hadrian) to the turn of the fifth century (Kindler 1983; Sartre 1985; Gathier 2000; Wolff 2000). The issue of the presented evidence is the presence of the IIIrd Cyrenaica Legion in this place, presumably at an early time of the Provincia Arabia, and its implication in the historical events of the first half of the second century. This is the case of a Latin graffito incised on the sandstone wall of Petra by a Roman soldier of the Third Cyrenaica Legion. I was happy enough to notice it by chance on the rock façade on the left side in the walk coming from the Dayr in Petra, in Spring 2009, while conducting a French group4.
Fig. 1: General view of the Latin graffito location, the Dayr, Petra (ph. M.-J. Roche)
The Latin graffito from the Dayr
4I could not take measurements; the estimated height of the graffito on the façade is about 1,50 m, and the letters are few centimetre height.
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Fig. 2.The Dayr Latin graffito mentioning the Leg III Cyr (ph. M.-J. Roche)
Fig. 3.Ib.,fac-simile(M.-J. Roche)
Two lines, badly weathered, are incised at eye level:
LEG III CYR
FELICIT(er) I(nvicta) Legio III Cyrenaica Fortunately invicible
The standardized abbreviated name of the Roman legion, the Third Cyrenaica Legion, Leg III Cyr, is easily restored in the first line; this legion is mentioned in other four Greek and Latin inscriptions and graffiti from Petra and its surroundings (infra).
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The very originality of this graffito, which raises historical issues on the role of the Legion in the wars and conflicts of the IInd century AD is the second line; it is a rare formula, also easily restored, this time thanks to a unique other example found at an-Namara in Southern Syria.
Mentions of the Leg III Cyr in Petra
Before presenting the epigraphic evidence, it is worth mentioning another source which is a papyrus named P. Mich. 466(Préaux 1950-1951)5. This papyrus, found at Karanis, in Egypt where the Third Cyrenaica Legion was stationed, is a letter by a soldier of the legion, dated 26 March AD 107, writing from Petra to his father, himself a former soldier. He speaks not only of his own situation, expecting a position as secretary of the legion, but also of his comrades: they “…all day long were cutting building stones and doing other things…”. It has been presumed that Trajan, who overcame the Nabataean kingdom at the death of Rabbel II, decided to build the VIA NIVA TRAIANA, from Busra to Aila (Aqaba) via Petra, for the moving of the legions6. The Leg III Cyr is thus believed to have participated to the attack of the Nabataean kingdom on the South West side to occupy Petra, while C. Claudius Severus, governor of Syria was moving from the North to occupy Busra; he became the first governor of the new province between 107 and 115 at least7.
This graffito is only the fifth inscription mentioning the Third Cyrenaica Legion found in Petra (Sartre 1993: n° 19, 44, 52, and 61). Of the four published inscriptions, 1 is a graffito (IGLJ IV, 19), 1 in an honorary inscription (IGLJ IV, 44), and 2 are funerary inscriptions (IGLJ IV, 52, 61). Therefore, our new graffito is only the fifth mention of the III Leg Cyr, recovered in Petra.
• IGLJ IV, 19:
5See also Speidel 1977 for another point of view; on the beginning of the Provincia Arabia see especially Bowersock 1971, 1983; Kennedy 1980.
6A Nabataean fragmentary inscription found at Avdat, in the Negev, is dated to the “year two of the eparchy”, the official name of the Provincia Arabia in Nabataean (Negev 1963: n° 11).
7On the governors of Arabia, see Bowersock 1973: ; Sartre 1982.
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Fig. 4.Id.,fac-simile(M.-J. Roche)
Fig. 5.Ib., fac-simile (M.-J. Roche)
ΓΚΥΡ
Third [Legion] Cyr[enaica]
This Greek graffito is known since the nineteenth century and has been mentioned several times8. F. Zayadine and Z. Fiema republished this graffito in 1986, and assured the interpretation as a Third Cyrenaica Legion graffito.
The letter Γ represent here the numeral 3, written III in Latin inscriptions; to distinguish the Greek letter from the figure, it is usually topped by a horizontal bar, which I could not recognize in situ9.The third letter of Cyr, Ρ has almost faded and was not visible.
Greek inscriptions of the Third Cyrenaica Legion are rather rare, as the language of the Roman army was Greek; on a funerary inscription from Khirbet es-Samra, R. 033, the abbreviated ΤΕΡ (for tertia in Latin) is used instead of ΤΡΙΤΗ, the normal Greek form10.
8Bibliography in Sartre 1993: n° 19, p. 52; mentioned in Brünnow & Domaszewski I, 1904, n° 5; cf.
the article by Zayadine & Fiema 1986.
9On a Latin building inscription from Umm Quttayn, Hawran (Kennedy 2004, fig. 9.5, p. 84), the sign III is toped by a horizontal bar, not necessary in this case, as there is no ambiguity on the reading.
10Humbert & Desreumaux (dir.) 1998: 399, example of Latin numeral adjectives used in Greek inscriptions, under the influence of the Latin military vocabulary
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This graffito, written on a resting place next to religious Nabataean cultic niches in the main sacred road to enter Petra, the Siq, dates probably from the beginning of the Roman occupation, around 107. The casual language of the Third Cyrenaica Legion coming from Egypt was Greek.
We do not know if the Leg III Cyr was engaged in the “Quietus War” in Judaea, in 117, at the time of the Jewish uprising in Cyrenaica and Egypt, from 115 to 117, which spread also to Cyprus and Judaea11.
The other Latin inscriptions are not dated.
• IGLS XXI, 44:
Fragmentary altar with Latin inscription written on three sides:
3 [Pro sal(ute) Imp(e)ra[toris]
This dedication was made by a legionary whose name was one of the emperors:
Marcus Aurelus, Lucius Verus, or Caracalla. Therefore, this inscription cannot be dated before Septimus Severus (Sartre 1993: 72.).
One notices the monogram of Cyrenaica, lacking the C, and the Y and the R
11On these events, see in particular Eck 1999.
12Cf. Oleson, Reeves & Fisher 2002, on the Humayma Inscription.
85 .AN.XXIV.MIV.H.S.
C(aius) Antonius Valens, / equ(es) leg(ionis) III Cyr(enaica), / (centuria) [..]provitiani ( ?), vix(it) / an(nos) XXIV, mil(itavit) V or m(enses) IV. H[ic]
s(sepultus) or s(itus est).
This inscription was found in the vicinity of Petra. The reading of lines 3 and 4 is uncertain. The name of the legionary is frequent in Egypt in the Ist century and first half of the IInd century AD. Therefore this text could belong to the beginning of the IInd century (Bennet & Kennedy 1978). But according to M. Sartre, the palaeography is later, and he suggests the IIIrd century.
• IGLJ IV, 61:
Fragment of a Greek funerary inscription:
--- --]Ι[.]ΚΥΡ[-- --]ΖΗΣΕΝ[-- --]ΤΗΙΒ
This is a fragment of the funerary inscription of the child of a soldier of the Third Cyrenaica Legion, stationed in Busra.
Mentions of the Third Cyrenaica Legion in Humaymaf and Hegra
These inscriptions from Petra mentioning the Third Cyrenaica Legion are not testimonies of its permanent settlement in the ancient Nabataean capital. Indeed, the legion is stationed in Busra13, but with some forts in the an-Namara region, East of Busra14; several Latin and Greek inscriptions were found in the ancient province of Arabia (See Kennedy 2004; Kennedy (ed.) 1996.).
Among the places where the legion was stationed, one should mention especially Humayma in the Hisma, and Hegra at the southerner frontier. In fact, inscriptions from these two sites add an aclamatio to the name of the Leg III Cyr.
13On the Third Cyrenaica Legion in Busra, cf. Kindler 1983; Sartre 1985.
14On the status of an-Namara, cf. Macdonald 2008.
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An abbreviated form appears on an altar broken in two parts, dedicated at Humayma, in the Hisma. It reads lines 3-4 (on two parts) (Oleson, J.P., Reeves M.B., Fisher B.J. 2002):
LEG III CYR