The Garrison of Cilicia during the principate

Abstract

It has long been accepted that each and every Roman province, whether it was an impe-rial province, and so constitutionally the responsibility of the emperor, or a senatorial one, and thus (nominally, at least) under the control of the senate, had a garrison of some kind. However, firm evidence that this was the case with the imperial province of Cilicia, as reconstituted by Vespasian, only emerged in 2004, with the publication of a diploma for the year 121 reporting the cohors IIII Gallorum equitata as the provincial garrison at that time1. Unfortunately, the existence of this document is not as widely known as one might hope for. Thus while the valuable information it contains is well known amongst students of the Roman army, this seems to have e scaped a wider audience. This paper is intended to rectify that fact but will also attempt to establish, as far as the evidence permits, the na-ture of the garrison of Ciliciaprovince during the early and high principate. But first it is necessary to briefly summarise the official standing of Cilicia in the provincial hierarchy at that time, as this has a fundamental bearing on the nature and size of its garrison.