11. Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

Besides information of broader relevance to Roman history and prosopographysuch as the details mentioned, both diplomas also shed interestinglight on the social demography of the anny, especially as it affectsAsia Minor, through what we know of the background and career of eachrecipient. It is worth stressing that much of this information is recoverableonly because the provenance ofeach document is known.The recipient of the Alanya diploma, known only by his cognomenGalba, was a native of Cyrrhus in northem Syria. if we assume that hehad served the minimum 25 years before discharge, he would have enlistedin his regiment around 113. A context for his enlistment is not hard toseek. With plans for Trajan's great expedition against Annenia in the followingyear already under way, there would be a pressing need to bringall units stationed in the region up to strength for the impending campaign.These included the First Cohort of Musulami, raised near1y a centurybefore in North Africa, but long stationed in Syria. Cyrrhus, lying onthe supply line linking the main military base for the expedition at Seleuciain Pieria with the Euphrates and -with a well documented associationwith the Roman military, would have proved fertile territory for emergencyrecruitment. How long his unit continued to serve in Syria after hisenlistment is unknown, but probably well before the date of his dischargein 138 he had moved with his regiment when it was transferred to Lycia­Pamphylia to become the garrison regiment of that province. A fair1ylong service in his new province is presumed from the fact that Galbahad not onlyacquired a Pamphylian wife, but had also fathered two sonsby the time of his discharge, which suggests a considerable period of domesticityin his new home.The provenance of the diploma at the site of Cebel Ires close to theboundary between Pamphylia and Cilicia is also instructive, There is otherevidence that a frontier post or statio existed at the Sedra çay, theancient border between the two provinces, at the point where the coastroad leaves the fiat coastal plain of Pamphylia to traverse the rockystretch of coast to the east', Such posts were policed by troops detachedfrom the auxiliary garrison. During the peaceful years of Hadrianthroughout most parts of the Empire units of the Roman anny appear tohave remained for long periods of time in the district to which they hadbeen assigned. The stability accounts for the well documented tendeneyfor soldiers, perhaps the majority in the case of ordinary ranks suchas Galba, to remain at the time of their discharge close to the basewhere they had been assigned during the latest phase of their service. If,(4) Russell, 487-88.164