UNCORRECTED PROOF T R  R S  T-C F M  N (E)* After Egypt became a Roman province in 30 BC, a legionary fortress was established about 4 km. northeast of Alexandria in Nikopolis, a small town founded by Octavian to commemorate his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII, on the site now occupied by the headquarters of the Northern Military Region army in the Sidi Gaber district. The necropolis, located to the southwest of the fortress, has yielded up to 134 funerary monuments,1 most of which are associated with legio II Traiana fortis.2 Although this legion was present at the site from the second quarter of the second until the early fifth century AD, the vast majority of the monuments erected in honour of the soldiers and their close relatives date from the first half of the third century. Among these we find a distinct set of 25 funerary monuments carved with a portrait (or portraits) of the deceased in military attire, consisting for the most part of small stelae, on which the deceased is usually shown standing in a frontal pose. The broad ring-buckle belt, worn by the deceased at the waist and often prominently displayed to signal the status and wealth of the deceased (fig. 1), is typical of this period. Though rather small in number, this group of “ring-buckle” gravestones from Nikopolis bears great significance, accounting for almost 20 % of the third-century “standing soldier”-type of gravestones surviving from the Roman Empire.3 Thus far, however, this rich iconographic material has been largely neglected in modern scholarship.4 The purpose of this article is to provide the first full discussion of the third-century military figural gravestones from Nikopolis within the context of the contemporary * 1. 2. 3. 4. This article is a shortened version of a presentation given at the workshop Représentations militaires : textes, images et rhétorique, organised by the USR 710 – « L’Année épigraphique » (CNRS, Villejuif) on 15 November 2013. I am grateful to Patrice Faure for the invitation to present my doctoral research at this workshop, and to Katelijn Vandorpe, Jon Coulston and Wilfried Van Rengen for their invaluable help and advice. Any shortcomings, however, remain my own responsibility. The present article was written while I was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO – Vlaanderen) at the KU Leuven, for which I wish to express my gratitude. I am currently preparing a catalogue of the funerary monuments from Nikopolis on the basis of my doctoral research, conducted at the KU Leuven from 2008 to 2012. Ritterling 1925; Daris 2000. 115 examples are collected in Coulston 2007, p. 535-538; for the method of collection, see p. 539 n. 43. The corpus of figural gravestones from Nikopolis is briefly treated in some general works on GraecoRoman Egyptian funerary art, notably Castiglione 1967, p. 114-115; Parlasca 1985, p. 101-102, and in more specific studies, notably Parlasca 2005, p. 323-324. Schmidt 2003, p. 37-43 offers an extensive discussion of the gravestones that are now in the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria. Revue internationale d’histoire militaire ancienne, n° 1 ?, 2014 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 61 17/12/2014 13:21 62 Sofie Waebens Fig. 1 – Funerary stela of Aurelius Sabius (Alexandria, Mus. inv. 252). © Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Cairo. “standing soldier” gravestone tradition, which will also throw new light on the Roman military funerary practice at Nikopolis. Corpus For the purposes of the present study, all known gravestones of the third century AD from Nikopolis are taken into consideration, with the exception of one small fragment with the head of a bearded male figure, forming a corpus of 25 items.5 All but one of them (no 21 in the Appendix) have been previously published, some more than a century ago in e.g. CIL, III, Suppl. 1-2 (1902) and IGLAlex (1911), others as recently as 2014.6 The majority arrived on the antiquities market in the late nineteenth century, often in a fragmentary state, and lack an archaeological context, although one cippus is said by the first editor to have been discovered inside a small hypogaeum7 (no 10, on display in the Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna). Most gravestones are now in the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, whilst the others are scattered among various museums, mainly throughout Europe (Athens, Baltimore, Barcelona, Bologna, Brooklyn (NY), Brussels, Edinburgh, London, Marseille, Paris, Schwerin, Stockholm, Uppsala and Warsaw). Although the provenances of the gravestones can seldom be 5. 6. 7. Schmidt 2003, p. 127-128 no 108, fig. 40. No 8 in the Appendix, of which only the lower left corner is preserved, may have depicted a child in military attire by virtue of the sacrificing posture of the deceased (compare with no 4 and 19) and has therefore been included in the corpus. See no 13 in the Appendix. Néroutsos-Bey 1887, p. 209 no 47. 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 62 17/12/2014 13:21 Representation of Roman Soldiers 63 confirmed, sufficient examples have been found on the site to establish the following characteristics, which distinguish them from others found elsewhere:8 – the gravestones are almost entirely made of white and grey blue-veined marble imported from Asia Minor, not of local limestone, as in most provinces of the Roman Empire; – the gravestones consist for the most part of small-scale stelae manufactured from reused revetment plaques, some of which still bear the original profiles on their reverse faces (e.g. no 9). Their limited height is probably a consequence of the marble slabs from which they were carved, whilst their relative thinness suggests that they were employed as loculus lids, mostly in subterranean tomb chambers,9 although above-ground tombs are also known to have existed in this region;10 – the gravestones, almost all of which span a relatively short period of time, are rather homogeneous, exhibiting a characteristic iconography and portrait style distinct from other regions in the Empire, as will be detailed below; hence, they are probably the work of a single workshop. As already mentioned above, the most common type of grave monument is the small-scale stela, which shows a full-length figure within a shallow squared or arched frame with an inscription below. This frame, generally unadorned, supports a crude rounded pediment on no 4. Among the other gravestone types we find a large aedicula-shaped stela with a pomegranate-decorated pediment (no 17: 120.7 × 58.0 × 10.5-16.5 cm) and a large cippus (no 10: 120.9 × 60.4-57.3 × 33.5 cm). No 2 and 5 are carved from a reused column shaft that was probably damaged during transport, as is apparent from the reverse of no 5, but they are nonetheless quite similar to the stelae in form and decoration. Most gravestones are inscribed, and all but one of them (no 7) bear inscriptions in Latin. While only 11 inscriptions identify the deceased, or his father, as a soldier of the long-resident legio II Traiana fortis,11 all “standing soldier” gravestones may have represented soldiers of this legion.12 8. For further discussion of the characteristics, see Castiglione 1967, p. 114-115; Parlasca, 1985, p. 101102; Schmidt 2003, p. 37-39; Waebens Ph.D. diss., p. 8-15. 9. In 1912, a rock-cut tomb complex with three chambers containing loculi with painted inscriptions was discovered near the area where the necropolis may have been situated and about to be destroyed, but a dispute between the contractor and the property owner allowed E.A. Breccia to draw up a plan of the tomb: Breccia 1912. 10. Néroutsos-Bey 1888, p. 85. For other forms of grave sculpture in Roman Egypt, see Parlasca 1992-1993, p. 125-128. 11. In three inscriptions (no 9, 18 and 25), no unit is mentioned (perhaps because legio II Traiana fortis was the only legionary force stationed in Egypt at the time), while two inscriptions (no 1, 8) are fragmentary. 12. Very few funerary monuments discovered on the site commemorate soldiers of other units, and none of them have a relief. In addition, recent research has shown that legionaries dominate the thirdcentury “standing soldier” gravestone corpus, at least outside Rome with its praetorians, which may be explained in part by their concern to assert their status in a period when the legal distinction between citizens and non-citizens had been dismantled: Coulston 2007, p. 547-548. 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 63 17/12/2014 13:21 64 Sofie Waebens Funerary practice at Nikopolis The gravestones under consideration are part of a larger military gravestone tradition, most recently discussed by J.C.N. Coulston in an excellent study.13 Before examining the military figures from Nikopolis in detail, we therefore need to take a closer look at the local funerary practice to place them against an appropriate backdrop. Small inscribed plaques, predominantly made of marble, had been in use among the soldiers stationed at Nikopolis from the earliest period of Roman control, but they were largely replaced by the figural gravestones under discussion in the third century. The portrait style and inscriptional formulation suggest that they were almost entirely produced in the first half of the third century, with a marked concentration in the late Severan period. The earliest figural gravestone known from Nikopolis is a stela in the British Museum in London (inv. GRA 1973.4-22.1 [Sc. 2271]),14 which is unusual for its depiction of two full-length male figures with similar facial features.15 The stylish and carefully rendered beard and hairstyle, and the military equipment16 depicted on the relief, securely date it to the late Antonine period. The Greek inscription below the relief even allows the stela to be precisely dated to the year 188/189.17 No other second-century examples have been found, and one can wonder why gravestones bearing an image of the deceased became the most common type of grave monument at Nikopolis from the early third century onwards. From an analysis of the corpus of military figures from the late first century BC to the late fourth century AD, now largely available through the work of J.C.N. Coulston,18 it is clear that the third-century practice of erecting figural gravestones was a regional-temporal phenomenon: unlike earlier examples, the “ring-buckle”-type of gravestones occur in large numbers in the Upper-Middle Danubian region, Rome, Apamea in Syria and, to a lesser extent, in Britannia and the area around Byzantion, but sparsely elsewhere. Most likely, this gravestone tradition developed from regional funerary practice in the 13. Coulston 2007, p. 529-561. 14. AÉ, 2005, 1609; SEG, LII 1762; AÉ, 2002, 1586; Łajtar 2002, p. 45-48; GIBM, IV, 2 no 1113; BM Cat. Sculpture, III, 2271, fig. 39. 15. The relief depicts two figures: the one on the left hand side, dressed in military attire, holds a patera in his right hand and what appears to be a diptychon in his left, mirroring the posture of the man who is shown standing on the right hand side, dressed in a tunic and toga. With his left hand he holds the free end of his toga, while his outstretched right hand reaches for the plume of a helmet resting on top of a semi-cylindrical case. A curving rectangular shield and a short, sheathed sword are piled on the ground beside him. He has the same facial features as the other man, but his face is more lined, suggesting a more advanced age. Of further interest is the inscription below the relief: ΠαυσΣΐΉΑΓΖȱΗΘΕ΅Θϟ΅ΖȱӣΕ΋Ζȱ ӣΕ΋ι π΅ΕνΈΝΎΉΑȱϵπλα / καϠ στρατϟαν. Καταλϟψας ταІτα εϢς ρτερον κϱσμον Ωκοσμον / Φπελφλυθε ϵπου οЁδξν ЀπΣρχι εϢ μχ μϱνον σκοτϟη· ǻσΘΓΙΖǼȱκθ, which indicates that Ares, a veteran, left his weapons and military appointment (?) to another man called Ares, whose identity and relationship to the deceased are not specified. Several theories have been proposed (see in particular Stoll 2005), but it has recently been suggested that the men were, in all likelihood, father and son; see Waebens 2012. 16. Particularly the rectangular shield, which is also depicted on a mid-second-century relief from Croy Hill: Coulston 1988. 17. The number given at the end of l. 3 probably represents the regnal date, though this has occasionally been doubted; see AÉ, 2005, 1609. 18. For an overview of the corpus with reference to the published collections of gravestones, see Coulston 2007, p. 544-549. 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 64 17/12/2014 13:21 Representation of Roman Soldiers 65 Upper-Middle Danubian provinces during the late second century and then spread to Rome with the Severan recruitment of Danubian legionarii for the Praetorian Guard and to legio II Parthica at Albano Laziale, and from there to Apamea and to the Istanbul region with the movement of troops.19 The relatively isolated concentration of these “ring-buckle” gravestones at Nikopolis is more difficult to explain, although it has been suggested by J.C.N. Coulston that the introduction of this gravestone type is probably connected to Caracalla’s visit to Egypt in 215-216,20 which brought soldiers of legio II Parthica, the legion that largely created the Apamea corpus,21 to Nikopolis.22 This connection seems plausible, because the majority of the inscriptions erected in honour of soldiers of legiones II Parthica and II Traiana fortis name the centuria in which the deceased soldier had served (different formulas are generally used for each legion),23 whilst this information is elsewhere rarely included, thus revealing some influence from legio II Parthica on the military funerary practice at Nikopolis. Figural representation of soldiers at Nikopolis In general, the soldiers are depicted in the style of dress that had become fashionable by the third century,24 wearing long-sleeved tunics and cloaks, fastened by a circular fibula at the right shoulder (fig. 1). As is typical for the military representations in this period, they wear no body armour, only side arms (shield, sword and/or spears).25 The cloak, which falls open to the right side of the chest before hanging down the back to behind the knees or calves, is usually pulled back over the soldier’s left arm to reveal a sword, but also occasionally covers the soldier’s chest (nos 14, 17). Around the waist, the soldier almost always wears a belt fastened by a ring-buckle, prominently displayed to advertise the status and military profession of the deceased.26 The sword, worn on a broad baldric over the soldier’s left shoulder, is almost entirely obscured by the cloak except for the circular or peltate chape and a small part of the scabbard body; on some gravestones (nos 3, 6, 9, 18) it is even entirely absent. By contrast, more elaborate reliefs also depict the broad baldric to which the sword is attached by a slide (no 10), occasionally with a circular phalera mounted towards its lower end (no 11), and/or an ivy-leaf terminal (nos 17, 19, 21).27 19. Bishop, Coulston 2006, p. 9-12; Coulston 2007, p. 535-538. 20. On the riots that broke out during Caracalla’s visit to Alexandria, see now Harker 2008, p. 133-138; Rodriguez 2012. 21. Balty 1988, p. 97-102. 22. Coulston 2007, p. 537 n. 32. In a well-known dedication to Iupiter Optimus Maximus by C. Cassius Sever(ianus?), centurion of legio II Parthica, this visit and the associated riots are referred to as pericula Alexandrina (AÉ, 1993, 422, l. 12-16, discussed in detail by Bruun 1995). 23. Speidel 1983. 24. See now Speidel 2012, esp. p. 3-4, with reference to further literature on clothing in the Roman army. 25. On the unarmoured convention in third-century military portraiture and its (lack of) significance, see Bishop, Coulston 2006, esp. p. 253-254. 26. On the belt as visual (and aural) indicator of military service, see Coulston 2004, p. 141-142; Hoss 2012, p. 29-30. 27. For excellent introductions to Roman military equipment, see Feugère 2002; Bishop, Coulston 2006. 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 65 17/12/2014 13:21 66 Sofie Waebens The gravestones show the deceased in different postures, some already seen on earlier examples. Three main classes are generally distinguished: standing soldier (full and half-length figure), riding cavalryman and funerary banquet.28 All the gravestones from Nikopolis, however, depict standing soldiers, with the exception of a single stela (no 25), on which the seven-month-old Valerinus is shown on horseback, holding the reins in his left hand and a shafted weapon in his right. For the purpose of the present study, a typology of the “standing soldier” gravestones has therefore been established: Type A – soldiers sacrificing at altars: the largest group of gravestones shows the deceased soldier holding a patera over an altar in his right hand and a scroll29 or situla in his left, as seen in fig. 2. Type B – soldiers carrying weapons: four gravestones portray the deceased soldier with shield, sword and shafted weapon(s). On nos 10 and 11, the deceased holds two shafted weapons, tied together in two or three places, in his right hand, whilst his left hand rests on top of a grounded oval shield. A sword, carried suspended from a broad baldric on the soldier’s left side, is almost entirely obscured by the shield except for the circular pommel and a small part of the handgrip (fig. 1). Nos 12 and 13 bear a similar depiction, but show the soldier holding a single shafted weapon. Type C – soldiers holding items of office: this group consists of three gravestones, on which the deceased is shown with typical items of his office: on no 14, the soldier holds in his right hand a vexillum, the shaft topped by a spearhead, and in his left hand a scroll, identifying him as a vexillarius. Another stela (no 13), also from the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, depicts either an optio or a tesserarius, holding a long staff with knobbed ends in his right hand30 and a set of writing tablets in his left. On his ring finger an annulus aureus is visible, symbolizing his Roman citizenship31 (also shown on nos 9, 18). Two large gravestones with a less “martial” depiction of the deceased (Types A, D) also display items that advertise the soldier’s rank. On no 2, the deceased is depicted sacrificing at an altar between two manus-topped signa, complementing the information provided in the inscription below, while a pilum with carrying-handle and beneficiarius spearhead32 appears on the left edge of no 18 (fig. 3). 28. This classification, adopted by most scholars, was first developed in Gabelmann 1972. 29. There is no scholarly consensus about the meaning of the scroll depicted on military gravestones, but for some interpretations see Bingen 2003, p. 67 (scroll contains the will of the deceased soldier); Schmidt 2003, p. 38-39 (scroll could be produced as evidence of the honesta missio or immunitas of the deceased soldier); Speidel 2012, p. 4 n. 18 (scroll may indicate that the deceased soldier had held a position involving administrative tasks). In my opinion, the scroll, which is also shown on civilian gravestones, often with an annulus aureus (see e.g. Schmidt 2003, p. 130-131 no 116, fig. 41 from Nikopolis; CSIR Deutschland, I, 5 no 8 from Scarbantia; CSIR Österreich, I, 5 no 7 from Savaria and CIL, III, Suppl. 1, 5409 from Noricum) was meant to present the deceased as “Roman”; for a similar observation, see also Carrié 1989, p. 132 (with similar title in the various translations). 30. See e.g. the second-century gravestone of Caecilius Avitus, an optio, from Chester (RIB, I 492; CSIR Great Britain, I, 9 no 32) and the third-century gravestones of Aurelius Celsus and Aurelius Ingenuis, both tesserarii, from Apamea (AÉ, 1993, 1585, 1588; Balty, Van Rengen 1993, p. 38 no 15, p. 44-45 no 19, both with photo). 31. Demougin 1984. 32. For a close parallel, see the third-century gravestone of the beneficiarius Petronius Proculus, found at Apamea, which also depicts a pilum: Balty 1988, fig. XIV, 1. 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 66 17/12/2014 13:21 Representation of Roman Soldiers Fig. 2 – Funerary stela of M. Aurelius Neon (Brussels, Mus. inv. A. 2246). © KMKGMRAH (courtesy of C. Evers). 67 Fig. 3 – Funerary cippus of G. Damianus, detail (Bologna, Mus. Civ. inv. 19310). Author’s photograph, September 13th, 2010. Type D – soldiers holding belt-straps: three gravestones show the deceased holding, perhaps even twirling, the strap-ends of his belt by his side in his right hand, drawing the viewer’s attention towards the belt and what it stood for. In his left hand, he holds a scroll or a garland.33 On no 18, the belt-ends, which are looped up under the belt at the right before hanging down alongside the deceased soldier’s right leg (fig. 3), may have served to emphasize the presence of the belt and, ultimately, the twirling posture of the deceased. One stela, no 19, depicts two young boys standing beside each other. The boy on the left hand side, who is dressed in a tunic and toga, sacrifices at an altar whilst holding a scroll in his left hand. The youth side-lock, worn on the right side of his head, suggests that he was younger than the other boy, who is shown in military dress, holding the straps of his belt in one hand and a garland in the other. Although an inscription is lacking, the boys were no doubt relatives, perhaps brothers. 33. A hand-garland often appears on gravestones from Nikopolis, particularly on those erected in honour of soldiers’ wives and children, see e.g. Schmidt 2003, p. 40 fig. 38; p. 130-131 no 116 and p. 32 no 118, fig. 41; p. 132-133 no 120 and p. 133-134 no 122, fig. 42. This garland-type, which is depicted in a wide range of media (sculptures, paintings and mosaics, mummy portraits, shrouds, coins and bronze or terracotta figurines, particularly from Egypt), is usually thought to have been derived from the ancient Egyptian “crown of justification” (notably in Derchain 1955), given to the deceased after passing the divine judgment. Since wreaths and garlands were often used in religious and festive ceremonies throughout the Mediterranean, the hand-garland may have become associated with the funerary cult in general. 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 67 17/12/2014 13:21 68 Sofie Waebens Two other gravestones exhibit variations of the above types. No 22, now on display in the Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna, combines the iconography of types A and B: the deceased holds a patera over an altar in his right hand, whilst his left hand rests on top of a grounded oval shield by his side. There is also an unpublished stela in the National Museum in Athens (no 21), which depicts the deceased with a garland in the left hand and what might have been a shafted weapon in the right, to judge from the position of the figure’s right forearm. A special case is no 23, one of the most touching gravestones to come out of Nikopolis. The deceased soldier, who is portrayed as a family man, grasps the hand of a small girl clothed in a himation over a chiton who stands to his right. She seems to be gazing at him in adoration, holding what appears to be a garland in her other hand (fig. 4). The inscription, which is only partially preserved, identifies the deceased as Dasius, miles of legio II Traiana fortis: Dasiu[---] V milite / leg(ionis) II Tr(aianae) for(tis) [---]T PRोI natione / [---]E.34 This distinctive iconography is characteristic of the Danubian region35 and may therefore indicate an Illyrian origin of the deceased.36 What clearly emerges from this typology is that the sacrificing-type of representation was a popular motif on gravestones from Nikopolis (9 out of 24),37 particularly in the context of the third-century “standing soldier” gravestone tradition.38 Barely 2 of the 63 known gravestones of this type from Apamea depict the deceased sacrificing at an altar in civilian dress. Interestingly, both gravestones commemorate a salariarius, a soldier who is now generally thought to have performed specialised duties and to have received special pay, of ala I Ulpia Contariorum.39 A similar picture emerges for all other regions with a strong presence of “ring-buckle” gravestones. Although it is tempting to ascribe this preference for the sacrificing posture among the soldiers at Nikopolis to a locally variant funerary practice, the deceased rarely appears in this manner on local gravestones, as is apparent from a straw-poll of figural gravestone numbers from Alexandria40 and Terenouthis, a small town located on the edge of the western desert in the Delta which has produced by far the largest number of grave reliefs from Graeco-Roman Egypt.41 The majority of the gravestones depict the 34. S. Schmidt reads Datius [---] an(nos) V milite / leg(ionis) II Tr(aianae) For(tis) [---] PRSI natione / [---] te in Schmidt 2003, p. 129 no 111. 35. A well-known example is the early third-century gravestone of Aurelius Bitus from Aquincum (CIL, III, Suppl. 2, 15159; Tit. Aq. II 545). For further discussion of the emphasis on the nuclear family on Pannonian tombstones, see notably Boatwright 2005. 36. This origin is also suggested by his name, a Latinized form of the Messapic male name Dazas/Dases, which was rather common in the Danubian region (OPEL, III, p. 93: 16 attestations in Dalmatia and 12 in Pannonia). 37. Nos 23 and 24 are also taken into consideration since the fragments, preserving the lower left corner of the relief, show no trace of an altar. 38. I checked the entire corpus of gravestones discussed in Coulston 2007, p. 535-538, supplemented by unpublished material from Apamea generously provided by Wilfried Van Rengen. 39. For a recent discussion, see Méa 2012. 40. For partial collections of grave reliefs, see Pfuhl 1901; Edgar 1903, p. 32-53 nos 27525-27630, fig. XIXXXIV; Parlasca 1970a, fig. 1-10; Parlasca 1975, fig. 93-101; Schmidt 2003, p. 79-125 nos 1-103, fig. 1-37; for further discussion, see ibid., p. 14-32. 41. Of the 522 funerary stelae that I have examined, only 14 depict the deceased in a sacrificing posture: Aly 1949, fig. I-XIX; Aly 1953, fig. 1-34; Hooper 1961, nos 1-194, fig. V-XVI; Parlasca 1970b, fig. LX-LXIX; El-Nassery, Wagner, Abd El-Al 1978, fig. LXIX-LXXXVI; Abd El-Al, Grenier, Wagner 1985, nos 1-173, 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 68 17/12/2014 13:21 Representation of Roman Soldiers Fig. 4 – Funerary stela of Dasius (Alexandria, Mus. inv. 30503). © Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Cairo. 69 Fig. 5 – Funerary stela of G. Iulius Valerius (Brooklyn, Mus. inv. 16.105). © The Brooklyn Museum. deceased reclining on a banquet couch or standing with the forearms held upwards in the orans posture, thus in attitudes of worship or prayer. The popularity of the sacrificing posture, which also expresses adoration, on the figural gravestones from Nikopolis may therefore be explained in part by local funerary practice. The gravestones from Nikopolis are essentially Roman in style, but they also contain some Graeco-Egyptian motifs such as the horned altar, which appears on nos 7, 19, 22 and on the stela of late Antonine date discussed above. This altar type, though not exclusively Egyptian, is so characteristic of gravestones with a sacrificing scene from the Delta, particularly from Terenouthis,42 that the popularity of this depiction may be ascribed to local influence.43 Two gravestones (nos 4 and 19) also show the deceased with a youth side-lock, a hairstyle traditionally associated with the child god Horus.44 Two other motifs, both of which occur only once in the entire corpus, have been the subject of scholarly debate and are therefore discussed in some detail here. On no 5, a pair of hands with the palms turned outwards frame the head of the deceased soldier, which had probably been damaged in an act of deliberate vandalism (fig. 2). Although it has long been assumed that the deceased was, like his commilito Aurelius Alexandrus on no 2, a signifer, shown standing between two signa of which fig. 1-47; Wagdy, El-Ebiary 2011, fig. 1-11; Schmidt 2003, p. 135-148 nos 125-163, fig. 43-49; for the best discussion available, see Ibid., p. 44-61. 42. E.g. Hooper 1961, nos 139, 180, 179, fig. XIIa, XIIIb, XIVa. 43. For further discussion, see Soukiassian 1983; Quaegebeur 1993a. 44. For lists of representations of the youth side-lock from Egypt and elsewhere see von Gonzenbach 1957, p. 157-163 K 25-33; von Gonzenbach 1969, p. 898-904; Goette 1989, p. 210-217. 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 69 17/12/2014 13:21 70 Sofie Waebens only the bronze manus that topped the poles survive,45 he was in fact a miles armorum custos, as the inscription below clarifies.46 It is thus unlikely that the hands may have been depicted to indicate the rank the deceased soldier once held, particularly because they are carved in hollow relief, while the soldier’s figure is rendered in high relief. I therefore agree with F. Cumont, who first published the stela in 1898, that they were probably not part of the original design, but were afterwards added as an apotropaic image against grave violation.47 No 4, a limestone stela, depicts the three-year-old G. Iulius Valerius sacrificing to the animal aspects of the Egyptian gods (a jackal, falcon and griffin) that surround him inside an aedicula (fig. 5). The boy wears a belted tunic but no cloak, holding a patera in his right hand and a situla, perhaps a basket with food offerings to lay on the altar, in his left.48 Although the relief scene clearly exhibits some stylistic influence of Terenouthis, the stela is nonetheless thought to originate from Nikopolis, because the inscription49 firmly connects it to legio II Traiana fortis.50 It should be emphasized that these Graeco-Egyptian motifs rarely appear on the military gravestones themselves, in contrast to those erected in honour of their family members.51 The latter show more diversity in iconography, portraying the deceased in a variety of postures (standing, reclining on a banquet couch, squatting on the ground, etc.) and often combining Roman, Greek and, to a lesser extent, Egyptian elements on a single stela. This article has been concerned with the figural representation of soldiers of legio II Traiana fortis on gravestones from Nikopolis, almost all of which were manufactured in the first half of the third century AD. As J.C.N. Coulston has already suggested, the presence of soldiers of legio II Parthica during Caracalla’s visit to Alexandria in 215-216 and its associated military action (Dio 78.22; Herodian 4.9; also referred to in AÉ, 1993, 422, l. 12-16) may have contributed to the increased popularity of this type of grave monument.52 Within this corpus of military figures, a typology of the “standing soldier” gravestones, the most common type of representation, has been developed, thereby revealing a marked preference for the sacrificing posture among the soldiers at Nikopolis. From a comparison with contemporary “standing soldier” gravestones, it became clear that the depiction of the deceased in this manner is a local variant of the third-century “ring-buckle” gravestone tradition. By applying a similar typology as has been proposed in this article on the corpus of military figures from 45. Bingen 2003, p. 67-68 n. 7; Stoll 2005, p. 75 n. 36. 46. The letters AC at the end of l. 2 were first read by the late Bingen in 2003, who emended the line accordingly to M(arcum) Aurelium Neonem quondam mili(tem) a(rmorum) c(ustodem); see Bingen 2003; AÉ, 2003, 1841. 47. Cumont 1898, p. 11. 48. Herbert 1972, p. 45 no 22; for other views, see Petersen 1964, p. 172 n. 100 (schoolboy’s satchel); Lichocka 2004, p. 113 Doc. I B 9 (situla or capsa). 49. Herbert 1972, p. 45 no 22; CIL, III, Suppl. 1, 6604: G(aius) Iul(ius) Valerius / G(ai) Iul(i) Severi filius / m(ilitis) leg(ionis) II Traianae / vixit annos III. 50. For recent discussions of the stela’s provenance, see Schmidt 2003, p. 42; Parlasca 2005, p. 324. 51. See e.g. the gravestone of the three-year-old Super, who is portrayed as Dionysius: SEG, XXX 1774; Wrede 1981, p. 262-263 no 179, fig. 24, 4; Criscuolo 1980, p. 136 no 3, fig. II, 3. 52. Coulston 2007, p. 537 n. 32. 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 70 17/12/2014 13:21 Representation of Roman Soldiers 71 the whole Roman period, other regional variants of the figural military gravestone tradition may perhaps be brought to light in future studies. Sofie W Appendix: List of gravestones The figural gravestones from Nikopolis discussed in this article are listed by type of representation and, within each type, by location: S   Type A – soldiers sacrificing at altars 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Alexandria, Mus. inv. 182 Fragment of the funerary stela of Valerius Iulianus, s(ecutor) praefecti [---] (AD 200-250?): CIL, III, Suppl. 2, 14138; IGLAlex, 490; Schmidt 2003, p. 129 no 112, fig. 39. Alexandria, Mus. inv. 3899 (formerly Cairo, Boulaq inv. 5495) Funerary stela of Aurelius Alexandrus, signifer of legio II Traiana fortis, who is shown standing between two manus-topped signa (AD 222-250): CIL, III, Suppl. 1, 6592, cf. Suppl. 2, 14123; ILS, I 2345; IGLAlex, 480, fig. LII no 126; Breccia 1914, p. 159-160 fig. 40; Schmidt 2003, p. 128 no 109, fig. 39. Alexandria, Mus. inv. 22177 Funerary stela of M. Aurelius Placidus, immunis of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 222-235): Breccia 1929, p. 72-73 no 8 (with facsimile); Schmidt 2003, p. 128-129 no 110, fig. 38. Brooklyn, Mus. inv. 16.105 Funerary stela of G. Iulius Valerius, the three-year-old son of G. Iulius Severus, miles of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 222-250): CIL, III, Suppl. 1, 6604; Herbert 1972, p. 45-47 no 22, fig. XIV. Brussels, Mus. Cinq. inv. A. 2246 Funerary stela of M. Aurelius Neon, miles armorum custos of legio II Traiana fortis, decorated with two open hands (AD 222-235): CIL, III, Suppl. 2, 141382, cf. Mant. add. p. 232873; Bingen 2003, fig. 1-2; AÉ, 2003, 1841. Paris, Louvre inv. MNC 842, cat. MA 1674 Fragment of the funerary stela of Aurelius Longinus, miles of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 222-235): CIL, III, Suppl. 1, 6594a; illustrated by Kayser 2014, p. 237 fig. 4. Stockholm, Nat. Mus. inv. NM Sk 794 Funerary stela of Lucius (AD 222-250): Thunell 1913, p. 89 no. 14; Pavese, Thomasson (eds) 1997, p. 117 no 198, fig. 70. Uppsala, Mus. Gust. inv. VM 194 Fragment of the funerary stela of Antonius Heraclides, the one-year-old son of Aurelius Heraclides (AD 212-250?): Piehl 1888, p. 116 no 57a; Pavese, Thomasson (eds) 1997, p. 87 no 134, fig. 17. Warsaw, Nat. Mus. inv. 198772 (formerly Braunsberg, Lyceum Hos.) Funerary stela of Ailius Getullus, immunis (AD 222-250): Greifenhagen 1933, p. 450-451 no 16, fig. 29; Sadurska 1953, p. 90-94 no 38, fig. XXXII; Sadurska 1972, p. 54 no 55, fig. 44. Type B – soldiers carrying weapons 10. 04 Waebens_Rema.indd 71 Alexandria, Mus. inv. 252 (formerly Cairo, Boulaq inv. 5512) Funerary stela of Aurelius Sabius, miles of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 222-250): CIL, III, Suppl. 1, 6596; IGLAlex, 481, fig. LIII no 127; Breccia 1914, p. 160 fig. 41; Schmidt 2003, p. 126 no 104, fig. 38. 17/12/2014 13:21 72 11. 12. 13. Sofie Waebens Alexandria, Mus. inv. 253 (formerly Cairo, Boulaq inv. 5514) Funerary stela of Pompeius Verinus, miles of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 213-250): CIL, III, Suppl. 1, 6609; IGLAlex, 485; Schmidt 2003, p. 126 no 105, fig. 38. Missing since 1946 (formerly Schwerin, Landesmus. inv. Plastik 21) Fragment of the funerary stela of M. Titurius, miles of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 200-250?): Schlie 1887, p. 331-332 no 372; CIL, III, Suppl. 1, 6611. Tanta, Mus. inv. 327A (formerly Alexandria, Mus. inv. 24490) Funerary stela of Iulius Victor, miles of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 222-235): recently published by Kayser 2014, p. 230-232, p. 241 fig. 8. Type C – soldiers holding items of office 14. 15. 16. Alexandria, Mus. inv. 23359 Funerary stela of an optio or tesserarius without inscription (AD 222-250): Adriani 1934, p. 49 no IV, fig. XXV, 1; Schmidt 2003, p. 127 no 107, fig. 40. Alexandria, Mus. inv. 23933 Fragment of the funerary stela of a vexillarius (AD 222-250): Schmidt 2003, p. 127 no 106, fig. 38. Missing (formerly in an Alexandrian antiquities store) Fragment of the funerary stela of a soldier carrying a vexillum inscribed with the letters H P R F D in his right hand (AD 213-250?): CIL, III, Suppl. 2, 14142. Type D – soldiers holding belt-straps 17. 18. 19. Barcelona, Mus. inv. MAC-B. 24.589 Funerary stela of Aurelius Firminianus, miles of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 212-235?): Fabre, Mayer, Rodà 1982, p. 186-188 no 1, fig. 1; Comes, Rodà (eds) 2002, p. 294 no 131 (with photo). Bologna, Mus. Civ. inv. 19310 Funerary cippus of G. Damianus, beneficiarius, decorated with a pilum with carrying-handle and beneficiarius spearhead (AD 222-250): CIL, III, Suppl. 1, 6601; CBI, 734 (with photo). Port Said, Nat. Mus. (formerly Alexandria, Mus. inv. 255) Fragment of a funerary stela of two young boys without inscription (AD 222-250): Parlasca 19921993, p. 121, fig. 125; Schmidt 2003, p. 42, fig. 41; Stoll 2005, p. 69-70, fig. 3, 1. Miscellaneous 20. 21. 22. Alexandria, Mus. inv. 30503 Funerary stela of Dasius, miles of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 222-250): Schmidt 2003, p. 129 no 111, fig. 39. Athens, Nat. Mus. inv. ANE 66 Fragment of a funerary stela (AD 222-250): unpublished, but referred to in Noelke 1986, p. 225 no 61. Bologna, Mus. Civ. inv. 19315 Funerary stela without inscription (AD 200-250): Susini, Pincelli 1960, fig. XIX in basso a sin. Fragments 23. 24. Alexandria, Mus. inv. 21622 Fragment of the funerary stela of Aurelius Quintianus, candidatus of legio II Traiana fortis (AD 212-250): Breccia 1924, p. 268-269 no 3, fig. 11; AÉ, 1925, 63; Schmidt 2003, p. 130 no 113, fig. 40. Alexandria, Mus. inv. 21623 + 21627 (recently joined) Fragment of the funerary stela of C. Antonius Saturninus, veteranus of legio II Traiana fortis, and an ignotus/a (AD 213-250): Breccia 1924, p. 269 no 4, fig. 12; p. 270 no 9, fig. 17; Schmidt 2003, p. 130 no 114-115, fig. 40; Waebens 2013, p. 183-189, fig. 15. R  25. Alexandria, Mus. inv. 24489 Funerary stela of Valerinus, the seven-month-year-old son of the eques M. Valerius Omuncio (AD 222-250): Heinen 1980, p. 115-119 no 1, fig. 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