These definitions enable us to comprehend why both Apollonius, the civil district commissioner of Apollonipolitis,[1673] and simple Egyptian peasants[1674] were summoned to take up arms to fight the Jews in Trajan’s time. It also makes clear that the authorities saw the conflict with the Jews as more serious than a normal war. Tumultus was not a mere disorder or riot, but a rising or attack which imperilled the very existence of the state.
We have seen that the collision between the Jews and Romans in autumn, 115, was, to judge by the atmosphere of the account, an isolated occurrence. But it is very likely that the revolt had already broken out in Cyrene in the middle of the year, and by early 116 the insurgents were advancing from Libya and penetrating Egypt. Two sources survive that may throw some light on the fighting in Cyrenaica at the outbreak of the revolt. The first is the tomb stele of Gaius Julius Carus, a military tribune of the III legion Cyrenaica, who died at Cyrene while in command of a recruiting party composed of centurions and troops of the same legion and of the XXII Deiotariana.[1675] This party has been despatched to recruit for the Roman army, presumably for the abovementioned legions, then stationed in Egypt. Carus had served previously as commander of the Second Cohort of Asturians (Cohors II Astyrum equitata) and had been decorated in “the British war”. A terminus post quem for his death is provided by the fact that the Cohors II Astyrum was still in Germany in 89,[1676] and recruiting activities are known in Cyrene in the year 100,[1677] when a milestone was set up three miles from the city inscribed with Trajan’s name and titles and the words “Viam fecit / per tirones lectos / in provincia Cyrenensi.” Carus’ tombstone, however, need not inevitably be associated with such activities in 100, as there was a similar recruiting drive in the province in 59,[1678] and such drives recurred, it seems, at various times. But the liberal award of military decorations is more characteristic of Trajan than of Hadrian,[1679] hence the British campaign mentioned on Cams’ monument is more likely to have taken place between 89-115. Serious fighting in North Britain had begun by 100;[1680] there was something like a disaster in about 105 and the Roman frontier was subsequently being withdrawn to the Tyne-Solway line; fighting was still going on in 108.[1681] Military tribunes were young men at the beginning of their careers, and those of them who were of the equestrian order normally took command of a second auxiliary unit after their term of service in a legion and prior to promotion to the next rung of the equestrian cursus.[1682] As Carus was a young man when he died, he may not have died a natural death. Having distinguished himself in Britain, he passed to his legionary tribunate in Egypt and died before reaching his third military post. It is therefore possible that he was killed at the outbreak of the Jewish rising in Cyrene.
But if the connection of Carus’ tombstone with the Cyrenean revolt is uncertain, this is not the case concerning a well known passage of the Ὀνειροκριτικά (Dream Book) of Artemidorus Daldianus, who writes:[1683] “A camp prefect (στρατοπεδάρχης) (dreamt) he saw the letters I, K, Θ written on his sword. The Jewish war in Cyrene began and the man who dreamt this distinguished himself, and it was as we have related: The I meant “Jews” (Ἰουδαῖοι); the K — “Cyreneans” (Κυρηναῖοι); and the Θ — death (θάνατος). Before the event it was indeterminate, but after the outcome (ἀποβάντων τῶν τελεσμάτων) the interpretation presented no difficulties”. The identity of the camp prefect concerned may be conjectured.[1684] In Trajan’s time the two Egyptian legions (the XXII Deiotariana and the III Cyrenaica) were commanded by a prefectus castrorum;[1685] thus there is little doubt that in the event of serious trouble in Cyrene which the garrison stationed there could not control, it would have been the duty of the prefect of Egypt to intervene by despatching a detachment (vexillatio) of troops, which might well have been commanded by the camp prefect, or by proceeding personally at their head to the scene of action.[1686] It may therefore be supposed that when the rising broke out, troops of the Egyptian legionary garrison proceeded by sea to Cyrene under the command of their camp prefect. Nor can it be doubted that Artemidorus’ story belongs to the beginning of the rebellion rather than to its end, for few Jews requiring suppression by strong forces can have remained at the end of the tumultus; the devastation of Cyrenaica which is so clearly revealed by the evidence points to the intention of the insurgents to evacuate the country utterly. The fate of the camp prefect in the fighting, on the other hand, is problematic. I think that Artemidorus’ narrative is to be interpreted to mean that he was killed in action, otherwise there seems no way of understanding the third letter — Θ.
It is possible to adduce grounds for this view. Writing of Origen’s work on the Old Testament, Rufinus[1687] says: “(Origen) noted Jewish additions or omissions... by marks at the beginning of the line... in a manner used by one who, having received a nominal roll of troops, attempts to ascertain from it how many ranks are still alive, and how many have fallen in battle; and having been sent to ascertain, searches and, instead of a word, sets the customary appropriate mark, “Θ”, against the name of each man deceased, and marks each survivor with the appropriate sign.”
This information is repeated more briefly by Isidore of Seville[1688] who states that the letter ‘tau’ (T) was placed at the beginning of a line indicating a survivor, and “theta” (Θ) against the name of a dead man. “For this reason it has a cross-line (telum) through it, a sign of death.”[1689] The correctness of Rufinus’information is confirmed by at least one papyrus, to be described below (p. 314), dated latest to a few years (A.D. 96-127) after the revolt; this is a roster of men of the III legion Cyrenaica, in which the names of men deceased are marked with the letter “theta”.[1690]
The derivation of the use of the letter theta in Artemidorus’ account is such as to suggest that the events described really took place, or at least that the original source of the narrative was familiar with army life. It might also suggest that nominal lists of casualties who had met their deaths in the tumullus, including also Cyreneans and Jews, were drawn up by the Roman authorities at the time.
If the tombstone of Carus related to the revolt, the legions XXII Deiotariana and III Cyrenaica were in Egypt when it broke out in 115, but the inscription from Dura Europus already mentioned shows that the III Cyrenaica was in that city, on the Euphrates frontier, in the first or second year of Trajan’s Parthian expedition, i.e. in 114 or 115[1691] The excavators of Dura believed that the whole legion was operating there, but a vexillation derived from it appears at Jerusalem in 116,[1692] and it is very possible that it was identical with the unit recorded at Dura. There is however evidence that units of both legions remained in Egypt during the revolt; probably one legion at least, was at full strength. A papyrus usually dated to the period between 116 and 117 speaks of “Rutilius’ (Lupus) other legion which has come to Memphis.”[1693] It is therefore clear that one complete legion was present in Egypt at that time, i.e. XXII Deiotariana, with part of III Cyrenaica. The presence of at least some troops of the latter seems to be confirmed by an unexpected quarter, namely by the Sibylline Oracles (XII),[1694] where we read: “and the third great ram of Cyrene, which fled, as I have said before, from the battle by the dykes of the Nile.”[1695] The ram is the symbol of the God Ammon,[1696] and accordingly of Cyrene; there can be no doubt that by “the third great ram of Cyrene” we must understand the legion III Cyrenaica, or part of it, which appears to have suffered a reverse near the Nile, and it is difficult to find any occasion for such an event except the revolt of 115-117. Most of Book XII of the Sibylline Oracles belongs to the 3rd century, but the phrase ὁ πρὶν ἔλεξα indicates an interpolation, and we seem to have here an ancient tradition, the more so as the book contains much material older than its final redaction.
1675
1681
Frere,
1686
The acting commander of the Egyptian legions, serving under the
1687
1690
R. O. Fink,
1691
As Trajan was “Imperator X” in December, 114, and his twentieth
1695
καὶ τρίτατος αὐτοῖσι κριὸς μέγας ἐκ Κυρήνης ὅν πρίν ἔλεξα φύγοντα μάχης παρὰ χεύμασι Νείλου. For further details and discussion on legions in Egypt during the revolt and casualties suffered by Roman military units at the time, see A. Kasher,