Los externa auxilia en el siglo final de la República romana (133-27 a. C.)

Abstract

Auxiliaries constituted one of the strongest sections of the Roman armies particularly during the Late Republic, although their development was never complete until the Early Empire when the overall reform of Rome’s institutions carried out by Augustus during his Principate finally adjusted. Modern studies on the imperial auxilia are relatively common and rich in their detailed analyses thanks to a generous amount of data, not only from the classical literature but also inscriptions and the archaeology from the imperial period. For instance, dozens of imperial auxiliary castra have been excavated, particularly in the Germanic limes and along the Hadrian's Wall, whose rich epigraphic findings have made us better understand the movements, organization and composition of several alae, cohortes and other imperial auxiliary units. However, all this said, we must remind ourselves that in the Republican era only a fraction of such information is available and a similar approach simply cannot be undertaken. This dissertation focuses on the non-Italian auxiliary forces within the last century of the Republic, 133-27 BC. Considering the source limitations noted above, efforts have been made to make use of literary, epigraphic, coin and archaeological data whenever possible. Nevertheless, in order to generate new perspectives of analysis several issues have been highlighted, such as the geographical and historical background from which these auxiliaries were deployed, the forms of recruitment and organization of such troops, and in particular the use of local and Roman coinages to pay and reward them. Accordingly, my work has been divided geographically into four main sections, each devoted to the historical background, recruitment forms and the Roman and local coin evidence for military pay in more specific regions. During the extreme turmoil detected throughout our period and which eventually destroyed the Republic both the legions and their auxiliary wings suffered major changes. Although later in the Empire divisions between them were clear, in the Late Republic and particularly during the core period of Civil Wars their limits blurred considerably. When extreme measures were required, irregular legions formed by non-citizens were to be conscripted, meaning that non-citizens actually integrated both the wings and the core of a Roman army. After the conclusions, written both in Spanish and English, a concise bibliography and an extensive graphic annex follow. Within this annex maps from every region discussed in the four preceding chapters have been included, as well as some graphs and illustrations complementing the archaeological data. Photographs and drawings of the coins are essential for better understanding the iconographic perspective of the numismatic analysis I propose to undertake throughout my study.

Date of Award	6 Feb 2015
Original language	Spanish
Supervisor	Antoni Ñaco Del Hoyo (Director)