Страница 542 из 561
comitatenses.
However, we have to point out that it was Constantius II who first relocated essential part of Danube expeditionary forces from Thrace to the Near East. We supposed that between 337 and 342 Constantius II moved many units of Danube army in Syria, Mesopotamia and Arabia.
Inscriptions from Syria, Arabia and Mesopotamia attest a presence of some vexillations within these provinces, and previously, before their relocation to Near East front, these vexillations strictly posted at the Danube front and were integral parts of the army of
comitatenses,
we mean primarily the units
of Aureliaci, Mauri Illyriciani Constantes,
a regiment of Dalmatian cavalry and a band of recruits levied from Thrace.
But, at the same time, the evidence of Armenian historian Pawstos Buzandos and Moses Khorenats'i enabled us to conclude that around 338–339 Constantius II moved at the Near East, mainly in Mesopotamia, the same units which earlier, in the spring of 337, had located in Bithynia. The reason of this transfer was a Persian invasion in Mesopotamia in 337–338, the Persians captured some principal cities and then advanced in Great Armenia, occupied this kingdom and deposed its legal king Tiran.
Constantius Il's response was a rapid and effective — according to the Armenian historians named above, the Emperor composed two large military bodies (corps), one was formed in Cilicia (by another words, in Isauria, at the south-east of Asia Minor), and another was levied in Galatia, at the north-west of Asia Minor, in close proximity to Bithynia.
Apparently, Constantius II sent in Mesopotamia and then in Great Armenia only one military group, in contrast to Armenian sources we think that this group included those regiments of the army of
comitatenses,
which stood in Bithynia in the spring and summer of 337. When Constantius II took control over Bithynia and the whole Asia Minor in that summer and gained a power over the troops of Bithynia, he decided to send these troops in Mesopotamia and Great Armenia. A result of this movement was a brilliant success of Constantius II, he managed a military campaign in Great Armenia around 338–339, defeated the Persians and drove them out of the Armenian kingdom. An Armenian ruling dynasty of the Arsacids was returned home and restored at the native throne.
However, in 350 Constantius II faced to new problem, that was a revolt of Magnentius, a prominent general in Gaul who commanded over two elite legions,
Herculiani
и
loviani.
Magnentius deposed and killed a legal Emperor Constans, who ruled in West Roman provinces and who was a junior brother of Constantius II, so, when Constantius learned about this umest, he concluded a temporal peace treaty with the Persians on a presumption of keeping the
status quo.
Then Constantius II went in Thrace and further in Gaul in order to destroy Magnentius.
A law issued by Constantius II three years earlier, by 347, testifies two main elements of the Danube army of
comitatenses,
that are vexillations and legions, the title of
comitatenses
is clearly mentioned in this law. This imperial constitution cast a light upon internal structure of the Danube army and attests its presence in Thrace around 347. Obviously, up to 347 an effective of this army was not more than 40 000 men.
In sum, to the late of 350 Constantius II commanded over three military bodies (groups), the first one were units moved from the Near East front, the second one were legions and vexillations of the Danube army of
comitatenses
and the third one were the frontier garrisons of the Western Illyricum.
According to Ioha
Primarily, we have to point out that Magnentius' army included two kind of troops, that were mercenary units levied from the Franks and the Saxons and regular legions which stood at the Rhine frontier. Epigraphy data helped us to distinguish among these regular Rhine regiments the units of
Herculiani, loviani
and
Moesiaci.
To our point of view, these regiments didn't participate in the battle at Mursa because Magnentius preferred to stay them in Northern Italy, where they served as the integral parts of a usurper's personal palace bodyguard.
When Constantius II returned to himself a power over the Northern Italia in September of 352, he didn't disband these elite regiments, but, in contrast, the victorious Emperor preferred to include them in its own army. We think that strictly in that time, around 352–353, Constantius II took and managed an important reform of conscription system for completion the army, this reform generated a vast number of new military detachments entitled as
seniores
and
iuniores.
All survived epigraphy data and evidence of narrative sources enabled us to trace that Constantius II firstly included in his army the regiments of
Herculiani, loviani,
and also units of
Moesiaci
and
equites Cornuti
and then he implemented them with the groups of new recruits.
Little time after Constantius II singled out these groups of recruits and modified them into self-sufficient units, which received an additional nickname of
iuniores,
i. e. «the juniors», precisely,
Herculiani iuniores, loviani iuniores, Moesiaci iuniores
and
equites Cornuti iuniores.
At the same time, the old «paternal» units, which saved their original staff and which were deprived of new recruits, received an additional nickname of
seniores,
«the seniors», that were
Herculiani seniores, loviani seniores, Moesiaci seniores
and
equites Cornuti seniores.
The main ground of om arguments was an anonymous military treaty conventionally entitled as
De rebus bellicis.
To sum up, all the data under consideration enabled us to conclude that up to 353, when Constantius II won over Magnentius, the whole Late Roman military forces had only one expeditionary army, that is the Danube, which located and served in Thrace, but, as a result of a civil war between Constantius II and Magnentius this army temporarily stood in two Western regions, we mean Gaul and the Northern Italy.
So, up to 353 all the rest regional armies of Empire were only the frontier troops, they consisted of permanent and immobile frontier garrisons. These garrisons were ma
comitatenses
might serve at the Rhine, Near East or Illyrian front only temporarily, on occasion of some military campaign in one of these regions, but their permanent place for billeting was Thrace. To om point of view, an approximate number of this army stayed without serious changes, that is 40 000 men.