Engraved horse pectoral from Roman Carnuntum, 1st century CE, at the Carnuntum Roman Museum in Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria.

Engraved horse pectoral from Roman Carnuntum, 1st century CE, at the Carnuntum Roman Museum in Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria.

Carnuntum was a Roman legionary fortress (castrum legionarium) and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 CE. After the 1st century, it was capital of Pannonia Superior and grew to a city of 50,000 inhabitants. Its impressive remains are situated on the Danube in Lower Austria halfway between Vienna and Bratislava in the Carnuntum Archaeological Park. Carnuntum first appears in Roman history when Tiberius made it his base of operations in his campaigns against Maroboduus, a Romanized king of the Germanic Suebi in 6 CE. In 14 CE the town was selected as the garrison of Legio XV Apollinaris. From the 1st century BCE onward, most cavalry members came from provinces outside Italy and allied states and were classified as auxilia. Most Roman military awards were reserved for Roman citizens but auxilia cavalrymen received horse trappings for battlefield valor. Sometimes these trappings took the form of silver phalerae which have made it difficult at times for archaeologists to distinguish phalerae awarded to centurion officers during this time with phalerae decorating horse gear.

If you wish to learn more about Roman "dona militaria," military awards, check out my article "Dona Militaria: Rome's lost valor."

https://ancientimes.blogspot.com/2016/08/dona-militaria-romes-lost-valor.html



Image: Engraved horse pectoral from Roman Carnuntum, 1st century CE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Wolfgang Sauber (digitally enhanced).

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