Cohors II Dacorum. Două trupe auxiliare romane cu număr de ordine identic
Cohors II Dacorum. Two Roman auxiliary troops with identical numerical identifiers

Summary/Abstract: In a military diploma from the year 126, extracted from a constitution of Emperor Hadrian, four units from the province of Moesia Superior appear, as well as a cohors II Dacorum, which had been sent [in expedition]e (AÉ, 2014, 1648). But the absence of the cohort’s gentilicium in a diploma from the time of Hadrian gives us reason for reflection; it could have been neither Ulpia nor Aelia, since the omission of the imperial gentilicium in the diploma from 126 was inadmissible. On the contrary, such an omission was possible only when it was a matter of a predecessor emperor whose name had been condemned. It is therefore possible that the unit was called cohors II Flavia Dacorum, since it had been created by Domitian from Dacian recruits sent by King Decebalus, after the peace of 89. Furthermore, our attention is also drawn to an inscription from Montana, in Moesia Inferior, dedicated to the empress Sabinia Tranquilina Augusta, by the coh(ors) Gem(ina) Dacorum Gordiana (milliaria) (CIL, III, 14211,9 = IDRE, II, 316). This cohort was the “twin” of another Dacian unit, perhaps the one from Moesia Superior (see the case of the legiones geminae); according to another opinion, it would have resulted from the merging of two cohorts quingenariae. We observe that, also in this case, the gentilicium of the unit is missing. It could also be a creation of Domitian. Another military diploma, dated 11 August 192, a copy of a constitutio of Emperor Commodus for the troops of the province of Pannonia Inferior, mentions five alae and 17 cohortes, among which a cohors II Aur(elia) Dacor(um) (RGZM, 44), thus created by Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It can be assumed that this refers to the unit mentioned on a tessera from Poetovio: Iustus, optio cohortis II Aur(eliae) Dacorum (CIL, III, 15184 = IDRE, II, 265); this soldier reached Pannonia Superior later, during the events of the mid-third century. It is also possible that the unit from the inscription of Teutoburgium, cohors II Aug(usta) Dac(orum) p(ia) f(idelis) (milliaria) eqq(uitum, equitata) (CIL, II, 10255 = 6450 = IDRE, II, 289; see below, note 1), was identical with the cohors II Aurelia Dacorum; in order to avoid the imperial gentilicium, which also recalled Commodus, the dedicant would have rendered the name of the unit with a fictitious (neutral) gentilicium: Aug(usta).

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