Zur Reform des Gallienus anläßlich zweier neuer Inschriften aus den Lagerthermen von Potaissa

Abstract

The starting point of this work is the publication by Mihai Bărbulescu of two statue bases found in the thermae of the Roman legionary camp of Potaissa. In line 3 Mihai Bărbulescu has read the name of Gallienus and developed a theory connecting him to the post of a praefectus legionis. The author denies both the reading as well as its consequences and reads the name of the Emperor Aemilianus, which forces us to accept that the legion’s prefects existed in 253. Furthermore, this official goes well with the evidence of a certain M. Aurelius Marcus, a financial procurator of Dacia Apulensis, who fulfilled the task of a vice praesidis. So one can finally ask himself what is really meant by the reform of Gallienus. The answer is that the imperial decree did not bar senators from holding military commands, but made it impossible. Furthermore, the two inscriptions from Potaissa prove that the incipient stages of this reform are perceivable during the rule of Volusianus and Gallus.