Ein centurio regionarius aus der legio X Fretensis in Dakien

Abstract

It was sometime around 1886 that an inscription dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus and very difficult to read was discovered in Domnești (Billak). Some scholars had already established that the dedicant was a certain P. Gaius Valerianus, (centurio) leg(ionis) X Fretensis. But the reading of lines 6-8 was unclear. There the authors read reg(ionarius) r(egionis) Neridonis(- - -). Following a subsequent theory put forward by B. N. Rankov (in his study of the regio Montanensium) the authors understood by r(egio) Neridonis(- - -) an administrative unit of the province of Dacia, where estates of the fiscus were located. As it is known, the area of Domneşti was rich in salt. A regionarius was a legion’s centurion commanding subordinates who fulfilled special police duties in such a regio. Vexillations from the legion X Fretensis must have come from Syria Palaestina to Dacia in the vortex of the events of the 3^rd century.