Gephyra (May 2006)
On the Position of Army Members in Their Home Towns: The case of M. Aur. Antoninus from Prusias ad Hypium
Abstract
On the Position of Army Members in Their Home Towns: The case of M. Aur. Antoninus from Prusias ad HypiumWith the discovery of two new, virtually intact statue pedestals the number of monuments set up in honour of the knight Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by various phylai of his home town has risen to three. Being of identical shape and size and bearing almost identical inscriptions, the pedestals must belong to the same series, erected presumably by the phylai by a decree of the city council. Antoninus appears to have been an extraordinary member of the upper class of Prusias, as he owes his social advancement to his service in the Roman army, which he probably joined as an ordinary soldier under Marcus Aurelius. Thanks to outstanding performance he rose to the posts of centurio and ultimately primuspilus. Upon leaving the army he gained entry into the equestrian order and subsequently attained the post of an imperial procurator. The qualities ascribed to him in the phylai inscriptions markedly deviate from those used for members of the ruling class in Prusias. They indicate that Antoninus enjoyed a high prestige in the city and probably used his good connections to influential Romans to the advantage of Prusias. A private honorary inscription (no. 4) shows that the upper class of Prusias accepted the newcomer unreservedly. Indeed, one of its members even entered into a familial relationship with Antoninus. In respect of the character of the phylai, it is pointed out that they were social as well as territorial units covering both the urban and the rural territories of Prusias.
