Abstract
This article is the second part of the study of the biography of a private soldier of the VI Ferrata legion Lucius Domitius Valerianus, who was transferred by Septimius Severus to the X praetorian cohort. The part is dedicated to clarifying the controversial and unclear points of this soldier’s career. After June 193, Severus, having deposed Didius Julianus, seized power, and the principle of staffi ng the praetorian guard was changed. The new emperor returned to the recruitment pattern that existed before the Augustan reform. Instead of the young Italians, Severus began to recruit in his own guard brave and experienced legionaries. This decision had important consequences. Firstly, a unifi ed military personnel system was created with active two-way communication, which assumed closer personnel interaction between the capital and provincial parts of the military forces of the Empire. Secondly, by this decision, Severus opened the way for the provincials to join the guard, which in fact led to the elimination of the Italian ‘monopoly’ on service in the capital. Thirdly, the Praetorians were now much more attached to the emperor, to whom they owed their own elevation. Contrary to the dates suggested in historiography for Valerianus’ transfer from the legion to the guard, the most obvious date is AD 195, and the date indicated in the text of his stele does not mean his dismissal, but the date of the monument’s erection. The circumstances under which Valerianus was employed in the capital are also considered.
Keywords
Roman history, praetorian cohorts, legio VI Ferrata, L. Domitius Valerianus, dilectus, missio honesta, Septimius Severus’ reforms.
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