Alpine Regiments of The Roman Army - The Alpine Regiments

The Alpine Regiments

Two series of Alpinorum regiments were raised ante AD 37, 3 cohorts in the first, 4 in the second. 2 Ligurum cohorts were raised by Augustus and survived as amalgamated units after AD 70. 8 Raetorum cohorts existed by AD 54. A further 2 cohorts were raised after the civil war of 68-9. 4 Vindelicorum cohorts were operational by AD 68. 1 ala and 1 cohort of Norici were probably raised by Claudius (41-54). 2 Montanorum cohorts were levied by Augustus.

The following conclusions may be drawn from the Tables of Alpine regiments, below:

1. As mountain people, the Alpine tribes supplied predominantly infantry: all the regiments in this article are cohortes save for a single cavalry regiment, the ala Noricorum.
2. In total, some 20 regiments were raised from the Alpine provinces in the early Julio-Claudian era (i.e. ante 37). Of these, 6 were either destroyed in action or disbanded ante 68.
3. A further 6 units were raised under Claudius (41-54) and a couple under Vespasian (69-79).
4. Some 22 regiments with Alpine names survived into the early 2nd century, two of them amalgamated with other units and two renamed. Of these, 6 were still stationed in the Alpine provinces (Raetia or Noricum) or in the neighbouring Germania Superior. The rest were stationed in far-flung parts of the empire (including Cappadocia, Mauretania and Britannia), and would, by this time, probably have lost their ethnic identity through local recruitment.
5. At least 14 regiments survived into the early 3rd century although the evidence for that period is so limited that the possibility cannot be excluded that several more regiments also survived to that time.
6. The names of 4 Alpine regiments appear in the Notitia Dignitatum, a Roman government manual which includes all the military commands of the late Roman army, dating to around AD 400. 2 of these, the cohortes I and VI Raetorum, were based in their original home province of Raetia. The other two were based in the East.