Roman Auxilia - Cohors IX Batavorum
Cohors IX Batavorum was a Roman auxiliary unit. Writing tablets attest its presence at Vindolanda around AD 100: one letter addresses Flavius Cerialis, prefect of the Ninth Cohort of Batavians. This particular unit must be distinguished from Batavian troops collectively.
The Batavians lived in the Rhine delta, in the modern Netherlands. Tacitus connected their ancestry with the Chatti. They supplied soldiers to Rome; Batavian infantry and cavalry gained a reputation for military skill, including crossing water obstacles. Batavians also served in imperial bodyguards, but those formations were not identical with the Ninth Cohort.
According to Tacitus, the Batavians had a special relationship with Rome: they provided troops instead of ordinary taxation. Members of their local elite could command Batavian units, but such appointments were not unique to one people.
Auxiliary units participated in scouting, security duties, battles and pursuit. Their tasks depended on unit type. Every Batavian cohort cannot be assigned all cavalry functions or an invariable role as an advance force for the legions.
Tombstone stele depicting a Batavian horseman. 1st century AD
Helmet discovered at the site of the Batavian sanctuary of Hercules-Maguzan in Kessel-Lit. Second half of the 1st century AD
Tombstone stele of Indus,Batavian bodyguard of Emperor Nero. Diocletian's Baths Museum,Rome,1st century ADBattle Path
- Batavian units served on the Rhine and in Britain. These accounts concern several formations, not the Ninth Cohort alone.
- During the civil war of AD 69, Batavian cohorts supported Vitellius and fought against Otho.
- Julius Civilis’s revolt in AD 69–70 drew in Batavians and other groups on the Rhine. Tacitus narrates its course in his Histories.
- Petilius Cerialis’s forces restored Roman control in AD 70. Tacitus’s surviving account breaks off during negotiations with Civilis; Civilis’s eventual fate is unknown. Claims that he and every participant were executed or equally punished are unsupported.
- Batavian units continued to serve Rome. The Vindolanda tablets provide specific evidence for the Ninth Cohort around the turn of the first and second centuries.
Related topics
Literature and sources
1. Jona Lendering, De randen van de aarde. De Romeinen tussen Schelde en Eems (2000). 2. Hans Teitler, De opstand der ‘Batavieren’ (1998). 3. Callies H., Neumann G. Bataver // Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Berlin/New York 1976, Bd. 2, S. 90–91. 4. Ihm M. Batavi. // Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Stuttgart 1893, Bd. 3,1, S. 118–121. // de.wikisource.org 5. Roymans N. Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power: The Batavians in the Early Roman Empire. Amsterdam 2004. 6. Derks T. Ethnic identity in the Roman frontier. The epigraphy of Batavi and other Lower Rhine tribes. Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition. Ton Derks, Nico Roymans (ed.). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press,2009. p. 239–282. 7. Speidel M. P. Swimming the Danube under Hadrian's eyes: A feat of the Emperor's Batavi horse guard // Ancient Society. 1991. Vol. 2. P. 277–282. 8. Speidel M. P. Riding for Caesar: The Roman Emperors’ Horse Guards. Cambridge,1994. 9. Alföldy G. Die Hilfstruppen der römischen Provinz Germania inferior, Bonn 1968. 10. Willems, W.J.H., Romans and Batavians. A regional study in the Dutch Eastern River Area, II // Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek,1984, Bd. 34, S. 39–331. 11. Nicolay J. Armed Batavians: Use and Significance of Weaponry and Horse Gear from Non-military Contexts in the Rhine Delta (50 BC to AD 450). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press,2007,424 p.
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