The papers offered here by Hubert Devijver are the narrative counterpart to his Prosopographia Militiarum Equestrium. They bring to life the careers, the social and geographical origins, the tasks and status symbols of these men as well as the monuments on which our knowledge of them is based. The Equestrian Officers and their Monuments is an original contribution for this volume. Enhanced by the indices, this book helps us understand the social class and military role of Rome's equestrian officers.

The papers offered here by Hubert Devijver are the narrative counterpart to his Prosopographia Militiarum Equestrium. They bring to life the careers, the social and geographical origins, the tasks and status symbols of these men as well as the monuments on which our knowledge of them is based. The Equestrian Officers and their Monuments is an original contribution for this volume. Enhanced by the indices, this book helps us understand the social class and military role of Rome's equestrian officers.

In the Roman social hierarchy, the equestrian order stood second only to the senatorial aristocracy in status and prestige. Throughout more than a thousand years of Roman history, equestrians played prominent roles in the Roman government, army, and society as cavalrymen, officers, businessmen, tax collectors, jurors, administrators, and writers. This book offers the first comprehensive history of the equestrian order, covering the period from the eighth century BC to the fifth century AD. It examines how Rome's cavalry became the equestrian order during the Republican period, before analysing how imperial rule transformed the role of equestrians in government. Using literary and documentary evidence, the book demonstrates the vital social function which the equestrian order filled in the Roman world, and how this was shaped by the transformation of the Roman state itself.

The Roman imperial army represented one of the main factors in the exercise of political control by the emperors. The effective political management of the army was essential for maintaining the safety and well-being of the empire as a whole. This book analyses the means by which emperors controlled their soldiers and sustained their allegiance from the battle of Actium in 31 BC, to the demise of the Severan dynasty in AD 235. Recent discoveries have revolutionized our understanding of the Roman army. This study provides an up to date synthesis of a range of evidence from archaeological, epigraphic, literary and numismatic sources on the relationship between the emperor and his soldiers. It demonstrates that this relationship was of an intensely personal nature. He was not only the commander-in-chief, but also their patron and benefactor, even after their discharge from military service. Yet the management of the army was more complex than this emperor-soldier relationship suggests. An effective army requires an adequate military hierarchy to impose discipline and command the troops on a daily basis. This was of particular relevance for the imperial army which was mainly dispersed along the frontiers of the empire, effectively in a series of separate armies. The emperor needed to ensure the loyalty of his officers by building mutually beneficial relationships with them. In this way, the imperial army became a complex network of interlocking ties of loyalty which protected the emperor from military subversion.