Archaeo-Epigraphic Data Concerning the Community of Legio VII Servicemen in Dalmatia: A Dataset for ‘Fratres Romani in Dalmatia’

This dataset consists of data related to the inscribed Roman monuments of the Seventh Legion ( Legio VII) and the servicemen they commemorate in the province of Dalmatia (eastern Adriatic coastline and hinterland) from 30 BCE/BC – 259 CE/AD, as well as select areas outside the province. The dataset incorporates geographical and textual information found in typical epigraphic datasets alongside less typically captured visual, historical, biographical, archaeological

(1) OVERVIEW CONTEXT Over the past three decades, studies of the Roman army have become more interested in the social dynamics of the so-called 'military'. This interest has generated a newfound understanding of the army as a diverse social entity with many intersecting and overlapping communities of combatants and non-combatants, all of which are held together by a sense of shared identity and practices [1,2]. A partially related phenomenon is the so-called 'epigraphic habit': the proliferation of inscribed Roman monuments between the 1st-3rd centuries CE/ AD, now often referred to as the 'Roman epigraphic culture' [3,4,5]. The military communities of the Roman Empire were significant participants in this 'epigraphic culture', with inscribed funerary monuments becoming engrained within their social fabric [6,7].
However, scholarship is typically saturated with evidence from central and northern Europe, North Africa, Egypt, and select sites in the Roman East like Dura Europos. As outlined in the accompanying Master's thesis, the southeastern European regions of the Roman Empire are often, therefore, less studied in discussions of the Roman military as a social entity, despite the great deal of archaeo-epigraphic material available [8]. That said, these regions are not unstudied, with local scholars producing many robust catalogic works, detailed journal articles, and typologically vigorous chapters (see 2 Methods). However, their research is not always easily accessible to an online, English-speaking audience. This dataset draws upon their research, particularly the detailed work of Domagoj Tončinić, to provide a particularly well-defined and in-depth case-study of a community of Roman servicemen in Dalmatia, as preserved by, and expressed through, their inscribed monuments [9].
The coastline of Dalmatia was first annexed as part of Illyricum, which was established for Julius Caesar in 59 BCE/BC and subsequently expanded under Octavian (later, Augustus) through several unconnected minor and major conflicts [10]. The most significant conflict, the bellum Batonianum ('war of the Batos'), occurred between 6-9 CE/AD. While the date of the administrative split of Illyricum into Dalmatia in the south and Pannonia in the north is contested, it is agreed that the regions were at least unofficially and militarily treated as different entities as early as the reign of Tiberius (14-27 CE/AD), partially on account of the bellum Batonianum [11,12]. The seventh legion arrived in Dalmatia during this uprising and built their fortress at Tilurium soon after, before transferring to Moesia Superior by 59 CE/AD [8,9]. During their time in the province, the legionaries and members of their extended community erected many commemorative monuments.
The project collected biographical, geographical, epigraphic, historical, and bibliographic data related to 130 inscribed monuments and 137 individuals; primarily members of the seventh legion, but also members of other units who served alongside them. These 130 inscribed monuments are predominantly funerary stelae (inscribed stone slabs with epitaphs). However, arae (altars), tituli (isolated epitaphs with no, or minimal decorations), tegulae (roof tiles), administrative monuments, and fragmentary inscriptions of a funerary or sacral nature (where the original form is hard to discern) were also collected. This represents the entire extant published corpus of materials belonging to or referencing the seventh legion in Dalmatia as of November 2020. However, there are vast amounts of unpublished inscriptions in museum collections in the region, and more relevant monuments may come to light once these collections are worked through. 1

SPATIAL COVERAGE
Description: Majority of the monuments are from the surrounds of three sites: the fortress of Tilurium (Gardun), the provincial capital of Salona (Solin), and the veteran settlement of pagus Scunasticus (Ljubuški). However, the dataset covers material from areas of modern Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Turkey ( Figure 1). The specific findspots (Roman Province, Ancient Site, Modern Site, Latitude, Longitude) of the monuments in this dataset are recorded in Table 1. Coordinates are given in WGS84.

QUALITY CONTROL
Where possible, records from scholarly sources were cross-checked with inscriptions from EDCS and EDH. Location data was validated from Trismegistos and Pleiades.

(4) REUSE POTENTIAL
The dataset facilitates further research into the servicemen of the seventh legion and their monuments in Dalmatia. It provides a small-scale case study of the Roman 'epigraphic culture' within the military. Current scholarly consensus on this phenomenon is that it was a varied and complex at both regional and Empire-wide levels, and small case studies, such as the one presented by this dataset, will allow us to better understand the spread and proliferation of inscribed Roman material [4,5]. This dataset can be thought of as two distinct things, each with their own reuse potential. First, there is the data itself -transformed and presented as 'views' on the base table structure. This data is appropriate for epigraphers studying this era and region to supplement their research by stylistically, quantifiably, and/or spatially examining certain features of this military community. Second, is the 'SQL as Data Definition Language' specification in 'create_ monument_db.sql' -which demonstrates a viable data schema for documenting the service of a Roman soldier as documented by monuments. Beyond the structure, this dataset has been designed to be extensible such that it can accept contributions via a GitHub 'Pull Request. ' The data in this dataset can be reused in both digital and traditional approaches to epigraphy and archaeology -preferably approaches combining features of bothas it has fields that can be queried and/or read manually; particularly on Open Context with its interactive user interface. This is the result of the dataset being a work of 'slow' and 'small' archaeological data: wherein the many contexts, layers, complexities, and histories are engaged with and appreciated [15,16]. For instance, stylistic and biographical information not held in other repositories such as EDH has been captured and, because of the dataset's relational nature, rendered machine-legible, and therefore able to be integrated into SQL queries selecting attributes across all input-data sets. This includes data concerning sculptural features (portrait and/or decoration type), typological classifications according to Tončinić [9], the status of servicemen within the inscription (commemorator or commemorated), their specific office/s, how many monuments they are recorded upon, and the military unit they served in (such as VII or VII Claudia Pia Fidelis).
This dataset and its structure are also both licensed as open source, allowing for contributions from our own future research and other researchers' compatible scholastic efforts. Indeed, we invite GitHub pull requests adding data, making queries, or integrating new data sources. In line with this, within Roman studies this structure can be applied onto corpora from across the Empire and the data itself can be incorporated into existing datasets, bringing southeastern European evidence into broader theoretically engaged discussions. Moreover, as it captures the types of biographical, sculptural, archaeological, and epigraphic data which are key for investigating the social dynamics of many a community (details surrounding mentioned persons, decorations, locations, shared groupings, and inscriptions), a researcher interested in other epigraphically attested communities could adapt this structure onto data from outside the Roman world as well.
Significantly, the dataset can support learning activities in university and community courses. It facilitates engagement with 'real' and, for Roman studies students, relevant data in an accessible, online, and free-to-use way. The importance of this was significantly stressed during the COVID-19 pandemic, however the benefits of making archaeo-epigraphic material more accessible to students go far beyond the confines of the pandemic, with great potential to assist with distance learning for example [17]. While small, the dataset has been significantly structured so unanticipated questions can be asked without additional 'tinkering', thereby supporting novel future research questions [18, p 139]. The data can thus be used for a range of learning activities, from text-mining and GIS mapping to statistical analysis. Finally, the structure of the dataset can itself be used as a learning device, exemplifying how data can be structured to capture desired elements of epigraphic and archaeological material.