طبقة الفرسان الرومانية
Bridle ornament inscribed PLINIO PRAEFECTO, found at Castra Vetera legionary base (Xanten, Germany), believed to have belonged to Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) when he was a praefectus alae (commander of a cavalry regiment) in Germania Inferior (52-54). Pliny was a hereditary Roman knight of the imperial era who became celebrated for his writings on natural history. He had also a distinguished career as a public servant, in a series of posts reserved for equestrians: he served as a military officer in ca. 44-54, as procurator Augusti in two provinces in the period 70-77 and then as a secretary of state in Rome to his friend emperor Vespasian. By 79, he was praefectus classis (admiral) at Misenum in the bay of Naples. In that year, the nearby volcano Mt Vesuvius erupted, burying the surrounding towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. From his base across the bay, Pliny led out his fleet to rescue survivors trapped on the shore beneath Vesuvius. But after reaching port at Stabiae, he was prevented from putting to sea again by a strong inshore gale and, while awaiting a change of weather, Pliny died on a nearby beach from inhaling toxic gases.. المتحف البريطاني, London.
طبقة الفرسان Equestrian order فئة أوطبقة من المواطنين البارزين الذين كانوا يقيمون في روما القديمة. وكان أغلب أعضاء هذا النظام ينتمون إلى الطبقة الأرستقراطية. وقد قاموا أساسًا بتأدية خدمتهم العسكرية في نظام فروسية الفيالق الرومانية. وقد أطلق على أعضاء هذا النظام اسم الفرسان. ولكن قلت أهمية النظام العسكري وذلك لأن نظام الفروسية كان أكثر تأثيرًا من الحالة التي تم تجنيدهم عليها. وخلال القرن الأول قبل الميلاد توسع نظام الفروسية؛ إذ انتسب إليه عدد كبير من غير الأرستقراطيين. ومع مرور الزمن، تزايدت سلطة هذا النظام على حساب سلطة مجلس الشيوخ الروماني. عملى سبيل المثال، تمكن الخيالة من السيطرة على محاكم ذات أهمية، كانت قادرة على تقديم أعضاء مجلس الشيوخ إلى المحاكمة، كما أنهم ارتبطوا بأنشطة تجارية، وتم عزل أعضاء مجلس الشيوخ عنها، وعلى الرغم من حتى الفرسان كانوا يعارضون مجلس الشيوخ أحيانًا، إلا أنهم كانوا ينتمون لذات المستوى الذي وصل إليه أعضاء مجلس الشيوخ في المجتمع الروماني. بالإضافة إلى أنهم تداخلوا عن طريق الزواج مع عائلات ينتسب أفرادها إلى مجلس الشيوخ. وفي أثناء عهد الإمبراطورية الرومانية تم تعيين الفرسان في مناصب عسكرية ومدنية عالية بما في ذلك منصب نائب القيصر في وقائد الحرس الامبراطوري.
الدور السياسي
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A Roman senior officer (centre) of the time of Polybius, as depicted on a bas-relief from the Altar of Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, ca. 122 BC. Probably a tribunus militum (joint legionary commander), the officer wears a decorated bronze cuirass, pteruges, mantle, and Attic-style helmet with horsehair plume. In the Republican army, tribuni were elected, as were the overall army commanders, the Consuls, by the comitia centuriata (main people's assembly), but were drawn from the knightly class. Musee du Louvre, Paris
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Roman coin issued during the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) showing (obverse) the god of war Mars and (reverse) probably the earliest image of a Roman cavalryman of the Republican era. Note helmet with horsehair plume, long spear (hasta), small round shield (parma equestris), flowing mantle. Roman cavalry was levied from the equites, and from volunteers of the second property class, until the early 1st century BC. Bronze quincunx from Larinum mint
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A horseman, as depicted in a copy of a bas-relief found in the Forum in Rome. It portrays the legend of Mettius Curtius, a Sabine raider who, early the reign of Romulus (ca. 750 BC), is reputed to have evaded capture by the Romans by riding his horse into a marsh that once covered part of the site of the Forum. The swamp was supposedly named the Lacus Curtius ("lake of Curtius") after him. But the image probably portrays the equipment of a Roman knight at the time it was made, ca. 150 BC. The knight wears a composite bronze cuirass, Attic-style helmet with horsehair plume, pteruges, and mantle. He carries a spear and small round shield. Original in Musei Capitolini, Rome
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Roman cavalrymen of the time of Polybius as portrayed in a coin of 136 BC. The knights, probably representing the Dioscuri, are shown wearing Hellenistic-style composite cuirasses and carrying long lances but no shields. The coin carries the name of the triumvir monetalis (state moneyer) Cn. Lucretius Trio. Silver denarius
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Detail from the Ahenobarbus monument showing (extreme right) a cavalryman standing in front of his horse. The cavalryman is wearing what appears to be a Boeotian-style helmet (as evidenced by all-round neck-guard), chain mail armour, mantle and dagger. He appears to have no shield. متحف اللوڤر, Paris
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انظر أيضاً
- Roman military confederation
- مجلس الشيوخ الروماني
- فيلق روماني
- Roman auxiliaries
- Hippeus
هامش
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مصادر
قديمة
- Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae (ca. 390 AD)
- Dio Cassius Roman History (ca. 250 AD)
- Livy Ab Urbe Condita (ca. 15 AD)
- Plutarch Lives (ca. 100 AD)
- Polybius Histories (ca. 150 BC)
- Suetonius Caesares XII (ca. 100 AD)
- Tacitus Annales (ca. 100 AD)
- Tacitus Historiae (ca. 100 AD)
معاصرة
- Birley, Anthony (2002). Band of Brothers: Garrison Life at Vindolanda.
- Burton, G. (1987): Government and the Provinces. In J. Wacher ed. The Roman World Vol I
- Cornell, T. J. (1995): The Beginnings of Rome
- Eck, Werner (2000): Emperor, Senate & Magistrates. In Cambridge Ancient History 2nd Ed. Vol XI
- Goldsworthy, Adrian (2000): Roman Warfare
- Goldsworthy, Adrian (2003): The Complete Roman Army
- Heather, Peter (2005): Fall of the Roman Empire
- Jones, A.H.M. (1964): Later Roman Empire
- Keppie, Lawrence (1996). "The Army and the Navy" in Cambridge Ancient History 2nd Ed Vol X (The Augustan Empire 30BC - 69 AD).
- Ritner, R.K. (1998): Egypt Under Roman Rule: the Legacy of Ancient Egypt. In Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol I. Ed. C.F. Petry. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Scheidel, Walter (2006): Population & Demography (Princeton-Stanford Working Papers in Classics)
- Sidnell, Philip (2006): Warhorse
- Smith W. (1890): Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
- Talbert, Richard (1996): The Senate and Senatorial and Equestrian Posts. In Cambridge Ancient History, Vol X 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- Tomlin, R. S. O. (1988). The Army of the Late Empire. In The Roman World (ed J. Wacher).
وصلات خارجية
- Roman Social Class and Public Display
- Livius.org: Eques (Knight)
- Brunt, P.A. (1983). "Princeps and Equites". The Journal of Roman Studies. 73: 42–75. doi:10.2307/300072.
- Hill, H. (July 1938). "Equites and Celeres". Classical Philology. 33 (3): 283–290. doi:10.1086/362138.
