Elegeia

Auxiliary FortCappadocia · near Ilıca, Erzurum Province, TurkeyBuilt 114 CE

About

Trajan received the Armenian prince Parthamasiris here in 114 CE, accepting his crown's surrender and folding Armenia into a new Roman province on the spot. Soldiers built a camp near the site, its earthworks lying today near modern Ilica between Erzurum and Askale. Archaeologists have not yet excavated the remains, and modern farming keeps eroding what survives. Hadrian gave up direct rule of Armenia within a year of Trajan's death, ending the post's brief life.

What happened here

Five hundred men, sometimes a thousand, recruited from a province rather than from citizens, and often stationed a long way from where they were raised. Cavalry units get a bigger fort and far more stabling; the smell tells you which kind you are in before the plan does. The layout copies a legionary fortress at a quarter of the size — headquarters, commander's house, granaries, barracks, a bath house usually built outside the walls because of the fire risk. Duties are patrolling, escorting, customs, and policing rather than pitched battle. After twenty-five years a man is discharged with citizenship for himself and his children, recorded on a bronze diploma he keeps for life. A village grows outside the gate within a decade.