‘Foreign Peregrini’ in the Auxiliary Units of the Roman Province of Dalmatia

Numerous military auxiliary units were stationed in the Roman province of Dalmatia during the 1st century, the vast majority of which were composed of peregrini originating from other parts of the Roman Empire. There are 31 pieces of epigraphic evidence of such soldiers, who served in seven cohorts and five alae. After the beginning of the 2nd century, the Dalmatian auxiliary units were drastically reduced in number and they mostly began to recruit local peregrini, and from the time of Marcus Aurelius, all epigraphically confirmed recruits had citizenship. This paper will provide insight into the inscriptions and monuments of these soldiers who were peregrines and came from various parts of the Roman Empire. An attempt will be made to answer some questions, such as: From which parts of the Empire did they come from? What was the character of the relationships that these “foreign” soldiers established with the other individuals? Were they commemorated on tombstone inscriptions by civilians or fellow unit members? Do their monuments have elements that show they “adapted” to life in a new environment or did they bring over something characteristic from their ethnic culture, thus enriching the diversity of “unclassical” Dalmatia?