Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Notitia Dignitatum
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Short description|Document of the Late Roman Empire}} {{Italics title}} [[File:Bodl Canon.Misc.378 roll159B frame28.jpg|thumb|Page from a medieval copy of the {{lang|la|Notitia Dignitatum}} commissioned in 1436 by [[Pietro Donato]], depicting shields of ''Magister Militum Praesentalis II'', a late Roman register of military commands.<br> [[Bodleian Library]], Oxford.]] [[File:Notitia Dignitatum - Dux Palestinae.jpg|thumb|Palestine and the [[Jordan River|River Jordan]], from the {{lang|la|Notitia Dignitatum}} illuminated by [[Peronet Lamy]]]] The '''{{lang|la|Notitia dignitatum et administrationum omnium tam civilium quam militarium}}''' ([[Latin]] for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the [[Later Roman Empire|Late Roman Empire]] that details the administrative organization of the [[Western Roman Empire|Western]] and the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]]. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents of Roman government, and describes several thousand offices from the imperial court to provincial governments, [[diplomatic mission]]s, and [[Late Roman army|army units]]. It is usually considered to be accurate for the Western Roman Empire in the 420s AD and for the Eastern or Byzantine Empire in the 390s AD. However, the text itself is not dated (nor is its author named), and omissions complicate ascertaining its date from its content. == Copies of the manuscript == There are several extant 15th- and 16th-century copies of the document, plus a colour-illuminated iteration of 1542. All the known, extant copies are derived, either directly or indirectly, from ''Codex Spirensis'', a [[codex]] known to have existed in the library of the Chapter of [[Speyer Cathedral]] in 1542, but which was lost before 1672 and has not been rediscovered. The ''Codex Spirensis'' was a collection of documents, of which the ''Notitia'' was the final and largest, occupying 164 pages, that brought together several previous documents of which one was of the 9th century. The [[heraldry]] in illuminated manuscript copies of the ''Notitia'' is thought to copy or imitate only that illustrated in the lost ''Codex Spirensis''. The iteration of 1542 made for [[Otto Henry, Elector Palatine]], was revised with "illustrations more faithful to the originals added at a later date", and is preserved by the [[Bavarian State Library]].<ref>{{Cite web| title = Publication of Offices - Notitia Dignitatum (Sammelhandschrift)| work = World Digital Library| access-date = 2014-06-21| date = 1542| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4103 }}</ref> The most important copy of the ''Codex'' is that made for [[Pietro Donato]] in 1436 and illuminated by [[Peronet Lamy]], now in the [[Bodleian Library]], Oxford. ==Contents== For each half of the Empire, the ''Notitia'' enumerates all the major "dignities", i. e., offices, that it could bestow, often with the location and specific ''[[Officium (ancient Rome)|officium]]'' ("staff") enumerated, except for the most junior members, for each. The dignities are ordered by: *Court officials, including the most senior dignitaries such as [[praetorian prefect]]s; *[[Vicarius|Vicars]] and [[praeses|provincial governors]], arranged by [[praetorian prefecture]] and [[Roman diocese|diocese]]; and *[[Magister militum|Martial commanders]], ''[[comes|Comites Rei Militaris]]'', and ''[[dux|Duces]]'', providing the full titles and stations of their regiments. == Interpretation == The ''Notitia'' presents four primary problems as a source for the Empire's army: # The ''Notitia'' depicts the [[Roman army]] at the end of the 4th century AD. Therefore, its development from the structure of the [[Principate]] is largely conjectural because of the lack of other evidence. # It was compiled at two different times. The section for the Eastern Empire apparently dates from {{circa|395}} AD and that for the Western Empire from circa 420 AD. Further, each section is probably not a contemporaneous "snapshot", but relies on data pre-dating it by as many as 20 years. The Eastern section may contain data from as early as 379 AD, the beginning of the reign of Emperor [[Theodosius I]]. The Western section contains data from as early as {{circa|400}} AD: for example, it shows units deployed in [[Roman Britain|Britannia]], which must date from before 410 AD, when the Empire lost the island. In consequence, there is substantial duplication, with the same unit often listed under different commands. It is impossible to ascertain whether these were detachments of the same unit in different places simultaneously, or the same whole unit at different times. Also, it is likely that some units were merely nominal or minimally staffed.<ref>A. Goldsworthy, ''Roman Warfare'' (2000), p. 198.</ref> According to [[Roger Collins]], "the {{Lang|la|Notitia Dignitatum}} was an archaising text written {{circa|425}} AD, whose unreliability is demonstrated by "the supposed existence of traditional (Roman military) units in Britain and Spain at a time when other evidence shows they were not there."<ref>Roger Collins, ''Early Medieval Europe: 300–1000'' (London: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1991), pp. 89–90.</ref> # The ''Notitia'' has many sections missing and ''lacunae'' within sections. This is doubtless due to accumulated textual losses and copying errors, because it was repeatedly copied over the centuries: the earliest manuscript possessed today dates from the 15th century. The ''Notitia'' cannot therefore provide a comprehensive list of all units that existed. # The ''Notitia'' does not record the number of personnel. Given that and the paucity of other evidence of unit sizes at that time, the size of individual units and the various commands cannot be ascertained. In turn, this makes it impossible to assess accurately the total size of the army. Depending on the strength of units, the late 4th century AD army may, at one extreme, have equalled the size of the 2nd century AD force, i. e., over 400,000 men;<ref>P. Heather, ''Fall of the Roman Empire'' (2005), p. 63.</ref> and at the other extreme, it may have been far smaller. For example, the forces deployed in Britain circa 400 AD may have been merely 18,000 against circa 55,000 in the 2nd century AD.<ref>D. Mattingly, ''An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire'' (2006), p. 239.</ref> [[File:Notitia Dignitatum - Magister Peditum 4.jpg|thumb|Shield pattern of the ''armigeri defensores seniores'' (4th row, third from left).<ref name="Giovanni Monastra (2000)"/><ref name="Isabelle Robinet (2008), 934"/><ref name="Helmut Nickel (1991), 146, 5"/><br> [[Bodleian Library]], Oxford.]] == Depictions == {{See also|Taijitu#Similar symbols}} The ''Notitia'' contains symbols similar to the diagram which later came to be known as [[Taijitu|yin and yang symbol]].<ref name="Giovanni Monastra (2000)">Giovanni Monastra: ''{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040313112451/http://www.estovest.net/tradizione/yinyang_en.html#t24 The "Yin-Yang" among the Insignia of the Roman Empire?]}}'', ''Sophia'', Bd. 6, Nr. 2 (2000) </ref><ref name="Isabelle Robinet (2008), 934">Isabelle Robinet: "Taiji tu. Diagram of the Great Ultimate", in: Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.): ''The Encyclopedia of Taoism A−Z'', Routledge, Abingdon (Oxfordshire) 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-7007-1200-7}}, pp. 934−936 (934)</ref><ref name="Helmut Nickel (1991), 146, 5">Helmut Nickel: "The Dragon and the Pearl", ''Metropolitan Museum Journal'', Bd. 26 (1991), S. 146, Fn. 5</ref> The infantry units ''armigeri defensores seniores'' ("shield-bearers") and ''Mauri Osismiaci'' had a shield design which corresponds to the dynamic, clockwise version of the symbol, albeit with red dots, instead of dots of the opposite colour.<ref name="Giovanni Monastra (2000)"/> The emblem of the ''Thebaei'', another Western Roman infantry regiment, featured a pattern of concentric circles comparable to its static version. The Roman patterns predate the earliest [[Taoism|Taoist]] versions by almost seven hundred years,<ref name="Giovanni Monastra (2000)"/> but there is no evidence for a relation between the two. ==See also== * [[Laeti]] * [[Jublains archeological site]] * [[List of Late Roman provinces]] * ''[[Notitia Galliarum]]'' * [[Roll of arms]] * ''[[Tabula Peutingeriana]]'' * [[Tetrarchy]] == Citations == {{Reflist}} ==Sources and references== *{{Lang|la|Notitia Dignitatum}}, edited by Robert Ireland, in ''British Archaeological Reports'', International Series '''63'''.2. * ''Westermann Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte'' contains many precise maps. * Klaus-Peter Johne, 'Notitia dignitatum', in: ''[[Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft|Der Neue Pauly]]'' 8 (2000), 1011–1013. * A. H. M. Jones, ''The Later Roman Empire, 284–602. A Social, Economic and Administrative Survey'', The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. {{ISBN|0-8018-3285-3}}. == External links == {{Commons|Notitia Dignitatum}} *[https://www.notitiadignitatum.org/ The Compilation 'notitia dignitatum'], extensive links and resources *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115234/http://pelagios.org/recogito/map?doc=27 Placenames from {{Lang{{!}}la{{!}}Notitia Dignitatum}}] [[GIS]] from Pelagios/Pleiades. 1505 toponyms. 1164 matches. ===Manuscripts=== * [[Bodleian Library]]: [https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/p/28d647a5-6057-46df-bec7-17d4943c03b4 full scan of 1436 edition] *[[Bavarian State Library]]: [http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/bsb00005863/images/index.html?id=00005863&fip=86.132.15.248&no=5&seite=1 Notitia Dignitatum Clm 10291] − full online scan of the 1542 manuscript with its modernised illustrations ===Latin, web versions=== *{{Wikisource-inline|links=[[s:la:Notitia dignitatum|Notitia dignitatum]]}} *[http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost05/Notitia/not_intr.html {{Lang{{!}}la{{!}}Notitia Dignitatum}}], with pictures, from bibliotheca Augustana ===Editions=== *''[Notitia dignitatum; accedunt Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae et laterculi prouinciarum]'', Latin with notes by [[Otto Seeck]] (1876): [https://archive.org/details/notitiadignitat00seecgoog Internet Archive], [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/10027454.html HathiTrust], [https://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/9200143/BibliographicResource_2000069296043.html Europeana] *[https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/notitiadignitatum.asp Medieval Sourcebook] Partial English translation by William Fairley, 1899 {{Authority control}} [[Category:Military history of ancient Rome]] [[Category:Government of the Roman Empire]] [[Category:Prose texts in Latin]] [[Category:Coats of arms of the Roman Empire]] [[Category:Comitatenses]] [[Category:Late Roman military]] [[Category:Illuminated manuscripts]] [[Category:Maps of Palestine (region)]]
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page
(
help
)
:
Template:Authority control
(
edit
)
Template:Circa
(
edit
)
Template:Cite web
(
edit
)
Template:Commons
(
edit
)
Template:ISBN
(
edit
)
Template:Italics title
(
edit
)
Template:Lang
(
edit
)
Template:Reflist
(
edit
)
Template:See also
(
edit
)
Template:Short description
(
edit
)
Template:Sister project
(
edit
)
Template:Usurped
(
edit
)
Template:Wikisource-inline
(
edit
)