"The Emperor's eyes and ears": The comites of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus and the formation of a military "entourage"
Melanges de l'Ecole Francaise de Rome:Antiquite 136:2 (2024) 313-323
Abstract:
The Author takes into consideration the imperial comites epigraphically attested, and who participated in the military campaigns of L. Verus, L. Verus and M. Aurelius, M. Aurelius alone, and M. Aurelius with Commodus (161-180), comparing their careers. These comites Augusti were selected from among the senators deemed most suitable for fulfilling this highly significant role. The key requirements seem to have been a close connection to the imperial household, but also military abilities, since they had to fight alongside the emperor. Some of them had already fought along the Roman frontiers and belonged to that small circle of viri militares.A NOTE ON THE AUXILIA IN THE ROMAN PROVINCE OF PONTUS AND BITHYNIA
Asia Minor 4 (2024) 113-115
Abstract:
Inspired by the 2022 edition of an epitaph dedicated to a soldier of the fourth cohors Cypria died in Sinope, the author offers an update on the epigraphic evidence concerning auxiliary cohortes and alae from the province of Pontus and Bithynia. Since it was an unarmed province, the presence of these soldiers, as well as of legionaries, must be considered only temporary and connected to the passage of Roman troops towards the eastern border of the Empire. It is worth considering, in this regard, that most of the inscriptions date to the 2nd or 3rd century. Only those relating to the soldiers of the cohors Cypria seem to be earlier, but they could be connected with the expedition against Mithridates king of the Bosphorus in the time of Claudius or with the momentary annexation of the Bos-phoran kingdom under Nero.Comment on “Matter-wave interferometry with helium atoms in low-l Rydberg states”
Physical Review A American Physical Society (APS) 109:1 (2024) 017301
The Epigraphic Habit in a Pompeian House: Rules of Good Manners
Chapter in Brill Studies in Greek and Roman Epigraphy, 20 (2024) 307-320
Phase transitions of Fe2O3 under laser shock compression
under review for Physical Review Letters
Abstract:
We present in-situ x-ray diffraction and velocity measurements of Fe2O3 under laser shock compression at pressures between 38-116 GPa. None of the phases reported by static compression studies were observed. Instead, we observed an isostructural phase transition from α-Fe2O3 to a new α′-Fe2O3 phase at a pressure of 50-62 GPa. The α′-Fe2O3 phase differs from α-Fe2O3 by an 11% volume drop and a different unit cell compressibility. We further observed a two-wave structure in the velocity profile, which can be related to an intermediate regime where both α and α′ phases coexist. Density functional theory calculations with a Hubbard parameter indicate that the observed unit cell volume drop can be associated with a spin transition following a magnetic collapse.