16 CE the Roman general Germanicus (15 BCE-19 CE) led his troops into Germania, in defiance of Augustus' dictate that the Rhine should be the boundary of Rome, to retrieve the Standards lost by Varas' defeat. The legions were massacred on the third day of their march and all three Standards were lost to Rome. Arminius choreographed an elaborate plan by which the Roman legions would have to march through the Teutoburg Forest, where their tactics and training could little help them, and then ambushed them. This upset many of the populace, but especially a young German named Arminius who was a trusted member of Varus' staff. In 9 CE, the Roman general Quinctilius Varas was assigned the governorship of Germania, even though it was not conquered, and set about trying to collect taxes and tribute. Since the people of Germania were tribal, and there was no united front to wage war against, the armies of Rome could gain no foothold in the region.
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Under the reign of Augustus, in 12 BCE, the Roman legions were ordered into the region of Germania where they tried to accomplish what Julius Caesar had toyed with doing some forty years earlier: the subjugation of the land. The story of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest (9 CE) and the Roman response to that defeat emphasizes the importance of the Standard to Rome. The Standard was important as a rallying point, symbol of pride and, more practically, as a means of communication in battle. The Standard, then, represented not only the legion or cohort which carried it but the citizens of Rome, and the policies the army represented. In the time of the Roman Republic the Standards were imprinted with the letters SPQR which was an abbreviation for Senatus Populus que Romanus (Senate and People of Rome). So important was the Standard to the armies of Rome that battles were fought for their return. The Standard bearer would lower, raise, wave, or make some other motion with the Standard to indicate what the next move was for the troops or to change some tactic or formation. A trumpet blast would draw the attention of the troops to the Standard which would then direct which action should be taken on the field. The most famous of these is the eagle ( Aquila) but there were also legions identified by the boar, the wolf, the horse, and minotaur. The Standard of a cavalry unit was emblazoned with the symbol of the serpent ( Draconarius) while a legion of infantry was represented by a totemic animal. But someone might have several of what we would originally have called cognomina, strung together in a way that looks (to us) quite random.Īlso, even for earlier periods, there are Roman authors (especially Tacitus) who for some reason usually give names in the "wrong" order, usually cognomen-nomen.The Roman Standard (Latin: Signum or Signa Romanum) was a pennant, flag, or banner, suspended or attached to a staff or pole, which identified a Roman legion (infantry) or Equites (cavalry). Eventually the nomen too just becomes a formality. Over time, the praenomen starts to disappear (because, really, what's the point when everyone has one of about a dozen names) and loses prominence to the cognomen. In the late second century, things are a bit more firm, but still developing away from the classical system.
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By the late Empire most of the "rules" we learn about which name means what and goes where have really fallen away. The thing about Roman names, though, is that they don't really make any sense, and they tend to make less sense as time goes on. Your reconstruction of Decimus Aelius Maximus Meridius is reasonable and valid, and could well be the "correct" version of his name.