THE CAVALRYMAN OF CHESTER, A DACIO OR SARMATA WARRIOR?

Giuseppe Nicolini
Independent Researcher
April 2021
Rev.3
Abstract

The Romanian researcher (Romania, territory of ancient Dacia) Lucretiu Mihailescu-Birliba with the article: "A funerary
sculptured monument of a Chester and its representation" (Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica XV, Iaşi, 2009) tries to explain how
the represented knight on the stele preserved in the Grosvenor Museum in Chester (UK), is with certainty a warrior of Dacian
origin. On the other hand, a series of considerations lead to the refutation of this hypothesis, which is based on weak assumptions.

At the Grosvenor Museum in Chester (UK), there is one of the archaeological evidence of the persistence of
Sarmatian auxiliary cavalry troops in Britain.
It is a sandstone plaque, found just outside the walls of the Castrum, along with many others, now preserved
in the museum. The stone is part of a vast collection discovered in the north wall of the city at the end of the
19th century: the find highlights the incredible heterogeneity of the Roman army, with soldiers from all over
the Empire, and is substantial evidence for understanding life in the Roman fortress of Deva. (Deva Victrix
Castrum)

It is a sandstone plaque, found just outside It is thought that this plaque is dedicated to a Sarmatian
cavalryman, as is also indicated in the museum 1, belonging to a nomadic people of the area that is now
southern Ukraine. The Sarmatian knights were sent to fight in the legions in Britain, in the number of 5500
warriors, after being defeated by Marcus Aurelius in 175 AD.2
The knight of the stele is represented with his armor, with a characteristic conical Sarmatic helmet; although
it is a front part of the missing stone, it is noted that the knight holds a draco banner in his hand, for which
the Sarmatian cavalry was known and feared.
The Draco consisted of a bronze dragon head, with broad jaws and fangs, mounted atop a long pole; the
back of the head was open and fastened to a long tube with a banner with a windsock, made of brightly
colored fabric.

1 Grosvenor Museum Roman Tombstone Guide – illustration by Dai Owen- (photography at the museum in the year
2020)
2 Cassius Dione – vol. VIII Roman history - Book LXXI - 7..17

1
The image of the tombstone of the knight of Chester was first published by F. Haverfield3 and then by G.
Webster4, R. P. Wright e I. A. Richmond5, K.R. Dixon e P. Southern6, D. J. P. Mason7, finally by M. Henig8.
In the catalog of Roman epigraphic and non-epigraphic stones in the Grosvenor Museum in Chester, RP
Wright and IA Richmond described a knight holding "aloft with both hands a dragon banner or flagpole of
the Dacian or Sarmatian type, while the tall helmet and conical, with vertical metal frame, is of Sarmatian
origin. A sword hangs on his right ”.
Wright and Richmond also regarded it as a typical representation of the Sarmatian cavalry.9 E. Birley's
hypothesis is not excluded, according to which the image “could represent a knight taking part in the Ludus
Troiae and dressed in oriental fashion with a parade helmet”. D. J. P. Mason writes that the owner of the
tomb may be a Sarmatian, who arrived in Britain after 170 AD.

Compared to the theory advanced by Birley, the Lusus Troiae, (reported in sources as Ludus Troiae and
ludicrum Troiae) was an equestrian event, which was held in ancient Rome: it was one of the ludi
("games"), which were celebrated on the occasion only of imperial funerals, foundations of temples or
military victories, therefore not very suitable to be represented on an ordinary funeral stele, as in our case.
Participation in the game was a privilege for the boys of the nobility (nobiles)10: It was a display of
equestrian skill, not a competition.11
The Lusus Troiae was purely a ceremonial and involved boys too young for military service, under the age
of 17: only the very young were therefore allowed to compete, engaging in the art of war. It was also a way
to present in public the young offspring of patrician families, which is why the children often trained
assiduously with horses, especially the children of the equites, who in all probability would have become
knights themselves. The boys in oriental clothing, for example, represented on the Ara Pacis have
sometimes been identified as Gaius and Lucius Caesar in "Trojan" clothing, on the occasion of the game of
13 BC.12
The typology of the celebration therefore seems to refer to an event more suited to Imperial Rome, followed
by the emperors and organized by themselves in person in rare exceptional events, than to a military
Castrum in a distant Roman province.

All the authors cited previously, including the curator of the Grosvenor museum, as we can see in the initial
photo of 2020, believe the representation on the tombstone to be a Sarmatian knight.
From time to time, however, some researchers try to combine this interpretation of a Sarmatian knight with
other more or less plausible hypotheses.

This is the case of the Romanian researcher (Romania, territory of ancient Dacia) Lucretiu Mihailescu-
Birliba who, with the article "A funerary sculptured monument of a Chaster and its representation" (Studia
Antiqua et Archaeologica XV, Iaşi, 2009), searches to explain how the cavalryman represented on the stele
is with certainty a warrior of Dacian origin. Here are summarized the points that would support his thesis:

3 Haverfield F., Catalogue of the Roman inscribed and sculptured stones in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, Chester Archaeological
Societ, 1900, pp.69, tav. 121
4 Webster G., A Short Guide to the Roman Inscriptions and Sculptured Stones in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 1950, pp.29, tav.

VIII, nr. 137

5 Wright R.P.,Richmond I. A., Catalogue of the Roman Inscribed and Sculptured Stones in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 1955,

pp.51, nr.137, tav. XXXIV

6 Dixon K. R., Southern P., The Roman Cavalry from the First to the Third Century A. D., London, 1992, pp.60-61, fig. 29
7 Mason D.J.P., Excavations at Chester. The Elpitical Building: An Image of the Roman World? Excavations in 1939 and 1963‐9,

2001, pp. 168-169, fig. 105

8 Henig M., Roman sculpture from the north west midlands (CSIR Great Britain 1, 9),2004, Oxford, nr. 59, tav. 21.
9 Wright R. P., Richmond I.A., Catalogue of the Roman Inscribed and Sculptured Stones in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 1955,

n.137 - see also KEIM, KLUMBACH 1951, pl. 6.

10 John Scheid, Jesper Svenbro, The Craft of Zeus: Myths of Weaving and Fabric (Penn State Press, 1996), p. 41.
11 Francis Cairns, Virgil's Augustan Epic (Cambridge University Press, 1989, 1990), pp. 226 and 246
12
I.M. Le M. Du Quesnay, Horace, Odes 4.5: Pro Reditu Imperatoris Caesaris Divi Filii Augusti, in Homage to Horace: A
Bimillenary Celebration, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995, pag. 143; Mario Torelli, Typology and Structure of Roman Historical
Reliefs, University of Michigan Press, 1992, pagg. 48–49, 60.
2
 1) The representation of the Draco, the standard dragon, is exclusive to the Dacians, as he would
have shown using iconographic examples;
2) The so-called Sarmatian type helmet is not only peculiar to the Sarmatians: a Dacian has been
identified on the Trajan's Column (who wields another Dacian symbol, the sickle-shaped sword)
wearing the same type of helmet;
3) The Cohors I Aelia Dacorum was attested in Great Britain, first in Bewcastle, and then in
Birdoswald, but its first mention was in a military diploma awarded at 127 A.D.
4) Even in the third century, the Dacian character of unity has not disappeared: the depiction of the
sword in the shape of a sickle and the use of Dacian names were the main symbols of the Dacian
warrior;
5) According to God Cassius 5500 Iazyge were deported to Great Britain by Marcus Aurelius after
170. Nothing forbids us that our tombstone dates back to after 170. The dating from ancient writers
is not always reliable and moreover the Sarmatians have not been attested in Great Britain, both by
evaluating the inscriptions and the archaeological finds.

The assumptions that lead to recognize the knight as a Dacian are therefore not very convincing and arouse
many perplexities. Let's see them one by one, through an in-depth analysis.

First point: "…The representation of the draco, the standard of the dragon, is specific to the Dacians…"

The Draco was adopted by some Central Balkan and Asian peoples (Alans, Sarmatians, Germans, etc.) and
was certainly not exclusive to the Dacians. The banner of the Draco is typical of the Sarmatians and, more
generally, of the nomads of the steppes, well before the population of Dacia developed as an ethnic group.

Going even more into detail, it is observed that the banner of the Draco was first of Chinese derivation, then
passed in antiquity to the populations of northern China in Mongolia and then subsequently transferred to
Europe, through the continuous migrations of the peoples of the nomadic steppes.
It is interesting to note the representation of the Dacian Draco which appears with the head of a wolf, with
straight ears, an open mouth, protruding tongue and final canines. (Table 1)

Tab.1 - Reconstruction of Draco Dacio taken from the Roman bas-reliefs

According to Franz Altheim, the appearance of such standard bearers in the Roman army (in fact the Draco
was later also adopted by the Roman cavalry) coincided with the recruitment of nomadic troops from
Central and South Asia, and it was from this region that the image it passed to Iran and later to Europe.
Hence, based on Altheim's theory,13 the Dacians and the Germans would have inherited it from the
Sarmatian people.14

Altheim Franz, Die Soldatenkaiser. Klostermann, Frankfurt 1939 (Deutsches Ahnenerbe, Bd. 1)
13
14Tudor, Dumitru, Corpus Monumentorum Religionis Equitum Danuvinorum: the analysis and interpretation of monuments, Brill
Academic Pub. ISBN 978-90-04-04493-7, 1976, p. 116.
3
The banner of the Draco, according to Robert Vermaat, was originally developed by the cavalry peoples of
the steppes, such as the Sarmatians and the Alans, but also by the Parthians and Eastern Sassanid Persians; it
may have been used primarily to determine wind direction for horse archers.15
As evidence of oriental origin, a Coptic wall painting from Kharga Oasis, Egypt, shows Draco of Sassanid
oriental origin. From the Historia Augusta we learn that when Aureliano had reconquered Palmyra (272
AD), there was also a Persian banner (Dracones Persici) in the booty, very similar to what we are arguing.16
Helmut Nickel reminds us that the battle standard, with wind sock and metal dragon heads, was introduced
to the West via the eastern steppe by peoples such as the Sarmatians.17
The name of one of the Sarmatian tribes - the "sauromatae" -, noted in Antiquity by Herodotus, seems to
mean the "Lizard People"18 corresponding to the symbol of the adopted dragon. The name itself - sarmata -
presumably derives from a similar reptilian epithet, commonly given by the Greeks to the “Scythian”
nation.
This word is probably connected to the Greek ("lizard") and the name could come from the serpentine flag
waved by these peoples. The lizard (or dragon) appears to have been an important symbol for the
Sarmatians, as a form of tribal "totem". The mode of representation of the "snake" seems to have been very
flexible in symbols, including all forms of reptiles.19
Arrian, who wrote in AD 137, described him as a Scythian draco,20 symbol similar to a crested snake, which
was later adopted by the Roman cavalry. The indication "Scythian" is not accidental, because the Sarmatians
derive from the oldest nomadic people of the steppes, the Scythians, from whom they later adopted customs
and traditions.
In reality, there were numerous types of Draco, adopted above all in the East (with different heads
represented): it seems then to impose itself, at least in the West in the Roman Empire, a type different from
the wolf head of the Dacian standard, that is the toothed dragon head and crested. (Table 2)
The Draco was first adopted by the Roman cavalry during the second century. AD, probably with the
introduction of the Sarmatian cavalry in the Roman army.
The symbol of the crested dragon is much more similar to the nomadic people of the steppes, because it
recurs countless times in archaeological finds, especially in the eastern Kurgan, while the dog or wolf is
rarer. (Plate 3)

Tab.2-Draco Roman cavalry found in Niederbieber (D) Tab.3 - Scythian dragon from the Kuloba-Kostromskaya site (770 Bc)

As Robert Vermaat also reminds us, the image of the Draco banner survived well after the Roman Empire, it
even seems to have been transmitted to the Arthurian legend, as evidenced by a 14th century manuscript,

15 Robert Vermaat, The Draco, the Late Roman military standard

16 Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Aureliano 28.4:
17 Helmut Nickel , The Dragon and the Pearl, Metropolitan Museum Journal , 1991, Vol. 26 (1991), pp. 139-146 Published by:

The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

18 John Colarusso, an expert on the Nart saga, points out that in the Circassian Sagas of the Nartis, Arkhan Arkhozh is a

"lizard man, covered in scales."

19 Lewis, Charlton T e Charles Short, ed. 1907. A New Latin Dictionary, Founded on the Translation of Freund's Latin-German

Lexicon. New York: American Book, part S, pp.467-468.

20 Arrianus , Tactica 35: “… Scythian banners are similar to the drake, held aloft on standard length poles. They are made of colored cloths

sewn together and from the head along the entire body to the tail, they look like snakes. When the horses carrying these devices are not in motion,
you only see variegated streamers hanging down. While charging is the moment when they look most like creatures: they are blown up by the wind
and even produce a sort of hiss when air is forced through them ... "
4
Robert's L'Histoire de Merlin de Boron, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The effigy shows King
Arthur in combat, brandishing what may be a medieval representation of a late Roman draco.
The Dacians were often allies of the Sarmatians in their struggles against the Roman Empire and it is
therefore likely that in the contamination of customs and traditions, they also transmitted the symbol of the
Sarmatian cavalry of the Draco to the Dacian population. The poet Horace of the first century BC he speaks
of it in one of his works and mentions the Dacians together with the Scythians as tyrants and ferocious
barbarians.
The Roxolani Sarmatians were often part of the Dacian army as allies, to exploit their cavalry, a specialty in
which the Dacians were not competent as it did not belong to their tradition.
The name of the Dacian capital itself, Sarmizegetusa, has a clear origin and assonance with the Sarmatians,
so it turns out that the Dacian banner was adopted by the nomadic populations of the steppes, where it was
used as a symbol since ancient times, thanks to the continuous proximity with the Sarmatians, remembering
that the territory of Dacia was surrounded to the east by the Yaziges Sarmatians and to the west by the
Roxolani Sarmatians.
All the banners that the author reports in his article, associated with the Dacian warriors on foot, have the
head of a dog or wolf, as a distinctive element. Therefore, unlike what the Romanian scholar Lucretiu
Mihailescu-Birliba declares, it is not the Dacius banner, with the head of a dog or wolf that is established as
a symbol in the Roman army, but the Sarmatic banner Draco with the head of a dragon / crested snake,
which becomes the emblem of the subsequent Roman cavalry, a sign of a more authoritative influence than
the characteristic Sarmatian symbols within the Roman Empire.
This element therefore cannot become a distinctive proof that the banner represented in the stele of the
Knight of Chester is necessarily Dacius, indeed, quite the opposite.

Second point: "...The so-called Sarmatian helmet is not exclusive to Sarmatians only…"

The tall and conical helmet represented on the Chester stele appears as a Sarmatian helmet, the
Spangenhelm. (Tab. 4) This helmet is often associated in representations with the Sarmatian knights also on
the Trajan column. (Tab. 5) It is a helmet made up of several metal segments: the cap is made up of four or
six segments, welded by a metal strip that runs along the entire circumference in the lower part; between one
segment and the other there are metal bands, which converge on the top of the tile. It is an easy-to-build
helmet and is depicted on many occasions in manuscripts and bas-reliefs. (Tab. 6)

Tab.4 Detail of the Chester cavalyman Tab.5 Spangenhelm of the Sarmatian knights Tab.6 – Spangenhelm Kunsthistorisches Museum

The Spangenhelm arrived in Western Europe through what are now southern Russia and Ukraine, brought
by Iranian nomadic tribes such as the Scythians and Sarmatians, who lived in the Eurasian steppes. In the
6th century it was the most common helmet model in Europe and was in popular use throughout the Middle
East. Differently in almost all of the representations, the Dacian warriors are depicted without helmets,
bearded and with long hair; in Latin they were called capillates, due to their long hair.
We have numerous representations of it, for example, on the Trajan column, but also elsewhere. Where the
Dacian warriors are not represented with long and heavily bearded loose hair, (Tab. 7) they are reproduced
with the classic soft Phrygian hat, folded on one side. (Tab. 8)
5
The particular shape of the Phrygian hat (commonly worn by the Dacians, also represented in this way on
the Trajan column) derives from the open kid skin. Initially the cap was composed of a whole skin, the hind
legs were tied to the chin, while the front ones formed the characteristic tip, which could fall softly on the
front or back or remain more rigid in an upright position. Over time, the cap was no longer made from a
kid's skin, but despite this it kept its particular shape.

Tab.7- Warrior Dacio, (detail) Trajan's Column Tav.8 Head of Dacian from the Forum of Trajan in Rome. Vatican museums

The indication of Lucretiu Mihailescu-Birliba that he would have found only one single representation, very
worn and difficult to attribute, of a Dacian warrior with a helmet (which, moreover, appears different from
the conical Sarmatian helmet), does not seem to represent a sufficient condition. to assert that this is a
standard of the barbarian equipment of the Dacians, indeed, the opposite appears from the representations.

Third point: "…The Cohors I Aelia Dacorum was attested in Great Britain…"

Cohors PrimÆ Ælia Dacorvm (Latin name for "cohort of Daci Aelian") was an infantry regiment of the
Auxilia Corps of the Imperial Roman army. It was first established by the Roman emperor Hadrian (r. 117-
38 AD) in the Roman province of Dacia no later than 125 AD. and we have news of it up to about 400. It
has been deployed, for most of its history, in fortresses on Hadrian's Wall, on the northern border of the
province of Britannia.
The name Dacorum suggests that its initial recruits were mainly of Dacian ethnicity and came from Moesia
and / or the recently conquered Roman province of Dacia (annexed in 106 by Hadrian's predecessor, Trajan).
As no record of the unit was found in Dacia, Holder claims that the regiment was transferred to Britain
immediately after its establishment.
There is no evidence that the unit has ever acquired a cavalry contingent: in no inscription is the regiment
inscribed with the epithet "EQ" (for riding "equipped with cavalry"), and no cavalry officer (decurion) or
soldier (eques) is attested.21

The consideration that the recruiting units from Dacia are only infantry should not come as a surprise,
because the backbone of the Dacian army was precisely the infantry, as can also be seen from the numerous
scenes present in Trajan's Column: the Dacians are always represented in feet. The territory of Dacia, hilly,
mountainous and wooded (Plate 9), was badly suited to the breeding of horses and their deployment in
battle, as the terrain was unfavorable. Floro recounts that the then governor of Macedonia, Gaius Scribonius
Curione, "went as far as Dacia, but withdrew frightened in front of the thick shadows of its forests".22 The
capital of the Dacians, Sarmizegetusa, was located in the high mountains at an altitude of 1200m.

21 Spaul, John, Cohors II, 2000, pp.346

22 Floro, Epitome di storia romana, I, 39, 6.
6
Tab. 9 - Mountainous territory of Dacia. Note the Sarmatian populations Iaziges and Roxolani to the west and east.

The cavalry of the Dacians was mostly formed by allied forces, not having highly specialized units, the
infantry being the backbone of their army, as mentioned above. These departments were made up of
Sarmatians, who used heavy armor to cover the entire body, including that of the horse. (There are numerous
times that the Sarmatian knights have assisted the Dacians in their battles as allied cavalry). During the
conquest of Dacia, Decebalus' army used numerous allied forces, especially heavy cataphract cavalry from
the Sarmatic population of the Roxolani, as well as Germanic infantry and cavalry units from Buri and
Bastarni. These war operations are represented on Trajan's Column, where they show not only the Dacian
forces, but also those of the Sarmatian allies Roxolani ,23 intent on breaking through the mesic limes.24

Now, it is very perplexing that the representation in Chester is of a knight, because it is evident that the
Dacians were a predominantly infantry force that had neither knightly tradition nor cavalry forces and that
the same Cohors I Aelia Dacorum, a force of infantry, cited by Lucretiu Mihailescu-Birliba as proof, was
devoid of cavalry.

Fourth point: “…Even in the third century. A.D., the Dacian character of unity has not disappeared: the
depiction of the sword in the shape of a sickle and the use of Dacian names were the main symbols of the
Dacian warrior…;

That the Cohors I Aelia Dacorum unit is still present in the third century, as well as many other units of
barbarian origin, including the Sarmatian auxiliaries, does not seem worthy of note.
Moreover, the typical symbol of the sickle-shaped sword, recalled by Lucretiu Mihailescu-Birliba, does not
appear in the knight of Chester, where instead a straight sword is shown.

Fifth point: "... According to Dio Cassius, 5500 Sarmatians Iazyges were deported to Great Britain by
Marcus Aurelius after 170. Nothing tells us that our tombstone dates back to after 170. The evaluation by

23 Filippo Coarelli, La colonna Traiana, Roma, 1999, tav. 38 (XXVIII/XXXVII-XXXVIII) p. 82. Plinio il giovane, Epistulae,
X, 74.
24 Filippo Coarelli, La colonna Traiana, Roma, 1999, tav. 29 (XXII/XXX-XXXI) p.73. Cassio Dione, LVIII, 9, 4.

7
ancient writers is not always reliable and also the Sarmatians have not been attested in Great Britain, either
for inscriptions or for archaeological finds ... "

The aspect of the difficulty of precise dating of the tombstone does not add or remove anything as
archaeological evidence with respect to the identification of a Dacian warrior and therefore cannot be taken
into consideration as an element of verification. Even Lucretiu Mihailescu-Birliba runs the risk of
questioning Roman historians.

The last passages where the author would assert that there is no archaeological evidence of the Sarmatians in
Britain, in open disregard of what is found in English museums, are not scientifically justified. N.J. Higham
himself in his book lists a series of archaeological evidence on the Sarmatic presence in Britain,25 as well as
other authors such as Sulimirski,26 and as also attested in the article "New archaeological finds on the
Sarmatians in Britain in English museums, especially beads, necklaces and bracelets of Sarmatic origin”27.

Lucretiu Mihailescu-Birliba is further inconsistent when he states that there are no inscriptions attesting to
the presence of the Sarmatians in Britain. This is contradicted by the same epigraphic inscriptions that we
can find in the RIB (Roman Inscriptions of Britain). Let's mention some of them:

RIB 595. Funerary inscription of cavalryman of Ala Samartarum:28

D (è) M (anibus)[̣ ̣ ̣ de (?)] C̣ (urio) al (ae) Sarmata [rum]

RIB 583. Dedication to Apollo Maponus and Gordian's own Sarmatian cavalry unit 29

Deo san (cto) [A] poll ini M ap on (o) [ pr ] o salu te D (omini) N (ostri) [ et ] n (umeri) eq (uitum) Sar-[m
(atarum)] Bre me t en n (acensium) [G] ordiani [A] el (ius) Antoni-nus (centurio) leg (ionis) VI Vic (tricis)
domo Melitenis praep (ositus) et pr (aefectus) v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) m (erito) [de] dic (atum) pr (idie)
Kal (endas) Sep (tembres) [im] p ( eratore) d (omino) n (ostro) Gord [i-] [ano A] ug (usto) II e [t] Pon-
[peia] no co (n) s (ulibus)

RIB 594. Funeral inscription for Aelia Matrona, Marcus Julius Maximus and Campania Dubitata 30

His terris tegitur Ael (ia) Matrona quond (am) vix (it) an (nos) XXVIII m (enses) II d (ies) VIII et M (arcus)
Iul (ius) Maximus fil (ius) vix (it) an (nos) VI m (enses) III d (ies) XX et Campania Dub [i] tata {e} mater vix
(it) an (nos) L Iul (ius) Maximus s (ingularis) c (onsularis) alae Sar (matarum) coniux coniugi
incomparabili et filio patri p [i] entis- simo et socaere tena- cissime memoria (m) p (osuit)

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

From all that has been analyzed, we can therefore formulate the following hypotheses:

25 N.J.Higham, King Arthur The Making of the Legend, 2018, pp.46,54,56,57,60,61,62 e Tav.5,6,7,8,12
26 T.Sulimirski, The Sarmatians, 1970, p.175-176
27 Giuseppe Nicolini, New archaeological finds on the Sarmatians in Britain in British museums, especially beads, necklaces and bracelets of

Sarmatic origin, 2020 in

https://www.academia.edu/44205887/New_Archaeological_findings_about_Sarmatians_in_Britannia_in_English_Museu
m_especially_Beads_Necklaces_and_Bracelets_of_Sarmatian_Origin
28
"… To the spirits of the dead ... decurion (?) Of the cavalry regiment of the Sarmatians ..."
29
"…To the holy god Apollo Maponus for the welfare of our Lord (the Emperor) and of the Gordian Unit of the Sarmatian Cavalry of
Bremetennacum Aelius Antoninus, centurion of the Sixth Legion Victrix, from Melitene, acting commander and prefect, gladly fulfilled the his
vote, deservedly. Dedicated on August 31 in the consulate of the Emperor Our Lord Gordian for the second time and in Ponpeiano ... "
30
"... This land covers the one who once was Aelia Matrona (who) lived 28 years, 2 months, 8 days, and Marcus Julius Maximus, her son,
(who) lived 6 years, 3 months, 20 days, and Campania Doubtful, his mother, (who) lived 50 years. Giulio Massimo, singularis consularis of
the cavalry regiment of the Sarmatians, as a husband set up this memorial to his incomparable wife and son who is very devoted to his father and
to his most resolute mother-in-law ... "
8
 1) Contrary to what the author claims, the Draco was not the exclusive symbol of the Dacians, but is
indeed of clear Sarmatic origin. It is the crested dragon-headed Draco of Sarmatic origin that became
the symbol of Roman cavalry, and not the wolf-headed Draco of Dacian origin.

2) The Dacians usually wore a soft Phrygian cap and so are depicted in many representations. Some
metal helmets originating from Dacia have been found, but they are remarkably different from that
represented on the Chester stele.

3) The Dacians usually wore long loose hair and thick beards, but the cavalryman of Chester appears
beardless and with short hair.

4) The Dacians, as the author points out, were characterized by the curved sickle sword, as a peculiar
element of the armament, but the Chester cavalryman carries a straight sword.

5) The Cohors I Aelia Dacorum reported as evidence of the Dacian presence in Britain was an infantry
unit. The Dacians had no tradition as cavalry and there is no trace of cavalry in that Roman military
unit. Unfortunately, a cavalryman is celebrated in the stele.

From what has been analyzed, we can reasonably state that the Chester knight does not represent a Dacian
warrior, remembering that there are no Dacian units in service at the Castrum of Deva Victrix (Chester), the
place where the stele was found.