Sex(tus) Licinius Pactumeius Alexander, Dux Armeniae

An urban epitaph of unknown provenance recalls Sex. Licinius Pactumeius Alexander, described as dux Armeniae. Thanks to a recent epigraphic discovery, we can now state that the epitaph is not a forgery, despite some anomalies in the text. The working hypothesis proposed in the article, based on the reading of already known sources, epigraphic documents long since published or recently come to light, and the bibliography on the subject, is that Licinius Pactumeius Alexander held the office in the Severan period or in any case before the reign of Gallienus: the idea is that the ‘praxis of Egypt’ – where we find duces of equestrian rank already in the first half of the 3rd century – was not the result of an ad hoc imperial measure concerning this important province, but the consequence of one or more measures that also concerned other areas of the Empire.

Keywords: Duces, 3rd Century AD, Equestrian officers, Roman Empire, Epitaph from Rome.