298 ROMAN FRONTIER DEFENCES AND ROADS. [CHAP.
of the Humber, and the southern portion of Numidia, were
treated as * march-land.5 A tendency soon arose for the soldiers
of a certain legion to become the permanent occupants of a
particular camp. Thus the Twentieth Legion is found at Chester,
the Sixth at York, and the Third Augustan Legion in Africa.
The outlying fortresses were garrisoned by auxiliary troops, and
these could be more easily transferred from one station to
another; yet the evidence goes to prove that they also frequently
continued to occupy the same positions1.
A marked instance of the method of defence by means of
Defences of a successi°n °f military posts is found on the
the upper frontier which followed the upper course of the
Euphrates. Euphrates. The importance of this line arose
from its commanding the approaches to the Roman dominion
on its eastern side, where it bordered on Armenia, which
country had become a debateable land between the Romans
and the Parthians. The most central point in the military
system in this quarter was Melitene (Malatia), which town
lay at no great distance from the junction of the river Melas,
which flows from the Anti-Taurus, with the Euphrates. To
it led the great high-road which traversed Asia Minor from
Ephesus by way of Caesareia in Cappadocia; and from it again
two other roads diverged to south and north respectively. The
former of these passed over the Taurus range to Samosata
(Samsat), the position of which city was considerably lower down
the course .of the great river, where there is an important crossing
place of the stream. Here was the permanent station of the
Sixteenth legion (Flavia Firma), while at Melitene the Twelfth
legion (Fulminata) was quartered. A Roman bridge of magnifi-
cent construction still remains near Kiakhta, at some distance
to the northward of Samsat, to testify to the existence of this line
of communication. The other road, which ran northward from
Melitene, was carried to Satala, where were the stativa of the
Fifteenth legion (Apollinaris). The recent discovery of inscrip-
tions containing the name of that legion at the modern village
of Sadagh—at which considerable remains of an ancient forti-
fied town were previously known to exist—renders certain the
1 Pelham, The RQMMI Fi ontier Systemt pp. iCo, i3i.