ABSTRACT
The headquarters of the legion were very probably at Ammaedara during the Julio-Claudian period. VIII 23264, from Ammaedara, is the tombstone of a slave of the proconsul Cornelius Cethegus, who was consul in AD 24, and who was presumably proconsul shortly after AD 30, but before AD 37, after which date the proconsuls of Africa ceased to control III Augusta.157 From that time also Ammaedara, so long as it was occupied by the legion, will have ceased to fall within the area con trolled by the proconsuls. The death of Tacfarinas in AD 24 (Tac., Ann. 4, 25) by no means put an end to native resistance, and military operations continued with little interruption. The proconsuls were no doubt mainly occupied with military affairs down to AD 37, and their headquarters will usually have been with that of the legion. Thus, VIII 23264 probably indicated the main station of III Augusta in this period. That Ammaedara was its headquarters is also suggested by the con siderable number of inscriptions found there which refer to members of the legion who lack cognomina.158 But detachments of the legion also served elsewhere. The measures adopted by Junius Blaesus (infiltration from several directions) had proved successful in breaking the main strength of Tacfarinas in AD 21 (Tac., Ann. 4, 74). These methods were adopted on the strategic level. We know that a detach ment of 500 vexillarii held the post at Thala in AD 20,159 and inscriptions of early date have been found there.160 Another praesidium is recorded to have been garrisoned by III Augusta in the saltus Philomusianus near Simitthu, in c. AD 52-7 (VIII 14603 = ILS 2305). Another inscription, VIII 14608 = ILS 2470, found at Simitthu itself, reads L. Silicius Optatus vix. an. L. interceptus in itinere. huic veterani morantes Simittu de suo fecerunt. It is just possible that these veterani were men settled at Simitthu, which was an Augustan colony, but the word ing suggests more strongly that they were vexillarii serving in the praesidium nearby.161 An early recruit from Utica was buried at Hr. Douemis, not far from Simitthu (ILT 1241). He also very probably served in this praesidium. There seems to have been another early praesidium at Cirta (VIII 7082), and possibly one near Thabraca (VIII 17334).162
