Hi all,

I recently came across a translation of a Latin inscription about a Syrian soldier in the Batavian legion of the Roman army named Soranus. He died in 118 AD and left a remarkable epitaph.

Here it is:

“I am the man who, once very well known to the ranks in Pannonia, brave and foremost among one thousand Batavians, was able, with Hadrian as judge, to swim the wide waters of the deep Danube in full battle kit. From my bow, I shot an arrow, and while it quivered still in the air and was falling back, with a second arrow I hit and broke it. No Roman or foreigner has ever managed to better this feat, no soldier with a javelin, no Parthian with a bow. Here I lie, here I have immortalized my deeds on an ever-mindful stone which will see if anyone after me will rival my deeds. I set a precedent for myself in being the first to achieve such feats.”

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Vol. III: Inscriptiones Asiae, provinciarum Europae Graecarum, Illyrici Latinae. Ed. Th. Mommsen. (1873, [AE impr. iter. 1958] 0151), 03676.

Soranus may be bragging, and some modern folks have expressed skepticism that such feats were possible. We should, however, be slow to prejudge the skill of these warriors, simply because we live in very different times. These men were just as highly skilled, if not more so than modern-day special forces.

We know, for example, that some schools of Japanese martial arts trained to swim in their armor. Though it may not be easy, it is possible depending on the type and weight of armor being worn. The modern Danube River is anywhere from 45 yards to 512 yards wide. We can’t know how far Soranus swam, but he probably did it with 60-100 lbs. of equipment if he was really in full kit.

Likewise, legends of archers shooting arrows out of the air have been around for a long time. Modern trick shooters have done it. It takes a lot of skill to do it intentionally and quite a bit of luck. In my recent, Archer of the Heathland book, I have the character Redmond do this. At the time, I didn’t now of Soranus or his epigraph. But I am gratified that there is a historical precedent for it.

Cheers,

James

Follow Redmond’s escapades in Windemere Book V in the Archer of the Heathland series.