Lucius Artorius Castus
Considered by some scholars to be one of the verified individuals whose exploits were incorporated into the legend of King Arthur. Used as the ancestor and progenitor of the Arthur of legend in the 2004 film "King Arthur".
"Lucius" is the praenomen, equivalent to a first name. Artorius is the nomen, and is important in that it describes the "gens," or family name. "Castus" (morally pure or clean) is a cognomen or a kind of personal or nickname. Sometimes it is titular or awarded, such as "Africanus" for winning a battle in Africa. It was quite important to describe the character as unique, such as saying "the Elder" or "the Fat".
A brief concentrated history of L.
Artorius Castus pulled from info from Linda Malcor. 'Artorius was an
equestrian rank Roman who, for some reason (perhaps hard economic times or
he was a younger son with no chance of inheriting) resigned his rank and
entered the Roman army as a centurion. He initially served in Syria,
getting out just before war erupted by transferring to a legion stationed
in Judea. He was then posted to a legion on the Danube, which was sent
back to the Middle East because of the trouble there. When the trouble
subsided, his legion returned to the Danube region, but at a site closer
to where the Romans were fighting the Sarmatians. He made Primus Pilum,
and, with that post, regained his equestrian rank and earned the right to
retire. However, he stayed in the army, continuing to follow the
traditional path for an equestrian officer. There is then a gap in his
career of three to four years. His next known posting was as Praepositus
(the naval equivalent of a tribune) in the Misenium Fleet, in charge of
shipping supplies from Britain and the Mediterranean to Marcus Aurelius,
who was still fighting in the Danube region. He was next posted in Britain
as a Prefect in charge of an ala of numeri (some researchers claim as the
Prefect of the Camp for the Sixth Victrix which is unlikely as such a
position was a civilian post). Britain exploded with trouble along
Hadrian's Wall during this timeframe. Picts destroyed the equivalent of at
least two legions and the troops at Eboracum tried to make one of their
commanders Emperor. During this chaos, many of the officers were executed
or demoted and transferred to unsavory posts at the other extreme of the
Empire. The only area where there wasn't trouble at this time was around
Bremetennacum. The region stayed at peace and supplied loyal troops to the
effort to defend Hadrian's Wall. At this time, a deputation of
"javelin-men" from Britain traveled to Rome to warn Commodus of
a pending assassination attempt. The only person who was in a position to
send 1500 men anywhere was the commander at Bremetennacum. I think
Artorius sent the warning. This curried favor with Commodus and when, soon
after, someone was needed to put down an uprising in Armorica that the
local legions were failing to handle, Artorius was appointed dux and sent
to take care of the problem (ex-soldiers marauding around the
countryside). He put down the uprising, returned his troops to Britain,
and was rewarded for exemplary service by being appointed Governor of
Liburnia (directly north of the region where Cassius Dio's father was
serving as Governor). Artorius had acquired a wife (probably about the
time he posted to Britain) and had several children. While he was serving
as governor, he built a tomb for himself and his family, and presumably
retired to a nearby villa. He seems to have had several daughters and
possibly two sons (There are two Artorii with family names from L.
Artorius Castus' branch who are killed while serving in the legions at
this time.). The family did not continue to live in the region after his
death, so the daughters likely married elsewhere and the sons were killed,
causing the branch to die out.'
