Cohors IV Delmatarum Cohors quarta Delmatarum ( " 4th Cohort of Dalmatae " ) was a Roman auxiliary infantry regiment raised in the 1st century AD and continuing to serve into the 2nd century . The Dalmatae . The cohort is named after the Dalmatae , an Illyrian - speaking tribe that inhabited the Adriatic coastal mountain range of the eponymous Dalmatia . The ancient geographer Strabo describes these mountains as extremely rugged , and the Dalmatae as backward and warlike . He claims that they did not use money long after their neighbours adopted it and that they " made war on the Romans for a long time " . He also criticises the Dalmatae , a nation of pastoralists , for turning fertile plains into sheep pasture . Indeed , the name of the tribe itself is believed to mean " shepherds " , derived from the Illyrian word " delme " ( " sheep " ) . The final time this people fought against Rome was in the Illyrian revolt of 6 - 9 AD . The revolt was started by Dalmatae auxiliary forces and soon spread all over Dalmatia and Pannonia . The resulting war was described by the Roman writer Suetonius as the most difficult faced by Rome since the Punic Wars two centuries earlier . But after the war , the Dalmatae became a loyal and important source of recruits for the Roman army . Origins and service history . According to Holder , a total of 12 " cohortes Delmatarum " appear to have been raised after the suppression of the Illyrian revolt in two series , of 7 and 5 respectively . All these units were in existence by the time of emperor Claudius ( r . 41 - 54 ) Of these , 9 appear to have survived into the 2nd century . The regiment was probably raised by founder - emperor Augustus ( r . 30BC - 14AD ) after 9 AD . It was certainly in existence by the time of Claudius ( r . 41 - 54 ) . Its early movements are unknown . Holder suggests that the regiment may have taken part in the Roman invasion of Britain ( 43 ) or the suppression of the revolt of Boudicca in 61 . But this ignores the evidence of three 1st - century tombstones from the Rhine forts of Bingen and Bingerbrück in Germania , where it was clearly stationed . The regiment first appears in the datable epigraphic record in 103 , in Britannia . It was still there in 126 - 30 , the time of its last datable inscription , a building inscription at the Roman fort of Hardknot ( Cumbria ) . The latter is incomplete , but is plausibly though not conclusively attributed to " IV Delmatarum " . The regiment ' s disappearance from the epigraphic record in the early 2nd century has led Spaul to suggest that the regiment was merged with another to form the cohors I Pannoniorum et Delmatarum equitata c . R . attested in Germania Inferior in 127 and beyond . But the record overall is too incomplete to support any firm conclusions . Known personnel . The names of 3 " praefecti " ( regimental commanders ) are attested . Titus Iunius Severus was a Spaniard from Denia . A second man , whose middle name only , Pactumerius , has survived , left a votive stone at Madaura in Numidia ( Mdaurusch , Algeria ) . The origin of the third , Lucius Aprius Liburnus , is revealed by his " cognomen " ( third name ) : of the Liburni tribe , western neighbors of the Dalmatae . In addition , the names of 3 " caligati " ( common soldiers ) survive on the 1st - century tombstones from Bingen . All were Illyrians : 1 Dalmata , 1 Liburnus and 1 Daverzus .