Abulci

{{Short description|Roman auxiliary company}}

The Abulci were a Roman auxiliary company (numerus) mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum (ca. 420) as composing part of the garrison of the Saxon Shore Fort of Anderida{{cite book|last1=Horsfield|first1=Thomas Walker|last2=Mantell|first2=Gideon Algernon|title=The History and Antiquities of Lewes and Its Vicinity, Volume 1|date=1824|publisher=J. Baxter|location=Lewes|page=57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6wUWAAAAYAAJ&q=abulci&pg=PA57}} – the title of one position is listed as "Praepositus numeri Abulcorum, Anderidos" (The commander of the Company of Abulci at Anderida) (Notitia Dignitatum xxviii.20).{{cite book|title=Notitia Dignitatum|url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/notitia1.html}} The unit may have been recruited from the territory of Abula (now Ávila) in Hispania Tarraconensis,{{cite web|last=The Roman Britain Organisation (RBO) |title=ANDERITVM / ANDERIDA |url=http://www.roman-britain.org/places/anderitum.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140618091442/http://www.roman-britain.org/places/anderitum.htm |archivedate=2014-06-18 }} although a Gaulish origin has also been suggested.{{cite book|last=Hannah M.A.|first=Ian C.|title=The Sussex Coast|date=1912|publisher=T. Fisher Unwin|location=London|page=294|url=http://www.sussexhistory.co.uk/sussex-coast/sussex-coast%20-%200393.htm}}

Earlier the Abulci are mentioned by Zosimus among the forces fighting for Constantius II at the Battle of Mursa Major in 351 (τάγματος τών Άβούλχων), where their commander, Arcadius, was killed.(ii.51){{cite book|last1=Zosimus|title=The History of Count Zosimus|date=1814|publisher=J. Davis|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofcountzo00zosiuoft/page/64 64]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcountzo00zosiuoft}}

The Abulci were mentioned by Kipling in Puck of Pook's Hill ("A Centurion of the Thirtieth").{{cite book|last=Kipling|first=Rudyard|year=1906|title=Puck of Pook's Hill|publisher=Doubleday, Page|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb__WARAAAAYAAJ/page/n122 127]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb__WARAAAAYAAJ}}