Lucius Artorius Castus (mid-late 2nd century AD or early-to-mid 3rd century AD) was a Roman military commander. A member of the gens Artoria (possibly of Messapic or Etruscan origin), he has been suggested as a potential historical basis for King Arthur. What is known of Artorius comes from inscriptions on fragments of a sarcophagus, and a memorial plaque, found in Podstrana, on the Dalmatian coast in Croatia. Although the inscriptions cannot be precisely dated, Lucius Artorius Castus probably served in the Roman army sometime between the mid-late 2nd century AD or early-to-mid 3rd century AD. [source: wiki]
The first unit mentioned on Artorius' inscription is the legio III Gallica - for most of the 2nd and 3rd centuries the unit was stationed in Syria. Artorius held the rank of centurion in this legion - most Roman soldiers only achieved the rank of centurion after about 15–20 years of service, but it was not unknown for some politically connected civilians of the equestrian class to be directly commissioned as centurions upon entering the Army, though these equestrian centurions (known as "ex equite Romano") were in the minority.
We cannot tell whether or not Artorius had a lengthy career as a legionary soldier before attaining the centurionate, or whether he was directly commissioned at this rank, as the vast majority of career centurion's inscriptions do not mention any ranks that they might have held below the centurionate. Successful officers often omitted the record of any ranks lower than primus pilus, as Artorius did on his memorial plaque.
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