According to some scholars, they are depicted on the
Arch of Constantine, as the soldiers who are shown wearing
horned helmets. On the relief representing the
Battle of Verona (312) they are in the first lines, and they are depicted fighting with the bowmen in the relief of the
Battle of the Milvian Bridge. The
Cornuti belonged to the
comitatus of
Gaul, and is attested on the northern border since 355. In 357 it was led by the
tribunus Bainobaudes in an attack against the
Alemanni who had attacked the Roman territory and had later retired on a small island. In that same year, the
Cornuti fought the Alemanni in the
Battle of Argentoratum, under the command of the emperor
Julian. When the Alamannic cavalry caused the Roman
equites to flee, the
Cornuti and its twin unit, the
Brachiati, held the enemy horsemen until Julian rallied the Roman cavalry and brought them back in battle. Despite the Romans being victorious,
Bainobaudes, the tribune of the
Cornuti was killed. The
Cornuti and the
Brachiati were famous for their
barritus, a combination of shout and dance step. The
Notitia Dignitatum, a document describing civil and military offices in the Western Roman Empire around 420 and in the Eastern Roman Empire in 395 circa, records the existence of the
Cornuti seniores under the command of the
magister peditum praesentalis of the West. The same source records the existence of the
Cornuti iuniores, who fought in the
Battle of Adrianople (378) and later part the army of the
magister militum praesentalis of the East. Later the
Cornuti iuniores were sent to guard the
Porta Aurea of
Constantinople together with the
Leones iuniores, as testified by an inscription date to 413. == Notes ==