Is Salmatia a real place?

Question

And was there a cavalry unit from there that was used in the Roman army?

Oops! Thanks, I did mean Sarmatia, thanks.

Answer 1

There are two possibilities as to what you are referring too

One are the Sarmatians. This makes the most sense, because Sarmatians were a tribe of Iranians (who migrated up into Russia and then west into Europe) who mingled with the Empire, and were expert cavalrymen. The Romans made frequent use of them as Auxiliary troops. Sarmatian Auxilia were the prefered cavalry unit of the later Roman Army.

The concept of a heavily armored mounted knight who abides by a code of chivalry has its origins in the colony of Sarmatian Cataphracts which were stationed by Marcus Aurelius in Britain.

The Sarmatians hailed from what is now modern Russia and Poland
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/1729.jpg

The other possibility is that you are refering to Dalmatia. Dalmatia was a province in what is now the Balkans.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/REmpire-Dalmatia.png
Dalmatia was also famous for being a rich recruiting area for legionaires. When Septimus Severus seized the throne, he did so with the backing of Legions that were recruited in this area. Late in the empire's history, virtually all legionaires in the Western Roman Army were either Dalmatian or Gallic.

Though known for their fanatically loyal Legionaries, there is no mention made of there being anything unique about Dalmatian cavalry. Therefor, I believe you are thinking about the Sarmatians.

EDIT: Whoops! I put Severus Alexander, when I ment to put Septimus Severus. My mistake ^_^

Answer 2

Are you possibly referring to Dalmatia (it's easy to hit the S on the keyboard when you want the D!)?

This is a part of what is now the country of Croatia, near Hungary, and was conquered by the Romans in 118 BC. They called the province Illyricum.

It's entirely possible that Dalmatia provided a unit to the Roman army.

By the way, Dalmatian dogs originated in this area, too.

Answer 3

The Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae were a people originally of Iranian stock.[1] Mentioned by classical authors, they migrated from Central Asia to the Ural Mountains around 5th century B.C. and eventually settled in most of southern European Russia and the eastern Balkans.

Pliny the Elder (N.H. book iv) wrote that the Latin Sarmatae is identical to the Greek Sauromatae. At their greatest reported extent these tribes ranged from the Vistula river to the mouth of the Danube and eastward to the Volga, and from the mysterious domain of the Hyperboreans in the north, southward to the shores of the Black and Caspian seas, including the region between them as far as the Caucasus mountains. The richest tombs and the most significant finds of Sarmatian artifacts have been recorded in the Krasnodar Krai of Russia.

It is perhaps no coincidence that the boundary between the so-called Centum-Satem isogloss in the Indo-European languages apparently split at the European border of the Sarmatians.

Around the year 100 BC, Sarmatian land ranged from Barents Sea or Baltic Sea ("Oceanus Sarmaticus") to tributary of Vistula River, to the Carpathian Mountains, to the mouth of the Danube, then eastward along the northern coast of the Black Sea, across the Caucasus to the Caspian Sea and north along the Volga up to the polar circle.

The Sarmatians flourished from the time of Herodotus and allied partly with the Huns when they arrived in the 4th century AD.

The Sarmatians were closely related to the Scythians.

Answer 4

it's Sarmatia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarmatians