Legions of Rome

by Stephen Dando-Collins

  East of Forum Julii, the defeated survivors from Vitellius’ force retreated, leaving Otho’s troops in control of the southeastern coast of Narbon Gaul and the route across the Graian Alps. But this victory did not materially affect Otho’s cause, for on April 15, at Bedriacum in central northern Italy, his main army was defeated by Vitellius’ army. The following day, at Brixellum, Otho committed suicide, leaving Vitellius—for the moment at least—the undisputed new emperor.

  Tacitus wrote that, despite Narbon Gaul having vowed allegiance to him, Vitellius had doubts about the loyalty of Vienna. Perhaps he had heard rumors that rustic levies raised by the city had participated in the actions that had repulsed his troops outside Forum Julii. When Vitellius sent Otho’s 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion back to its old station in Britain following the surrender at Bedriacum, its orders required the legion, whose loyalty Vitellius suspected, to “pass over the Graian Alps and then take that line of road by which they would avoid passing Vienna, for the inhabitants of that place were also suspected.” After the men of the 14th had crossed the mountains, says Tacitus, “the most mutinous among them were for carrying their standards to Vienna.” [Tac., H, II, 66]

  Despite this, the 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion followed orders, and returned to Britain. But, clearly, Vienna was seen as a city opposed to Vitellius. Meanwhile, Vitellius ordered Otho’s Praetorian Guard to lay down their weapons. At first, he distributed these disarmed cohorts throughout northern Italy, then within weeks, summarily discharged them without benefits, replacing them with a new Praetorian Guard created from men from his legions.

  In July, legions in the East hailed their commanding general Vespasian emperor, in opposition to Vitellius. An army led by the governor of Syria began a long march to Rome to topple Vitellius. Before the summer was over, troops from legions on the Danube and in the Balkans also declared for Vespasian, and they too set off to march to Italy to dethrone Vitellius. Meanwhile, at Forum Julii, one of Otho’s defeated generals, Suetonius Paulinus, who had once been a tribune in the Praetorian Guard, also took up Vespasian’s cause. Paulinus, a native of Forum Julii, had been allowed to go home after Vitellius took power. Now, he “collected all the troops who, having been disbanded by Vitellius, were now spontaneously taking up arms.” [Tac., H, III, 43] These included former Praetorian guardsmen, who respected the reputation of a man who had put down the Boudiccan Revolt in Britain and who had himself once been a tribune in the Praetorian Guard.

  It is possible that a legion of rustic recruits raised by the anti-Vitellius city of Vienna also numbered among those who now flocked to Paulinus’ banner and were rearmed by the people of Forum Julii to fight for Vespasian. Some of Paulinus’ men, possibly Vienna’s rustics, then took over Forum Julii, making it the first city in the west to raise the banner of Vespasian. Leaving these men to hold Forum Julii, the ex-Praetorians marched across the Alps to link up with forces advancing into Italy for Vespasian from Pannonia. In October, these guardsmen, once more in their Praetorian cohorts, would help defeat the Vitellianist forces at Bedriacum and Cremona. On December 20, Vespasian’s army fought its way into Rome, and Vitellius was executed. The following day, the Roman Senate declared Vespasian emperor.

  The 2nd Adiutrix Legion first appears in a classical text three months later. Tacitus tells of three existing legions and “the 2nd, which consisted of new levies,” being marched into Gaul from northern Italy in the spring of AD 70. These legions were on their way to counter the Civilis Revolt on the Rhine. [Tac., H, IV, 68]

  Numismatic evidence suggests that the 2nd Adiutrix spent the winter of AD 69–70 at the naval city of Ravenna. Then, in late AD 69, Tacitus commented that marines from the Ravenna fleet were being taken into the army of Vespasian at that time. Taken together, the numismatic evidence and Tacitus’ comment gave rise to the later incorrect assumption by some historians that the 2nd Adiutrix Legion must have been recruited entirely from the Ravenna Fleet.

  Tacitus in fact wrote that, following the Second Battle of Bedriacum in October AD 69, as the Ravenna Fleet deserted Vitellius’ cause and vowed allegiance to Vespasian, the 11th Claudia Legion came marching into northeastern Italy from its station in Dalmatia to join Vespasian’s victorious army. In describing the arrival of the 11th Claudia, Tacitus added that “a recent levy of 6,000 Dalmatians was attached to the legion.” [Tac., H, III, 50] These Dalmatian levies were nominally commanded by an ex-consul, Pompeius Silvanus, who had apparently been in charge of the draft in Dalmatia; but, said Tacitus, these recruits were, in reality, under the control of the 11th Claudia Legion’s legate, Annius Bassus. [Ibid.]

  “To these forces,” says Tacitus, referring to the 11th Claudia and the Dalmatian levies, “were added the best of the marines of the Ravenna Fleet, who demanded permission to serve in the legions.” [Ibid.] To replace these marines, the crews of the ships deprived of these seagoing soldiers “were made up by the Dalmatians.” [Ibid.] To be assigned to the fleet, the Dalmatian levies were not Roman citizens, for citizens did not at that time serve as sailors or marines.

  Tacitus’ text has been taken by some historians to mean that there was a straight swap of some 5,200 non-citizen marines for 5,200 Dalmatian levies, to fill the new 2nd Adiutrix Legion. This is highly improbable. A few marines might be granted Roman citizenship to enable them to serve in a legion, but granting citizenship to 5,200 men to equip a legion entirely was unheard of in imperial times.

  More importantly, there were nowhere near that many marines serving with the Ravenna Fleet, or with any other Roman fleet for that matter. Roman naval authority Professor Starr has calculated that in AD 69 the Misenum Fleet, Rome’s largest, would have consisted of a little over 10,000 sailors and marines, with fewer serving with the Ravenna Fleet. [Starr, II, 1 and 2] On every Roman warship the rowers, deck hands and officers vastly outnumbered marines. A liburnium with a crew of some 200 men might only include 15 dedicated marines, with a maximum of 40 or so when going into battle. So, out of a fleet complement of 8,000 men, perhaps 1,200 were marines, meaning that, at most, there would have been no more than 1,500 marines at Ravenna. And Tacitus says that only the “best” from these marines were taken into Vespasian’s forces, indicating that perhaps several hundred men were involved. Note also that Tacitus wrote that these marines demanded to be allowed to serve in “the legions,” plural, not in “the legion.”

  Four months later, in March AD 70, the 2nd Adiutrix was in Italy and receiving the grant of the 2nd Adiutrix Pia Fidelis title in the name of Vespasian. As surviving discharge diplomas prove, at the same time that the 2nd Adiutrix received its formal title, all those marines serving with the new unit who had been in the Roman navy for twenty years or more were now granted an honorable discharge, as much as six years in advance of their normal discharge dates. In addition, those marines in the 2nd Adiutrix, who were considered “useless for war” because of age or infirmities, were excused from further military service and also received their honorable discharges, even if they had served less than twenty years. [Starr, VIII]

  In this way, the number of marines who had been with the 2nd Adiutrix for the past few months was whittled down to leave only the youngest and fittest in the legion’s ranks. This left several thousand other men in the legion. Were they Dalmatians, from among the 6,000 levies brought to Italy with the 11th Claudia Legion? Or were the majority of them the rustic Viennase recruits who had been marching as the 2nd Adiutrix Legion for the past fourteen months and had occupied and held Forum Julii for Vespasian? And was it the activities of the 2nd Adiutrix in and around Forum Julii that caused the 2nd Adiutrix Legion to be granted the honorific of “Pia Fidelis”?

  So grateful was Vespasian to the two battle fleets for supporting him during the war that he granted both the title “Praetoria,” and granted mass discharges to many men of both fleets. [Ibid.] This he was able to do because he could replace these men from the levy of 6,000 Dalmatians brought to Italy by the 11th Claudia Legion.

  If V
ienna did indeed supply many of the troops who made up the 2nd Adiutrix Legion, and with Vespasian granting that legion the Pia Fidelis honorific, the city of Vienna might be expected to have also received an indication of his gratitude in the form of some Flavian title or honor. Yet no records exist of honors granted to Vienna during this or any other imperial reign. But around this time—no exact date can be attributed—the emperor did give Vienna permission to build a circus for chariot-racing.

  This was a great honor, for chariot-racing was strictly regulated by the emperors. At the commencement of Augustus’ reign, only Rome was allowed to stage the hugely popular chariot races, which accounts for the vast spectator capacity of more than 200,000 of the Circus Maximus in the capital. Eventually, fifty cities throughout the Roman world were granted the privilege of building circuses and staging chariot races. These not only gave a city status, but attracted vast crowds from near and far on race days, giving any city with a circus a major financial boost, its inns, taverns, shops and brothels all benefiting.

  Few cities in Gaul apart from Vienna were permitted to build circuses. The others so honored included Lugdunum, Arelate (Arles), and Mediolandum Santorum (Saintes). Precisely when these other Gallic cities built their circuses is unclear. Possibly, Vienna’s circus was the first in Gaul. Even if it were not, the city seems have earned its circus as a reward; quite possibly for being Vespasian’s champion.

  There is other evidence to support the argument that the majority of the men of this first enlistment of the 2nd Adiutrix Legion had indeed been raised by Vienna in Narbon Gaul. That proof was found in Chester, the Roman town of Deva, in Britain. Having taken part in the grinding skirmishes and bloody battles on the Rhine that finally terminated the Civilis Revolt by the winter of AD 70, the 2nd Adiutrix Legion crossed the English Channel the following spring to serve in Britain. The unit’s main base for the next decade or so would be Lindum, today’s Lincoln. Later it would fully relocate to Deva.

  Archaeologists believe that a detachment from the 2nd Adiutrix may have joined elements of the 20th Legion (later the 20th Valeria Victrix) at Chester as early as AD 71. By AD 69 the 20th had moved its headquarters from Deva to Viroconium, today’s Wroxeter, then the fourth largest town in Britain, but elements of the 20th remained at Deva for the next two decades until the entire unit relocated in AD 88. They were joined at Deva in AD 71 by cohorts of the 2nd Adiutrix.

  This is substantiated by the fact that gravestones have been found at Chester of men of the inaugural enlistment of the 2nd Adiutrix Legion. Fourteen in all, these gravestones originated sometime between AD 71 and AD 87. In the same area, fifteen gravestones of men of the 20th Legion, dating from between AD 69 and 117, were located. The details on those 1,900-year-old slabs of stone have been tabulated by the Chester Archaeological Society, and allow us to study the origin of each man. [CAS]

  Of the fourteen identifiable 2nd Adiutrix legionaries in this sample, one had indeed been born in the province of Narbon Gaul, at Forum Julii. Another was born at Lugdunum, in Gallia Lugdunensis, just 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Vienna. Roman tombstones recorded where legionaries were born, not where they were recruited, so it is possible that this man had been in Narbon Gaul at the time of the levy for the 2nd Adiutrix; or, attracted by an enrollment bonus, he went south to join up. A 15th legionary tombstone shows a man from either the 2nd Adiutrix or 20th who was also from Forum Julii. If he is counted as a 2nd Adiutrix soldier, then three of fifteen men, or 20 percent of the sample, can be linked to Narbon Gaul recruitment. These men would not have been former sailors or marines from the Misenum or Ravenna fleets, for, as Starr has pointed out, based on the records no sailors serving with those fleets ever came from Narbon Gaul. [Starr, V, 1]

  Just the same, 20 percent is not strong evidence that the 2nd Adiutrix Legion’s initial recruitment was in Narbon Gaul. Interestingly, two of the remaining 2nd Adiutrix men commemorated at Deva were from Dalmatia, suggesting that they may have come from the Dalmatian levy brought to Italy with the 11th Claudia Legion, or were ex-marines from the Ravenna Fleet. But before the gravestone evidence is dismissed, another intriguing factor comes into play. For, about the time the 2nd Adiutrix Legion marched into Britain in AD 71, the 20th Legion received a new commander, after that legion had been slow to transfer its allegiance to new emperor Vespasian. The 20th’s latest commander was Gnaeus Agricola, father-in-law of historian Tacitus.

  The 20th was then so unruly, Tacitus wrote, that even the governors of Britain had been afraid of it, and Agricola had been sent “not merely to take over command but also to mete out punishment, [and take] disciplinary measures.” [Tac., Agr., 7] A logical disciplinary step for Agricola would have been the transfer of leading troublemakers from the 20th to the newly arrived 2nd Adiutrix, which had proved its loyalty to Vespasian during the Rhine campaign. At the same time, Agricola could have filled the places of transferred 20th Legion men with legionaries from the 2nd Adiutrix in a straight swap.

  Deva gravestones support this possibility. Of fourteen 20th Legion men recorded during this period, three came from that legion’s traditional recruiting ground of northern Italy, and one from the East; by AD 14, the 20th was routinely receiving recruits from Syria. [Tac., A, I, 42] Here is a revealing fact: two of the 20th’s legionaries came from Vienna, a third was a native of Arelate in Narbon Gaul. Another came from neighboring Lugdunum, and yet another was from that same province.

  In addition, three 20th Legion men were Dalmatians, all three coming from the very same town, Celea—as did one of the 2nd Adiutrix’s previously mentioned Dalmatians. And, one of the memorialized 20th Legion men from northern Italy had gone home to Ravenna on retiring from the legion, which suggests that he may have been one of the Ravenna marines taken into Vespasian’s army with the Dalmatians. The numbers involved would seem to rule out coincidence.

  In total, then, 36 percent of these 20th Legion men buried at Chester are likely to have been recruited into the 2nd Adiutrix in Narbon Gaul and subsequently transferred into the 20th Valeria Victrix; 22 percent are likely to have been Dalmatian levies originally allocated to the 2nd Adiutrix; and one of the fourteen 20th Legion men had possibly been a Ravenna marine also assigned to the 2nd Adiutrix. Conversely, two men from northern Italy and six from the East on the 2nd Adiutrix gravestones were likely to have been transferred from the 20th. This evidence, while not conclusive, is nonetheless compelling. It points to a strong link between Roman Vienna and the first enlistment of the 2nd Adiutrix Legion.

  After the 2nd Adiutrix arrived in Britain it took part in Petilius Cerialis’ invasion of the kingdom of the Celtic Brigante tribe, today’s Yorkshire, “which is said to be the most populous of the entire province of Britain,” wrote Tacitus. “After a series of battles, some of them by no means bloodless, Petilius had overrun, if not actually conquered, the major part of their territory.” [Tac., Agr., 17] That conquest fell to future governors of Britain. The next governor, Julius Frontinus, “subdued by force of arms,” including the arms of the 2nd Adiutrix, “the strong and warlike nation of the Silures,” in Wales. “After a hard struggle, not only against the valor of his enemy, but against the difficulties of the terrain,” Frontinus and his legions completed the conquest of Wales for Rome. [Ibid.]

  The 2nd Adiutrix Legion would also have taken part in Agricola’s campaigns, which advanced Rome’s occupation of Britain well into Scotland by AD 84. With the end of the enlistments of many of these initial men of the legion coming up in AD 88–89, the 2nd Adiutrix was transferred out of Britain in AD 87, and sent to Singidunum, today’s Belgrade.

  From there, the legion, bolstered with a new enlistment of recruits, joined Domitian’s campaigns against the Dacians and the Alemanni which ended in humiliating defeats and withdrawals for the Romans. By the time of Domitian’s AD 89 peace agreements with his northern adversaries, the 2nd Adiutrix had made its base Aquincum, the modern-day Hungarian capital Budapest on the Danube, in the province of Lower Pannonia.

>   Sent to the East by Marcus Aurelius along with the 1st Minervia from Bonna, the legion participated in his AD 161–166 campaigns against the Parthians before returning to Aquincum. From there, in AD 193, it marched to Rome with fellow Pannonian legions, including the 1st Adiutrix, to install their governor Septimius Severus on the throne. The legion was still in Hungary by the beginning of the fifth century at the time of the writing of the Notitia Dignitatum.

  2ND AUGUSTA LEGION

  LEGIO II AUGUSTA

  2nd Augustan Legion

  EMBLEM:

  Pegasus.

  BIRTH SIGN:

  Capricorn

  FOUNDATION:

  In Italy, by Pompey the Great, for service in Spain.

  RECRUITMENT AREA:

  Originally, northern Italy.

  POSTINGS:

  Nearer Spain, Lower Germany, Argentoratum, Britain, Isca Dumnoniorum, Glevum, Isca, Carpow, Richborough.

  BATTLE HONORS:

  Cantabrian War, 29–19 BC.

  Germanicus’ German Campaigns, AD 14–16.

  Invasion of Britain, AD 43.

  Conquest of Wales, AD 80.

  NOTABLE COMMANDER:

  Publius Vitellius (the uncle of the future emperor Vitellus), AD 14–16.

  Titus Vespasianus (the future emperor Vespasian), AD 42–47.

  CONQUERING THE BRITONS WITH VESPASIAN

  Made famous by its commander Vespasian in the invasion of Britain, winning more than thirty battles against King Caratacus and the Celts, disgraced during Boudicca’s Revolt, it would spend many years in Wales stamping out Welsh resistance to Roman rule.