continue the work of bloodshed and destruction.”
(SUETONIUS PAULINUS TO 14TH GEMINA PRIOR TO THE AD 60 BATTLE WITH BOUDICCA’S BRITONS. TACITUS, Annals, XIV, 36)
In the second half of the first century, the 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion had such a formidable reputation that even the suggestion that it was about to engage in a conflict was enough to cause the opposition to panic. [Tac., H, II, 68]
In 30 BC, Caesar’s original 14th Legion was combined by Octavian with another, creating the 14th Gemina. Some modern-day authors believe that the 14th was later granted its additional “Martia Victrix” titles by Nero for its defeat of Boudicca’s army of rebel Britons in AD 60–61. There is no proof of this. In fact, it is possible that the Victrix title was granted before AD 49, the year the first Roman military colony in Britain was established by the emperor Claudius at Colchester (Roman Camulodunum) in the east of England.
Military colonies traditionally included the name of the legion settling it, as part of their titles. Arelate, today’s Arles in the south of France, for instance, was set up for men of the 6th Legion, and this was reflected in the colony’s official name: Colonia Julia Paterna Arelatensum Sextanorum, or Julius’ Paternal Colony of the Sixth at Arelate. Camulodunum was named Colonia Claudia Victricensis: Claudius’ Colony of the Victors. This did not refer to the legion that had previously occupied the city, the 20th Valeria Victrix, because, as Dr. R. S. O. Tomlin has pointed out, the use by the 20th Legion of the Valeria Victrix title is not recorded before AD 90. [Tom., DRA, DRAC] This suggests that “the Victors” refers to settlers from the 14th Gemina Martia Victrix, a legion which would have retired a number of its veterans around AD 50 after they had completed their twenty-year enlistments.
The legion was indeed rewarded by Nero after defeating Boudicca’s rebels against odds of up to twenty-three to one; he declared the men of the 14th his “most valuable troops.” And it is likely that the legion was also given the right to assume the thunderbolt and eagle’s wings emblem of the Praetorian Guard. Additionally, Roman general Petilius Cerialis called the men of the 14th Gemina Martia Victrix “Conquerors of Britain.” [Tac., H, V, 16]
That AD 60 victory over Boudicca represented a spectacular career turnaround. In 54 BC, the four-year-old legion was wiped out by the Eburone tribe of Belgium. The following year, the reformed legion lost 2,000 men in a battle with mounted German tribesmen. Following Caesar’s death, both Octavian and Antony had 14th legions, and it is possible the two were combined to create the new 14th Gemina of 30 BC.
The legion fought in the Pannonian War, and stoutly served Germanicus in Germany in AD 14–16. By AD 43, its reputation had been rehabilitated to the point that it was one of four legions chosen to invade Britain for Claudius. It was stationed in Britain thereafter.
In the spring of AD 60 the legion conquered the Welsh island of Anglesey, only to be recalled to confront the rampaging rebel Celts, and to deliver Boudicca her famous defeat on Watling Street. By AD 67 Nero had transferred the 14th Gemina Martia Victrix to Carnuntum in Pannonia as part of the build-up for his planned offensive against the Parthians. Two years later, the legion’s veteran cohorts marched down from Pannonia to fight for Otho at the First Battle of Bedriacum. Although Otho’s army surrendered, the 14th Gemina stubbornly declared itself undefeated. Vitellius sent the unit back to its old base at Viroconium, today’s village of Wroxeter, in Britain. The following year, the new emperor Vespasian ordered the legion to the Rhine to join Cerialis’ operations against Civilis and the Germans on the Rhine, and the legion played a critical role in Cerialis’ victory at Old Camp.
The 14th Gemina Martia Victrix was subsequently stationed at Mainz on the Rhine. By AD 92 the legion had built a new base at Mursia in Pannonia. Between AD 100 and 114 it was based at Vindobonna before spending several years in Dacia. By AD 117 the legion was back at Carnuntum, where it remained for the remainder of its career. By AD 230 the Martia Victrix portion of the legion’s title had fallen into disuse.
In the fourth century, the men of the once famous 14th Gemina Legion had been relegated to the role of marines on the Danube. Serving on light liburnian galleys, one element was still stationed at Carnuntum; the other came under the Master of the Military for the Dacia region. It was a sad end for a once famous legion. [Not. Dig.]
15TH APOLLINARIS LEGION
LEGIO XV APOLLINARIS
Apollo’s 15th Legion
ORIGIN OF TITLE:
Possibly because Apollo was the patron deity of Emperor Augustus.
EMBLEM:
Originally, possibly a griffin. By the third century a palm branch, the symbol of victory.
BIRTH SIGN:
Capricorn (probably).
FOUNDATION:
53 BC, by Julius Caesar.
RECRUITMENT AREA:
Originally Cisalpine Gaul.
POSTINGS:
Illyricum, Emonia, Carnuntum, Syria, Judea, Carnuntum, Dacia, Carnuntum, Parthia, Satala.
BATTLE HONORS:
Pannonian War, AD 6-9.
Corbulo’s Second Armenian campaign, AD 62.
First Jewish Revolt, AD 67-71.
Siege of Jerusalem, AD 70.
Trajan’s Dacian Wars, AD 101-106.
Trajan’s Parthian campaign, AD 114-116.
Arrian’s Defeat of the Alans, AD 135.
THE TRAVELING FIFTEENTH
A veteran of the Pannonian War, mediator in the Illyricum Mutiny of AD 14, victorious in Armenia under Corbulo, in Judea under Vespasian and Titus, in Dacia under Trajan, and against the Alans in the East under Arrian, this was a legion which made history.
Both Antony and Octavian employed 15th legions, but the fact that the imperial 15th incorporated Apollo, favorite deity of Octavian, into its title, suggests that it was his legion which he retained in his new standing army.
The 15th Apollinaris was one of fifteen legions that served in the Pannonian War. It was stationed in Pannonia following the war, initially at Emonia, and by AD 14 at Carnuntum, where it remained for many years, undertaking major building activity in AD 50. In AD 62 the legion was transferred by Nero to the East for operations in Armenia, after which it was stationed in Egypt. Titus then led the 15th Apollinaris from Egypt to Judea for his father’s operations against the Jewish rebels, where it was one of the four legions that conducted Titus’ siege of Jerusalem in AD 70.
The 15th Apollinaris was then sent back to Europe and its old base at Carnuntum, from where it took part in Trajan’s Dacian Wars. When Trajan went east for his AD 114–116 Parthian operations, the 15th Apollinaris went too. In AD 117 the legion took over the 16th Flavia’s base at Satala in northern Cappadocia, today’s Sadak in Turkey, which became its home for decades thereafter. In AD 135 the legion joined the 12th Fulminata in ejecting the Alans from Lesser Armenia for Arrian, the palm branch emblem shown on coins of the legion in the East possibly being a reflection of that victory.
The legion would have been deeply involved in the Persian Wars of the fourth century, but, unlike many Roman units destroyed by the Persians, the 15th Apollinaris Legion survived, intact, and was still at its Satala base at the end of that century. [Not. Dig.]
15TH PRIMIGENEIA LEGION
LEGIO XV PRIMIGENEIA
15th First-born Legion
ORIGIN OF TITLE:
Named for the goddess Fortuna Primigeneia.
EMBLEM:
Wheel of Fortune (probably).
BIRTH SIGN:
Capricorn (probably). The 22nd Primigeneia, raised at the same time, used Capricorn.
FOUNDATION:
AD 39, by Caligula.
RECRUITMENT AREA:
Probably the traditional recruiting grounds of the existing 15th Apollinaris.
IMPERIAL POSTINGS:
Mogontiacum, Vetera.
NOT FORTUNE’S FAVORITE
Founded by Caligula for his farcical invasion of Britain, when he had his troops fire into the English Channel and collect seashells
as war trophies, this legion was renamed by Claudius and abolished by Vespasian.
This legion was apparently raised by Caligula for his planned but never executed invasion of Britain. It was named after Fortuna Primigeneia, goddess of Fortune. This was the favorite deity of Claudius, Caligula’s uncle and successor in AD 41, so it is not impossible that Claudius actually named both this and the 22nd Primigeneia. This legion is likely to have taken the number 15 because it was raised in the traditional recruiting grounds of the existing 15th Legion, the Apollinaris.
Based at Mainz on the Upper Rhine after Caligula’s aborted British operation, by AD 46 it had moved to Vetera on the Lower Rhine. There, in AD 69–70, the legion became embroiled in the protracted defense of Vetera, or Old Camp as it was known, with thousands of its men killed by the rebels.
The shattered 15th Primigeneia Legion was abolished by the new emperor Vespasian, once the Civilis Revolt was terminated in the autumn of AD 70.
16TH GALLICA LEGION
LEGIO XVI GALLICA
16th Legion of Gaul
EMBLEM:
Boar (probably).
BIRTH SIGN:
Probably Capricorn.
FOUNDATION:
In 49 BC, by Julius Caesar.
RECRUITMENT AREA:
Gaul.
IMPERIAL POSTINGS:
The Rhine, Mogontiacum, Novaesium.
ABOLISHED:
AD 70, by Vespasian, for surrendering to Civilis.
PAYING THE PRICE OF DISLOYALTY
Fighting stoutly under Germanicus only to disgrace itself in the Civilis Revolt, a legion that was disbanded by Vespasian, who reformed it as the 16th Flavia, and sent it to the East.
Raised in Gaul, the 16th Gallica Legion was serving under Drusus Caesar on the Rhine in 16 BC, where it remained throughout its short career. Based at Mainz, it marched for Drusus’ son Germanicus Caesar in his German campaigns of AD 14–16.
In the reign of Nero the legion was transferred to Novaesium on the Lower Rhine. There, in January AD 69, it joined its fellow Rhine legions in hailing Vitellius emperor, and soon after sent several of its cohorts to Italy to help defeat Otho and install Vitellius on the throne.
The remaining 16th Gallica cohorts became caught up in the Civilis Revolt, ultimately deserting their young general Herrenius Gallus, surrendering to the rebels and allowing Gallus to be executed in the spring of AD 70. For these two crimes, the new emperor Vespasian abolished the legion in that same year. He reformed it as the 16th Flavia Legion.
16TH FLAVIA FIRMA
LEGIO XVI FLAVIA-F
16th Steadfast Flavian Legion
ORIGIN OF TITLE:
Named in honor of first emperor of the Flavian family, Vespasian.
EMBLEM:
Lion.
BIRTH SIGN:
Unknown.
FOUNDATION:
By Vespasian, from vestiges of the disgraced 16th Gallica Legion.
RECRUITMENT AREA:
Unknown.
IMPERIAL POSTINGS:
Satala, Parthia, Samosata, Oescus.
BATTLE HONORS:
Trajan’s Parthian campaign, AD 114-116.
VESPASIAN’S OWN
Formed in AD 70 to replace the disgraced and abolished 16th Gallica Legion, the 16th Flavia took Vespasian’s family name and the emblem of the lion, which was associated with Vespasian’s favorite deity, Hercules.
With the shameful history of the 16th Gallica to remind it of what it must avoid, the 16th Flavia set off for a new career in the East. Its first permanent base was at Satala in the new province of Cappadocia. From there it joined the emperor Trajan’s AD 114–116 Parthian campaign, after which, licking its wounds, it moved to a new base in Armenia, Samosata, today’s Samsat in Turkey.
By the reign of Septimius Severus the 16th Flavia had relocated to Syria, where it was still based, at Oescus, late in the fourth century. [Not. Dig.]
17TH, 18TH AND 19TH LEGIONS
LEGIO XVII
LEGIO XVIII
LEGIO XIX
EMBLEM:
Boar (probably).
BIRTH SIGN:
Probably Capricorn.
FOUNDATION:
In 49 BC, by Julius Caesar.
RECRUITMENT AREA:
Italy (probably).
IMPERIAL POSTINGS:
Aquitania, Raetia, Novaesium.
BATTLE HONORS:
Agrippa’s Aquitanian campaign, c. 20 BC.
Tiberius’ Raetian campaign, 15 BC.
WIPED OUT:
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, AD 9.
THE SHARED FATE OF VARUS’ LOST LEGIONS
Ill-starred legions wiped out with Varus in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9 by Arminius and the German tribes. Only the 18th was ever reformed, by Nero, but it performed so badly that it was soon folded into another legion by Vespasian.
Three legions raised at the same time and in similar recruiting grounds, the 17th, 18th and 19th, served under Drusus and Tiberius in their German campaigns. When Tiberius hurried off to Pannonia to deal with the uprising there and in Dalmatia, he left the trio on the Lower Rhine, under the command of the governor, Quintilius Varus.
In the summer of AD 9, Varus led all three legions through the homelands of tribes east of the Rhine that had signed peace treaties with Rome. In September, as Varus was leading his army back to the Rhine, he was lured north, to the Teutoburg Forest, where Arminius, a young Cheruscan prince and prefect of Roman auxiliaries, led an ambush by German tribes that wiped out Varus and his three legions, none of which was commanded at the time by either a legate or a senior tribune.
Germanicus Caesar led a series of campaigns in Germany between AD 14 and 16 in which German tribes were defeated in several battles, but Arminius, or Hermann as he became known in Germany, evaded both death and capture, although his pregnant wife was taken prisoner by the Romans and his son was born and raised in captivity. Germanicus was able to retrieve two of the lost eagles of Varus’ three legions. The third would be recovered from the Cauchi tribe in Germany in AD 41 by a Roman army led by Publius Gabinius, who was granted the title Cauchius by the emperor Claudius for the eagle’s return—such was the importance to the Romans of recovered legion eagle standards.
Augustus retired the numbers of the three destroyed legions and never replaced them. But in the reign of Nero, a curious thing happened. Apparently, for one of his planned campaigns in Parthia or Ethiopia, Nero raised a new 18th Legion. Why he gave it the number 18, which must have been considered unlucky by Roman soldiers after what happened to the original 18th in the Teutoburg Forest, is a mystery. In both his Annals and Histories, Tacitus makes numerous references to this new 18th Legion, which in AD 69 was one of the four legions of the army of the Upper Rhine.
The new 18th was quick to vow allegiance to Vitellius in January that year, but did not send troops to Italy to overthrow Otho as did all the other legions stationed on the Rhine. This was probably because only six of its cohorts were on the Rhine; the remaining four cohorts were in the East. Tacitus wrote that, along with several cohorts of the 3rd Cyrenaica Legion, troops of the 18th Legion were withdrawn from Alexandria by Titus, for his siege of Jerusalem. [Tac., H, V, 1] Josephus also referred to these cohorts from two legions that had been at Alexandria; during the Jerusalem siege they were under of the command of the tribune Eternius Fronto. [Jos., JW, 6, 4, 3]
How these men of the new 18th Legion came to be in Egypt is explained by another passage in Tacitus, which speaks of 2,000 legion recruits from Libya being stranded in Alexandria in AD 66 by the outbreak of the Jewish Revolt in Judea. These recruits, raised to make up four cohorts of the 18th Legion, remained in Alexandria until summoned to Judea by Titus to join his AD 70 assault on Jerusalem.
Once Vespasian came to power, the 18th Legion ceased to be. Its six cohorts on the Rhine had surrendered to the rebels during the Civilis Revolt, but at least its cohorts in Judea had done nothing untoward, so it is likely that the men of the 18th we
re folded into Galba’s 7th to create the 7th Gemina Legion.
Following the Varus disaster and the loss of the 17th, 18th and 19th legions in AD 9, three consecutively numbered legions would never again be permitted by the highly superstitious Romans to serve in the same force.
20TH VALERIA VICTRIX LEGION
LEGIO XX V-V
20th Valorous and Victorious Legion
ORIGIN OF TITLE:
Unknown. Use not attested before AD 90.
EMBLEM:
Boar.
BIRTH SIGN:
Capricorn.
FOUNDATION:
In 49 BC, by Julius Caesar.
RECRUITMENT AREA:
Initially Italy. Later Syria.
IMPERIAL POSTINGS:
Hispania Tarraconensis, Illyria, Burnum, Cologne, Neuss, Camulodunum, Glevum, Viroconium, Deva, Luguvalium.
BATTLE HONORS:
Cantabrian War, 19-29 BC.
Pannonian War, AD 6-9.
Germanicus’ German campaigns, AD 14-16.
Battle of Idistavisus, AD 16.
Battle of the Angrivar Barrier, AD 16.
Invasion of Britain, AD 43.
Boudicca’s Revolt, AD 60-61.
THE POWERFUL CONQUERORS
The “brave and victorious” 20th served under Germanicus in the Panonnian War, then joined him on the Rhine. It took part in the invasion of Britain and was one of the last legions to leave Britain.
Many authors have assumed that the title Valeria Victrix, or Powerful Conquerors, was granted to the 20th Legion in AD 60–61 as a reward for the legion’s participation in the defeat of Boudicca and her rebel army in Britain. No ancient text or inscription supports this theory, and in fact the use of Valeria Victrix in the legion’s title is not attested before AD 90. [Tom., DRA, DRAC]
Furthermore, 3,000 20th Legion men at most took part in the AD 60 Battle on Watling Street, and Tacitus described them as “veterans”; these were apparently members of the Evocati militia, recently retired, and called out under their old 20th Legion standards in the emergency. [Tac., A, XIV, 34]
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