Legions of Rome

by Stephen Dando-Collins

  A little later, in the Carpathian Mountains, snow was thick on the ground as Roman cavalry of the 2nd Pannonian Ala closed in on a party of riders that had paused in a forest clearing. As revealed by his later gravestone, decurion Tiberius Claudius Maximus from Philippi in Macedonia, formerly with the 7th Claudia Legion, led a Pannonian Horse detachment that caught up with King Decebalus. Outside Porolissum, not far from where the borders of Romania, Moldova and the Ukraine meet today, the elated troopers encircled the exhausted king and his party.

  Decebalus had dismounted. Decurion Maximus urged his horse forward, aiming to make the king a prisoner. Decebalus reached to the sheath at his waist and drew a curved dagger. In one quick movement, the king drew the blade across his neck, and slit his own throat. Maximus quickly dismounted, but the king, lying in the snow, drowning in his own blood, could not be kept alive. Trajan’s Column shows one of the troopers on horseback surrounding the Dacian party making an obscene two-fingered gesture toward the dying monarch. With Decebalus dead, Maximus drew his long cavalry sword, and with carefully aimed blows, severed the king’s head and right arm.

  The decurion and his men took Decebalus’ remains south to Trajan, who rewarded the cavalry officer with a golden torque, the second such decoration that Maximus received during his career, which would also include service for the emperor in Parthia. The head of King Decebalus was subsequently taken to Rome and displayed on the Gemonian Stairs—proof positive to the Roman people that their great enemy of the past twenty-one years had finally been eliminated, that the Dacian wars were at last at an end, and that the legionaries who had perished at the hands of Decebalus and the Sarmatians had been avenged.

  Dacia was now a Roman province. Trajan left the 13th Gemina Legion building a base for itself at Apulum in northern Dacia, and numerous auxiliary units were stationed throughout conquered Dacian territory. The remainder of the invasion force withdrew to bases south of the Danube. Four legions would now make their homes along the Danube in Moesia in support of the 13th Gemina—the 1st Italica at Novae, the 5th Macedonica at Troesmis, the 7th Claudia at Viminacium and the 11th Claudia at Durosturum.

  The emperor himself set off back to Rome. According to Trajan’s personal physician Crito, Trajan brought 50,000 Dacian prisoners back to Rome, all of whom were put up for auction, creating a significant boost to the Roman slave market. [Carc., III, 3] Trajan sent orders ahead of him for preparations to be made for 123 days of spectacles at the Colosseum; 11,000 animals were to die in the arena during these spectacles, and 10,000 gladiators did battle. [Dio, LXVIII, 15]

  When news of the complete victory of Roman force of arms in Dacia reached Rome ahead of Trajan’s return, Trajan’s friend and client Pliny the Younger dashed off a brief note to him: “May I congratulate you, noble emperor, in my own name and that of the State, on a great and glorious victory in the finest tradition of Rome.” [Pliny, X, 14]

  AD 106

  XLIV. TRAJAN ANNEXES ARABIA

  Eyeing eastern expansion

  Even as he was delivering the knockout blows to King Decebalus in Dacia in AD 105–106, Trajan had his eye on further conquest in the East. The new 2nd Traiana Legion arrived in Syria by the end of AD 105, and with it came orders for the governor of Syria, the propraetor Aulus Cornelius Palma. Orders also went to the prefect commanding the 3rd Cyrenaica Legion based at Alexandria, telling him to prepare to march his legion north.

  In the spring of AD 106, the 3rd Cyrenaica left Alexandria, crossed the Nile, and marched across Egypt, through Judea, and into Syria, where it linked up with propraetor Palma, his gubernatorial bodyguard, and almost certainly the newly arrived 2nd Traiana Legion and detachments from legions based in Syria. Led by Palma, this army marched into the kingdom of Nabataea, in present-day Lebanon. Nabataea, which had its capital at the famed city of Petra, had long been a Roman ally, supplying valued cavalry to the Roman army. Palma annexed it for Trajan, creating the new Roman province of Arabia Petraea.

  As Palma and the other troops returned to Syria, the 3rd Cyrenaica Legion established a new base at Bostra in the new province, as the 2nd Traiana took the 3rd Cyrenaica’s place in Egypt. After Palma returned to Rome from his Syrian posting, Trajan was so pleased with the job he had done in Arabia he appointed him a consul for the second time, in AD 109.

  For the moment, this was the extent of Trajan’s moves in the East. But, the time was not far off when he would set out to achieve what Julius Caesar had planned to do but had never accomplished—the conquest of Parthia.

  CREATING TRAJAN’S COLUMN

  “He set up an enormous column, to serve at once as a monument to himself and as a memorial of his work in the Forum.”

  DIO, Roman Histories, LXVIII, 16

  Between the close of the Second Dacian War in AD 106 and AD 113, a team of artists and sculptors worked on the creation of the most unique war memorial in the world. Standing 125 feet (38 meters) tall, Trajan’s Column is one of the few monuments of ancient Rome to remain almost completely intact in Rome today, with the sculpted marble scenes circling it from bottom to top in a continuous spiral band 800 feet (244 meters) long, telling the story of the emperor Trajan’s Dacian Wars.

  The Column’s creator was probably Apollodorus of Damascus, responsible for the massive bridge across the Danube at Drobeta, as well as Trajan’s new odeum and gymnasium buildings at Rome, and, more famously, Trajan’s Forum, where Trajan’s round Column was to stand. [Dio, lxix, 4] Apollodurus was fond of the curve—his bridge was a series of graceful arches, while Trajan’s Forum is based on two hemicycles of brick.

  Trajan’s Column is hollow. Inside, it measures 12 feet 2 inches (4 meters) across, and in this narrow space a staircase winds to the top. Forty-three small window slits admit a little light to the interior. The curving exterior Parian marble panels, each roughly 4 feet (1.2 meters) high, would have been sculpted in an artist’s studio over several years. The varying quality of the sculpting, from astonishing detail on the fingers and faces of some of the 2,500 figures, to no more than adequate chisel and rasp work on others, shows that a few master craftsmen worked on the project aided by a number of less skilled assistants.

  The craftsmen’s studio was probably in Rome, not far from the chosen site for the Column in the new Forum of Trajan. The staged nature of each scene, and the way that many groups of figures are stepped, with one figure slightly above the other, indicates that models stood in place on a series of tiers in the studio. First, the designer would have consulted with the emperor to determine what Trajan wanted depicted on the Column, and once the hundreds of scenes had been mapped out, the human and animal models would have been brought in. Each panel was designed as a separate unit, with one scene sometimes flowing into the next; while at other times a device such as trees was used as a scene break. The less lifelike backgrounds would have been added later from descriptions or rough sketches drawn from memory or on location by officers who had taken part in the two campaigns.

  Throughout the drafting stage, troops stationed in Rome would have been used as models—primarily men of the Praetorian Guard, which had actually taken part in the campaigns. This is indicated by the fact that most of the emblems on Praetorian and legion shields depicted on the Column are of similar thunderbolt designs. For many years this was taken by historians to mean that by the beginning of the second century all legion shield emblems had standardized on the thunderbolt theme. Designs shown in the later Notitia Dignitatum indicate that this was unlikely. It is more likely that the shield designs we see on the Column represent different cohorts of the Praetorian Guard. Each Praetorian cohort was like a mini legion, and another second-century engraving said to represent men of the Praetorian Guard shows each with different though similar thunderbolt emblems on their shields.

  Artists and sculptors of Roman times were invariably of Greek origin. Those responsible for Trajan’s Column would have had no sensibility of the corporate nature of legion shield emblems, and would have drawn the emblems in
front of them—those of the Praetorian Guard. For cavalry scenes, troopers of the Augustan Singularian Horse, the imperial horse guard at Rome, may have played the part of all the Roman auxiliary cavalry shown on the Column. Singularians would probably have donned captured enemy armor to act the role of Sarmatian cavalry. A detachment of auxiliary light infantry was probably sent to Rome to model for the Column; we see these auxiliaries in various scenes, with the same auxiliary unit shield design often recurring.

  Many, though not all, of the auxiliaries depicted on the Column are clean-shaven, which was untypical of auxiliaries by the second century. Some have mustaches, a Gallic trait. Intriguingly, most of the “legionaries” seen crossing the Danube in an early panel wear full beards, which historians have believed did not become the fashion until the reign of Hadrian, himself a beard-wearer, a decade after the Dacian Wars. Either the Column disproves that theory, or these “legionaries” shown crossing the Danube behind legion standards and in full legionary equipment were auxiliaries modeling the part.

  There are several authentic-looking auxiliary slingers and archers on the Column, and it is likely that a handful of each were sent to Rome to act as models; a troop of Lusius Quietus’ Numidian cavalrymen is depicted, with dreadlocked hair, flowing robes and riding bareback as was the Numidian custom. Imperial slaves were probably used to play the roles of Dacians, using captured Dacian weapons displayed in Rome during Trajan’s AD 103 Triumph.

  The Column was dedicated by Trajan on May 13, AD 113. [Carc., I, 1] By that time, the Column’s panels were all in place, providing their continuous visual narrative. Like the statues of classical times, all the figures and all the scenery on the Column were originally highly painted in lifelike colors—which would wear away over time—and along the length of the spiral, here and there figures on the relief were seen to be holding weapons and implements made from iron, bronze, even silver and gold. When Rome was sacked by the Vandals early in the fifth century, or during later sackings, these were looted, leaving many men on the Column we see today in an empty-handed state.

  As a crowning glory, a bronze Roman eagle was set on top of the Column, which stood in the middle of the Forum courtyard flanked by Trajan’s new Latin and Greek libraries. A series of platforms surrounded it, and it was possible to walk around the Column, climbing from platform to platform, and follow the story of the two wars from bottom to top. There is no record of whether these viewing platforms were open to the public or were reserved for Palatium guests.

  When Trajan died in AD 117 his ashes were placed in the base of the Column. His successor Hadrian had the eagle on the top removed and replaced by a bronze statue of Trajan. During the Middle Ages, the Column was again looted, with locals this time attacking it, and damaging it, to remove the iron pins holding the marble panels in place. In 1588, the Christian Church removed Trajan’s statue, replacing it with the statue of St. Paul seen today.

  AD 113–116

  XLV. TRAJAN’S PARTHIAN WAR

  Empty victories

  “Trajan was wont to make good his threats by his deeds.”

  CASSIUS DIO, Roman Histories, LXVIII, 16

  At his death in 44 BC, Julius Caesar had been days away from leaving Rome to embark on a major military operation—the invasion of Parthia. Over the next 150 years, several emperors seized on the idea of realizing Caesar’s dream of conquering Parthia. In AD 66, Nero was marshaling his forces for an invasion of Parthia when the Jewish Revolt forced him to abort the plan and divert his legions to counter the revolt. With Nero’s death, the Parthian plan died too. It seems that Trajan had also long harbored the desire to become the conqueror of Parthia. Once he had brought Dacia into the Roman Empire and had consolidated the Dacian conquest, he was able to turn his full focus to the East.

  Trajan was presented with an excuse to go to war with the Parthians. The current king of Armenia, Exedares, had been crowned by the Parthian king, Osroes, and had sworn loyalty to Parthia. Traditionally, the emperors of Rome had reserved the right to choose the kings of Armenia. But Trajan had another motive. According to Dio: “His real reason was a desire to win renown.” [LXVIII, 17]

  In AD 113, Trajan gave orders for the legions of the East to prepare for a major campaign the following spring. He also ordered several of his European-based legions to transfer to Syria in preparation for the new campaign. He himself set off to sail to Syria via Greece accompanied by his wife, the empress Plotina, and elements of the Praetorian Guard and Singularian Horse. They traveled aboard ships of the Roman navy’s Misene Fleet from Misenum commanded by fleet prefect Quintus Marcius Turbo, who would later become prefect of the Praetorian Guard under Hadrian. [Starr, App., & Add.] A large part of the fleet remained in the East throughout Trajan’s eastern campaign. [Starr, viii]

  One of the legions sent east for Trajan’s new campaign was the 1st Adiutrix. Founded in AD 68, it would have undergone a new enlistment over the winter of AD 108–109, so by AD 113 its numbers were up and its new recruits were settled and trained. The 1st Adiutrix marched west from Brigetio in Pannonia to the next legion base on the Danube, Carnuntum, and there its column was joined by the 15th Apollinaris Legion. Both legions then marched down to Ravenna in northeastern Italy to board warships of the Ravenna Fleet, which ferried them to Syria.

  The 2nd Traiana Legion, raised by Trajan in AD 105 and sent to the East to support the annexation of Arabia Petraea, came up to Syria for the offensive from its base in Egypt. At the same time, the 3rd Cyrenaica at Bostra in Arabia Petraea prepared its weapons, ammunition and stores for a campaign the following year. In Cappadocia, just to the south of Armenia, the province’s governor Marcus Junius sent word to his two legions, the 12th Fulminata at Melitene and the 16th Flavia at Satala, to be ready to march in the spring.

  Word soon reached the Parthian king that Trajan was heading to the East with an army, and immediately he saw himself as the Roman emperor’s target. By the time that Trajan reached Athens in Greece on his way east, Parthian envoys were awaiting him there. The envoys offered Trajan gifts and, telling him that Osroes had removed Exedares from the Armenian throne, sought a peace agreement. As part of the Parthian peace initiative, King Osroes asked that Trajan authorize him to make his nephew Parthamasiris the new king of Armenia. “The emperor neither accepted the gifts nor returned any answer, either oral or written,” said Dio, “except the statement that friendship is determined by deeds and not words, and that accordingly when he reached Syria he would do all that was proper.” [Dio, lxviii, 31]

  Trajan’s nephew Hadrian had been a consul and governor of Lower Pannonia following the Dacian Wars, but his career had slowed dramatically after that. Hadrian had a great liking for Greek customs, and by AD 112 he was archon, or governor, of Athens, and was no doubt in the city when Trajan arrived there in AD 113 on his way to Syria. It seems that Trajan added Hadrian to his party at the urging of his wife Plotina, who was close to Hadrian, giving him the post of governor of Syria, for Dio wrote that Hadrian “had been assigned to Syria for the Parthian War.” [Dio, lxix, 1]

  After Trajan’s fleets arrived at Laodicea, he and the imperial party spent the winter at Antioch. The facilities at Laodicea were apparently so overburdened by the influx of naval and military personnel that sailors and marines of the Misene Fleet were quartered at the long-deserted quarters of the 10th Fretensis Legion at nearby Cyrrhus. [Starr, Add.; and AE 1955, 225]

  Trajan was joined at Antioch by his lieutenants for the campaign. Chief among these was the Moor Lusius Quietus. Quietus had served Trajan so loyally and effectively throughout the Dacian Wars that the emperor had, over the past seven years, made him a praetor, consul and provincial governor. Quietus was serving as governor of Judea when the emperor arrived in the East. Trajan’s other senior general, the trusted Lucius Appius Maximus, came out from Rome with him. Like Quietus, Maximus had served Trajan well in Dacia. Trajan no longer had the services of tough old Sura, the third of his successful Dacian War generals, who had died a nat
ural death in around AD 108.

  In the spring of AD 114, leaving his wife with Hadrian at Antioch, Trajan launched his eastern offensive; as governor of Syria, Hadrian had the task of ensuring that Trajan’s lines of supply were efficiently maintained. For the first stage of the campaign, Trajan marched his army north to Melitene in Cappadocia. As the army tramped along the Roman highways at a steady 18 miles a day, Trajan neither rode nor was carried in a litter; he marched on foot at the head of his troops, bareheaded. Each day, he personally decided the marching order. [Dio, lxviii, 23]

  By the end of March, Trajan had reached Melitene and added the two Cappadocia-based legions to his column; from there, he swung east, crossing the Euphrates and entering Armenia. [Guey] The summer was still young when Trajan’s troops completed the seizure of southern Armenia, driving a wedge between the Armenians to the south and the forces in the north loyal to Parthamasiris, the nephew of Osroes, whom the Parthian king had proceeded to install on the Armenian throne.

  When Marcus and his army reached the Armenian city of Elegeia, Parthamasiris left the rebuilt Armenian capital, Artaxata, and came to Trajan’s camp seeking an audience. Trajan was seated on a tribunal when the young Parthian prince approached, saluted him, and removed his crown and placed it at Trajan’s feet. Parthamasiris fully expected the Roman emperor to return his crown to him, just as Nero had returned that of Tiridates fifty years before. But Trajan did no such thing. Instead, he sent the prince and the Parthian members of his entourage away under Roman cavalry escort, and told the Armenians in the party to stay right where they were, as they were now his subjects. Soon, Trajan’s legions had brought all of Armenia under Roman control.

  Trajan, after crossing the Tigris river and securing key frontier cities including Nisibis and Batnae, and leaving garrisons at strategic points, marched west to Edessa, modern Urfa in southeast Turkey. Situated on the plain of Haran, the city controlled a strategic hill pass to Mesopotamia and the Parthian heartland. At Edessa, Trajan received various eastern potentates before pushing south through the pass and occupying part of northern Mesopotamia. With the end of the year approaching, Trajan left the army camped in Parthian territory and returned to Syria to winter at Antioch. As he departed the army, he left orders for the legions to fell trees in the forests around Nisibis then use the wood to build collapsible boats for the new year’s campaign in Mesopotamia.