Legions of Rome (14 page)

1ST MINERVIA LEGION

LEGIO I MINERVIA

1st Minerva Legion

EMBLEM:

Probably a Gorgon’s head, a symbol connected with Minerva and used by Domitian on his armor.

BIRTH SIGN:

Aries (Ram).

FOUNDATION:

AD 82, by Domitian

RECRUITMENT AREA:

The provinces.

POSTINGS:

Bonna, Moesia, Dacia, Bonna, Syria, Bonna, Lugdunum, Bonna.

BATTLE HONORS:

Domitian’s Chattian campaign, AD 83.
Dacian Wars, AD 101–106.
Parthian War, AD 161–166.
Marcus Aurelius’ Danube Campaigns, AD 167–175.
Battle of Lugdunum, AD 197.

NOTABLE COMMANDER:

Publius Aelius Hadrianus, future emperor Hadrian.

DOMITIAN’S DARLINGS FACE ALARIC’S VISIGOTHS

Raised by Domitian for his Chattian War, it fought the Dacians for Domitian and Trajan, then went east for Marcus Aurelius’ second-century campaigns against the Parthians, returning to the Rhine to stem the flow of invaders
.

Domitian had a thirst for military glory, which he gained from his
AD
83 campaign against the Chatti tribe of Germany, then a Roman ally. In
AD
82 he raised a new legion for the campaign, naming it after his favorite deity, the goddess Minerva, and stationing it at Bonna on the Rhine, opposite the Chattian homeland, prior to his surprise attack the following year.

Posted to Moesia by Trajan, the 1st Minervia took part in his Dacian Wars before returning to Bonna. Marcus Aurelius transferred the legion east for his
AD
161–166 operations. It was back at Bonna in
AD
167.

Fighting for Septimius Severus in the civil wars that broke out after he took the throne in
AD
193, the legion played a leading role in Severus’ victory against Albinus at the Battle of Lugdunum in Gaul four years later. From
AD
198 to 211, the 1st Minervia was stationed at Lugdunum. It served there as an occupying force, for the people of Lugdunum had supported Albinus against Severus and would have received harsh treatment from the Minervians. The city never regained its former importance. [Pelle.,
HdL]

The legion returned to Bonna after its Gallic posting. In
AD
401 it was withdrawn from the Rhine for Stilicho’s defense of Italy. Despite Stilicho’s success, the 1st Minervia never returned to the Rhine, and seems to have been destroyed fighting Alaric’s Visigoths following Stilicho’s death.

1ST PARTHICA LEGION

LEGIO I PARTHICA

1st Legion of Parthia

EMBLEM:

Centaur.

BIRTH SIGN:

Probably Capricorn.

FOUNDATION:

AD 197, by Septimus Severus

RECRUITMENT AREA:

Macedonia and Thrace.

POSTINGS:

Parthia, Singara, Constantia.

BATTLE HONORS:

Serverus’ eastern campaigns, AD 197–201.

CREATED TO FIGHT THE PARTHIANS, DOOMED TO FALL TO THE PERSIANS

Raised by Septimius Severus for his eastern campaigns against the Parthians, which brought Mesopotamia into Rome’s empire and brought the plague back to Europe, this legion would go down fighting the Persians at Singara as Roman power eroded
.

The 1st Parthica was one of three legions recruited by Septimius Severus in Macedonia and Thrace in
AD
197, for his Parthian campaign. [Cow.,
RL 161–284
]

The Parthian campaign initially went well, and the 1st Parthica joined in the looting of Ctesiphon in
AD
198. But the succeeding years were characterized by hot marches, grinding sieges and a lack of supplies. By
AD
201 Severus abandoned the enterprise, leaving the 1st Parthica and 3rd Parthica to garrison Mesopotamia, while he traveled to Egypt before returning to Rome. The 1st Parthica built a base at Singara. There the legion served for more than 150 years, fighting off the Parthians and their Persian successors.

The 1st Parthica’s longtime base at Singara fell to King Shapur’s Persian coalition in
AD
360. The legion, or elements of it, then defended Bezabde, which was subsequently also taken by siege by the Persians. According to Roman officer Ammianus, who fought in this war, all the surviving defenders of Bezabde were led off in chains after the city fell. Yet according to the Notitia Dignitatum, the 1st Parthica was still in
existence by the end of the fourth century and stationed at Constantia—Veransehir in present-day Turkey. Either the Notitia was wrong, or its section covering the East was written prior to
AD
360, or part of the legion was not present at the fall of Bezabde, or the legion was reformed following that defeat.

2ND ADIUTRIX PIA FIDELIS LEGION

LEGIO II ADIUTRIX-P-F

2nd Supporter Legion

EMBLEM:

Pegasus.

BIRTH SIGN:

Capricorn

FOUNDATION:

AD 69. Used by Vitellius, but officially commissioned by Vespasian.

RECRUITMENT AREA:

Originally, Gallia Narbonensis/Italy.

POSTINGS:

Ravenna, Noviomagus, Lindum, Deva, Singidunum, Aquincum, Dacia, Aquincum, Syria, Aquincum.

BATTLE HONORS:

Battle of Old Camp, AD 70.
Conquest of Brigantia, AD 71–74.
Agricola’s Welsh Conquest, AD 82–84.
Trajan’s Dacian Wars, AD 101–106.
Marcus Aurelius’ Parthian Campaign, AD 114–166.

NOTABLE SECOND-IN-COMMAND:

Publius Aelius Hadrianus, future emperor Hadrian, AD 95.

MAKER OF EMPERORS

Raised for Vitellius from marines and Gauls, used by Vespasian against Civilis, with a decade of fighting in Britain before stemming the tide on the Danube, this legion would march on Rome to make Septimius Severus emperor
.

One fine day in the summer of
AD
70, 5,250 young men of the new 2nd Adiutrix Legion stood nervously in their centuries beside the River Rhine in armor and helmet, with javelins in one hand and raised shield in the other, waiting for their baptism in battle. To their left and right, the hardened men of other long-established legions also waited silently, rank upon rank. Little more than 500 yards (450 meters) to their front, outside the burned-out ruins of the Castra Vetera (or Old Camp) legionary fortress, tens of thousands of German warriors and rebel Roman auxiliaries were booming out a deep-throated war chant and shaking their weapons at the legionaries.

This legion’s first battle would prove to be a Roman victory, but not before the
2nd Adiutrix’s eager but untried recruits were extricated from trouble by the famous 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion. But where did these recruits come from, and how did they come to be here? Some modern authors state that the 2nd Adiutrix Legion was raised at Ravenna in
AD
69 for Vespasian, and that its men were all marines from the Roman fleet based at Ravenna. Yet the facts do not support this. The origins of the 2nd Adiutrix Legion are much more complicated than that.