Legions of Rome (21 page)

4TH FLAVIA FELIX LEGION

LEGIO IIII FLAVIA-F

4th Fortunate Flavian Legion

EMBLEM:

Lion.

BIRTH SIGN:

Capricorn (probably).

FOUNDATION:

Founded by Vespasian in AD 70 to replace the abolished 4th Macedonica.

RECRUITMENT AREA:

Originally, probably Dalmatia.

POSTINGS:

Burnum, Singidunum, Dacia, Singidunum.

BATTLE HONORS:

Trajan’s Dacian Wars, AD 101–106.

BECOMING VESPASIAN’S LIONS

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
.

After the disbanding of the disgraced 4th Macedonica Legion in
AD
70, Vespasian reformed the unit as the 4th Flavia Felix Legion, giving the unit his family name of Flavia and the emblem of a lion, a symbol associated with Vespasian’s favorite deity, Hercules. The “Felix” title, denoting imperial favor, was also applied by emperors to various military colonies founded by them.

With much to prove in the wake of the shaming performance of the 4th Macedonica during the Civilis Revolt, the new 4th Flavia Felix Legion marched to Burnum, capital of the province of Dalmatia, where it had taken up residence by the end of
AD
70.

By
AD
85 the legion had been transferred to Moesia. Its base was at Singidunum, modern Belgrade in Serbia, at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. The 4th Flavia would have been involved in the fighting with the Alemanni Germans and Dacians in Moesia and Pannonia during the reign of Domitian, and during the reign of Trajan it took part in his invasions of Dacia which ultimately made the kingdom a province of Rome.

The legion continued to be based at Singidunum for the next 200 years, after which it disappeared from history.

4TH SCYTHICA LEGION

LEGIO IIII SCYTHICA

4th Scythian Legion

EMBLEM:

Bull.

BIRTH SIGN:

Capricorn.

ORIGIN OF TITLE:

Adopted after defeating the Bastarnae, a Scythian tribe, 29 BC.

FOUNDATION:

Stems from a late republican legion of Pompey the Great.

RECRUITMENT AREA:

Originally Italy, then Spain.

POSTINGS:

Macedonia, Moesia, Zeugma, Balkis, Zeugma, Sura.

BATTLE HONORS:

Defeat of the Bastarnae, 29 BC.
Jewish Revolt, AD 66.
Trajan’s Eastern Campaigns, AD 114–116.

NOTABLE COMMANDER:

Septimus Severus, future emperor, AD 181–183.

EARLY SUCCESS PROVES HARD TO EMULATE

Winning its title against Scythian invaders of Moesia and Macedonia early in Augustus’ reign, it would become a bulwark of the Euphrates defense line
.

Legions with the number
IIII
were traditionally raised in Italy. By the time of Pompey the Great this legion was stationed in Spain. It seems to have fought for Pompey against Caesar in eastern Spain, and surrendered to Caesar there in 49
BC
. Cohorts of the legion are believed to have then escaped to Greece with Afranius (some of the “Spanish cohorts” referred to at Pharsalus by Caesar), then escaped after Pharsalus to North Africa, where the depleted legion is known to have taken part at the Battle of Thapsus—with its ranks augmented by slave recruits, to the disgust of the legionaries—finally surrendering after the defeat of republican forces there.

Octavian subsequently raised a new 4th Legion, probably using some of Pompey’s former men as its core. There were 4th legions in the armies of both Octavian and Antony at the time of the 31
BC
Battle of Actium, and in 30
BC
Octavian posted Antony’s former legion, now calling itself the 4th Macedonica, to Spain, while he sent the second 4th Legion to Macedonia, where it would be joined by the 5th and 10th legions.

In Macedonia and Moesia in 29
BC
, under the province’s ambitious new governor, Marcus Licinius Crassus (the grandson of Crassus the triumvir who had perished with his army at Carrhae in 53
BC
), the legion destroyed the invading Bastarnae, a Scythian tribe, during a series of battles. For this comprehensive victory, Crassus was voted a Triumph by the Senate, and Octavian was hailed imperator. Officially, or unofficially, the 4th Legion adopted the title 4th Scythica following its defeat of these Scythians, by which title it was known for the rest of its days.

By
AD
9 the legion was stationed in Moesia, and over the next half century it moved between Moesia and Macedonia. By
AD
62, the 4th Scythica Legion had been shipped to Syria, to take part in the push into Armenia by Caesennius Paetus. The legion landed at Laodicea, and, commanded by Funisulanus Vettonianus, was led into Armenia by Paetus, together with the 12th Fulminata Legion.

Several forts were taken, “and some glory as well as plunder” gained. [Tac.,
A
,
XV
, 8] But the dilatory Paetus allowed his camp at Rhandeia in Armenia to be surrounded and besieged by the army of the Parthian king Vologases. Months later, with his starving troops reluctant to go on the offensive, Paetus agreed to humiliating terms, then led his bedraggled legions from Armenia, leaving behind their baggage and heavy equipment for the enemy.

Rome did not forgive this poor performance. The 4th Scythica was posted to remote Zeugma on the Euphrates, today’s Balkis in Syria. There it would remain for hundreds of years. In
AD
66, following the outbreak of the Jewish Revolt, the legion contributed several cohorts to the army led to Jerusalem by Cestius Gallus, which subsequently retreated all the way to Caesarea. Again the 4th Scythica was associated with defeat, and the subsequent Roman commanders against the Jews, Vespasian and then his son Titus, ignored the legion when selecting units for the counter-offensives that finally terminated the revolt.

The legion also contributed cohorts to the Roman operations that put down the Second Jewish Revolt of
AD
132–135. In
AD
218, a centurion of the 4th Scythica captured the 10-year-old son of the deposed emperor Macrinus when the boy arrived at Zeugma en route to seeking asylum with the Parthians following the defeat of his father by Elagabalus.

By the late fourth century, the 4th Scythica legion was shown in the Notitia Dignitatum still based in Syria, but at Sura.

5TH ALAUDAE LEGION

LEGIO V ALAUDAE

5th Crested Larks Legion

EMBLEM:

Elephants.

BIRTH SIGN:

Cancer (possibly).

FOUNDATION:

The 5th Legion was founded for Julius Caesar in 48 BC in Spain. Alaudae auxiliaries were raised in Transalpine Gaul in 52 BC, formed into a legion by 43 BC, and later folded into the 5th.

RECRUITMENT AREA:

The 5th originally in Further Spain; the Alaudae originally in Transalpine Gaul.

POSTINGS:

Hispania Tarraconensis, Germania, Vetera, Dacia.

BATTLE HONORS:

Germanicus’ German campaigns, AD 14–16.

A HISTORY OF DISASTER:

Lost its eagle to the Germans in 16 BC.
Wiped out by the Dacians in AD 86.

FATED TO FAIL

From favor under Julius Caesar and carrying the elephant emblem for its victory at Thapsus, it would lose its eagle on the Rhine in 15
BC
and be wiped out by the Dacians during Domitian’s reign
.

In 185
BC
, the Roman Republic had a 5th Legion serving in Spain [Livy,
XXXIX
, 30, 12] where Keppie suggests legions 5 to 10 were always stationed. [Kepp.,
MRA
, 2] In all probability a 5th legion was one of the unidentified Pompeian legions that surrendered to Caesar in Nearer Spain in 49
BC
. In the following year, on Caesar’s orders, his governor of Further Spain, Quintus Cassius Longinus, “enrolled a new legion, the 5th” [Caes.,
CW
,
IV
, 50], the new legion seemingly being enrolled in the recruiting grounds of Pompey’s disbanded 5th.