Legions of Rome (28 page)

LEGIO XII FULMINATA

Thundering 12th Legion

ORIGIN OF TITLE:

Adopted unofficially in early imperial period. Officially conferred by Marcus Aurelius, AD 174.

EMBLEM:

Mars’ thunderbolt.

BIRTH SIGN:

Capricorn (probably).

FOUNDATION:

58 BC, by Julius Caesar.

RECRUITMENT AREA:

Originally Cisalpine Gaul.

POSTINGS:

Egypt, Syria, Raphanaea, Laodicea, Jerusalem, Judea, Melitene, the Danube, Melitene.

BATTLE HONORS:

Siege of Jerusalem, AD 70.
Trajan’s Eastern Campaign, AD 114-116.
Defeat of the Alans, AD 135.
Defeat of the Quadi, AD 174.

MARCUS AURELIUS’ THUNDERERS

Famous as the “Thunderer,” a legion that lost its eagle in the First Jewish Revolt but was successful when given a second chance, living up to its name under Marcus Aurelius by winning a battle in a thunderstorm
.

The second legion raised in Italy for Julius Caesar in 58
BC
, the 12th Legion, served him throughout his Gallic campaigns and the Civil War. Both Octavian and Antony had a 12th legion, with Antony’s differentiating itself with the title Antiqua, meaning both “old” and “former,” which suggests that this was Caesar’s original. Meanwhile, Octavian’s 12th Legion took the title Paterna; this can mean “father’s,” referring to Caesar, but it can also mean “native,” implying Italian enrollment.

One of the two units became the sole 12th Legion in Octavian’s new standing army. At what point it acquired its thunderbolt title and emblem is unclear, but it was using both in the first century. Octavian initially posted the unit to Egypt with two other legions. It was in Syria in
AD
14, and based at Raphanaea with the 6th Ferrata during the reign of Claudius.

In
AD
62, commanded by Calavius Sabinus, the legion was summoned to Cappadocia to take part in Paetus’ disastrous Armenian campaign. It seems that many of
the legionaries were nearing the end of their twenty-year enlistment and the legion was well under strength as a result, for Tacitus noted that it was suffering from “numerical feebleness” at that time. [Tac.,
A
,
XV
, 8–10] The men of the legion showed little interest in engaging the Parthians, and their retreat from Armenia did nothing for the unit’s reputation.

The 12th Fulminata’s lack of numbers would explain why, four years later, it was the only almost complete legion in Gallus’
AD
66 march to Jerusalem after the outbreak of the Jewish Revolt. In the bloody retreat to Caesarea the legion lost a number of men but, more importantly, it lost its eagle to the hounding Jewish partisans. It would take a long time for the stain of that loss to fade.

Vespasian refused to use the legion in his operations against the Jews but, with its ranks apparently recently replenished with a new enlistment, Titus employed it in
AD
70 as one of his four complete legions in the Siege of Jerusalem. The 12th Fulminata operated under the command of its tribune throughout this period, legates perhaps refusing to lead a legion that had lost its eagle. Vespasian annexed the kingdom of Cappadocia in
AD
71, making it a new Roman province, and following the 12th’s sound performance in the Jerusalem siege it was posted there as home legion, making its new base at Melitene.

The 12th Fulminata remained at Melitene for the next 300 years, during which it regained its reputation. In
AD
135 it took part in Arrian’s successful campaign against the invading Alans in Lesser Armenia. Several decades later, its eastern stay was interrupted by Marcus Aurelius’ Danube wars against the Alemanni and Quadi Germans, for which it was transferred to the Danube. In a battle in a thunderstorm in
AD
174, it won a key battle for Marcus, for which it was officially awarded the thunderbolt emblem and title.

The Notitia Dignitatum placed the legion in Armenia in the late fourth century with the 15th Apollinaris, the legion with which it had beaten the Alans in
AD
135. Both legions, reduced to border guard units, would have been absorbed into the Byzantine army the following century.

13TH GEMINA LEGION

LEGIO XIII GEMINA

Twinned 13th Legion

ORIGIN OF TITLE:

Caesar’s 13th was combined with another legion by Octavian.

EMBLEM:

Lion.

BIRTH SIGN:

Capricorn (probably).

FOUNDATION:

58 BC, by Julius Caesar.

RECRUITMENT AREA:

Originally Cisalpine Gaul.

POSTINGS:

Illyricum, the Rhine, Raetia, Pannonia, the Rhine, Vindonissa, Poetovio, the Rhine, Poetovio, Dacia, Sarmizegethusa, Apulum, Ratiara, Sirmium.

BATTLE HONORS:

Drusus’ German campaigns, 20-15 BC.
Tiberius’ Raetian campaign, 15 BC.
Pannonian War, AD 6-9.
Germanicus’ German campaigns, AD 14-16.
Battle of Idistavisus, AD 15.
Battle of the Angrivar Barrier, AD 15.
Second Battle of Bedriacum, AD 69.
Battle of Cremona, AD 69.
Battle of Rome, AD 69.
Trajan’s First Dacian War, AD 101-102.
Trajan’s Second Dacian War, AD 105-106.

ALWAYS AT THE FOREFRONT

A legion that once marched for Caesar, then fought for Germanicus in Germany, lost and won in the
AD
69 war of succession, then stormed the Dacian capital for Trajan
.

A 13th Legion is on record as early as 205
BC
. [Livy,
XXIX
, 2, 9] Both Octavian and Antony had 13th legions in their armies, one being the direct descendant of Julius Caesar’s 13th, the legion that crossed the Rubicon with Caesar in January 49
BC
and helped him change Roman history. Octavian created a new 13th Gemina Legion in 30
BC
by combining two existing legions, one of them a 13th; it is possible that both were previous 13ths.

The 13th Gemina Legion was in Raetia by 15
BC
, and on the Rhine in the wake of the Varus disaster in
AD
9. Based at Vindonissa on the Upper Rhine five years later, it served in Germanicus’ victorious German campaigns. By
AD
46 it was stationed at
Poetovio in Pannonia. The legion marched for Otho in April
AD
69, and gave way to Vitellius’ troops in the First Battle of Bedriacum in Italy. Both sides despised the legion for its lack of backbone, and after the defeat of Otho’s army the surrendered 13th Gemina was put to work building wooden amphitheaters at Cremona and Bononia, where Vitellius’ generals would celebrate their victory.

The 13th was then sent back to Poetovio. It was at the 13th’s Poetovio headquarters that generals met in the late summer of
AD
69 to discuss an invasion of Italy to dethrone Vitellius and enthrone Vespasian. The legion subsequently had its revenge over Vitellius’ troops at the Second Battle of Bedriacum, the Battle of Cremona, and the Battle of Rome. During this period, the 13th Gemina’s senior tribune was the father of the later author Suetonius, who was himself born that same year.

Back at Poetovio following the Civilis Revolt, the legion remained in Pannonia until being transferred to Vindonissa in the year
AD
97. Between
AD
101 and 106 it took part in Trajan’s Dacian Wars, and once Dacia was conquered, set up a base at Apulum in the new province. It would frequently have been in action against German, Sarmatian and Goth tribes thereafter.

A Roman military colony was established by Trajan at Sarmizegethusa in Dacia and settled by retiring veterans of the 13th Gemina. Another military colony was created at the Dacian town of Orsova, modern-day Tsierna. The descendants of these legion veterans would have fled Dacia when Aurelian gave up the province in
AD
274, joining a refugee column that trailed the 13th Gemina as it abandoned Apulum and relocated south of the Danube. The legion’s new Moesian base was at Ratiara, the village of Archar in today’s Bulgaria.

By
AD
395 the legion had been split; part was based at Ratiara, part in faraway Egypt. [Not. Dig.]

14TH GEMINA MARTIA VICTRIX LEGION

LEGIO XIIII G-M-V

Mars’ Victorious Twinned 14th.

EMBLEM:

Eagle’s wings and thunderbolts.

BIRTH SIGN:

Capricorn.

ORIGIN OF TITLE:

Germina from combination with existing legion, 30 BC. Remainder disputed.

FOUNDATION:

57 BC, by Julius Caesar.

RECRUITMENT AREA:

Originally Cisalpine Gaul.

IMPERIAL POSTINGS:

Illyricum, Mogontiacum, Viroconium, Lugdunensis, Mogontiacum, Vindobonna, Dacia, Carnuntum.

BATTLE HONORS:

Pannonian War, AD 6-9.
Invasion of Britain, AD 43.
Invasion of Anglesey, Britain, AD 60.
Boudicca’s Revolt, Britain, AD 60-61.
Battle of Bedriacum, Italy, AD 69.
Battle of Old Camp, Germany, AD 70.
Trajan’s Dacian Campaigns, AD 101-102 and 105-106.
Quadi, Iazyge and Marcomanni Wars of Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180.