Legions of Rome (17 page)

By
AD
9 the legion was on the Rhine, and five years later, commanded by Publius Vitellius, uncle of future emperor Aulus Vitellius, it was playing a leading role in Germanicus Caesar’s German campaigns. In
AD
17, with Germanicus’ recall from the Rhine, the legion was transferred to Argentoratum, today’s Strasbourg.

In
AD
43, it was one of four legions that took part in Claudius’ invasion of Britain. Under the command of the future emperor Vespasian, then a praetor, the 2nd Augusta drove along the south coast of England in a blisteringly efficient drive that overran all opposition, fighting thirty battles, storming twenty Celtic towns, and occupying the Isle of Wight.

The 2nd Augusta halted its advance at Isca Dumnoniorum, capital of the Dunmoni tribe, today’s Exeter. There, it built a 42-acre (17-hectare) permanent camp which became its base for several decades. The legion was there in
AD
60 at the time of the Boudiccan Revolt, when its camp-prefect famously ignored orders to march the legion to the support of the province’s governor, Suetonius Paulinus; the legion’s disgraced camp-prefect later committed suicide.

In
AD
67, elements of the legion transferred to Glevum, today’s Gloucester. Eight years later, the entire legion moved to Isca, modern Caerleon, in Wales, at which time the Exeter base was entirely abandoned. Between
AD
122 and 136, 2nd Augusta vexillations participated in the construction of Hadrian’s Wall across northern Britain.

By
AD
290, the 2nd Augusta had systematically dismantled its base at Isca in Wales and transferred to Carpow in Scotland, where it was needed to deal with the invading Picts and Scots. By around
AD
390, the legion was located at Richborough in Kent. But the unit had been greatly reduced; its base at Richborough was only a tenth of the size it had occupied at Isca, and this unit—renowned for its exploits under Augustus, Germanicus and Vespasian—ended its days reduced to a small frontier guard unit under the command of the Count of the Saxon Shore.

2ND ITALICA LEGION

LEGIO II ITALICA

2nd Italian Legion

EMBLEM:

She-wolf and twins.

BIRTH SIGN:

Capricorn.

FOUNDATION:

In Italy, by Marcus Aurelius, c. AD 165.

RECRUITMENT AREA:

Originally Italy.

POSTINGS:

Aquileia, Locica, Albing, Lauriacum.

BATTLE HONORS:

Relief of Aquileia, AD 169.
Marcus Aurelius’ German Wars, AD 165–175.

FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL, NOT GLORY

Raised by Marcus Aurelius in Italy for his wars against the Germans, it would spend its career fighting on the Danube
.

As indicated by its Capricorn birth sign and numismatic evidence, the 2nd Italica Legion was founded in Italy by Marcus Aurelius during the winter of
AD
164–165, when German tribes were storming across the Danube into Pannonia, Dalmatia and even into northern Italy. The legion’s emblem, the she-wolf and twins, reflects the fact that it was born at the same time and in the same place as its brother unit the 3rd Italica.

The 2nd Italica was first based at Aquileia in northeastern Italy, where it was to be joined by the 3rd Italica in resisting a German siege. In the subsequent years of hectic battles against German tribes from north of the Danube, the 2nd Italica was regularly on the move. It was at Locica in Dalmatia, near today’s Celje in Slovenia, until
AD
172, before being moved to Albing in the province of Noricum. By
AD
205, in the reign of Septimius Severus, it had relocated within Noricum to Lauriacum, modern-day Lorch in Austria, having left its base at Albing unfinished.

There at Lauriacum the 2nd Italica stayed for the next century, forever fighting barbarian invasion. By the time of the Notitia Dignitatum, sporting a four-spoked wheel as its emblem, the 2nd Italica had become one of thirty-two comitatense legions. Under the overall command of the Duke of Pannonia and Noricum Ripensis, it had been split into three sub-units, each commanded by a prefect. Soon it would be overwhelmed by the Goths, the Sarmatians and the Huns.

2ND PARTHICA LEGION

LEGIO II PARTHICA

2nd Parthian Legion

EMBLEM:

Centaur.

BIRTH SIGN:

Capricorn (probably).

FOUNDATION:

By Septimus Severus, AD 197.

RECRUITMENT AREA:

Originally, Macedonia and Thrace.

POSTINGS:

Parthia, Alba, Apamea, Parthia, Alba, Bezabde, Mesopotamia.

BATTLE HONORS:

Servers’ Parthian campaign, AD 197–201.
Carcalla’s Parthian campaign, AD 215–218.
Battle of Nisibis, AD 217.

SEVERUS’ GUARDIANS, MAXIMINUS’ ASSASSINS

Raised for Severus’ Parthian campaigns, the first imperial legion based permanently in Italy, it would be banished to the East by Constantine the Great, where it would hold 100,000 Persians at bay for seventy-three days at Amida in its last great battle
.

Rome’s legions suffered extensive casualties in Marcus Aurelius’ wars against the Germans along the Danube and against the Parthians in the East. So Septimius Severus raised three new legions for his invasion of Parthia in
AD
195. Their recruiting grounds were in Macedonia and Thrace, and all took the centaur as their emblem.

Severus’ Parthian campaigns, although they resulted in the storming of the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon, achieved little. Severus returned to Rome after sightseeing in Egypt, leaving the 1st Parthica and 3rd Parthica legions to garrison Mesopotamia. He took the 2nd Parthica back to Italy with him. Severus had replaced the previous Praetorian Guard with men from the legions, after the previous Praetorians had murdered Pertinax and Julianus, his predecessors. But still he did not feel secure at the capital without a force, ready to hand, on which he could depend. Insurance, if you will. The 2nd Parthica Legion, having performed loyally and bravely for Severus against the Parthians, was chosen for this role.

The 2nd Parthica became the first imperial legion to be permanently based in Italy. Severus located it at Alba Longa, just 12 miles south of Rome, less than three hours’ march away if he needed them urgently. The base of the 2nd Parthica Legion
at Alba was built by the legion on the Via Appia, beside a large villa that had been erected by Domitian late in the first century.

The Rotonda, a circular nymphaeum that was part of Domitian’s villa, was converted into a bathhouse for the officers of the legion, and incorporated into the legion complex. While most of the legion base has all but disappeared, the bathhouse building has survived to the present day as the church of St. Maria della Rotonda.

A larger baths complex, the Baths of Cellomaio, was built for the legion’s rank and file by Severus’ son and successor Caracalla. It stood just across the road from the camp’s main gate. For the entertainment of legionaries, locals and visiting members of the imperial court, an amphitheater capable of seating 16,000 spectators was built into a rocky hillside just to the north of the base.

The commander of the 2nd Parthica in
AD
217 was Aelius Decius Triccianus, who ran the legion with a firm hand. Triccianus had started his military career as a common soldier with a legion in Pannonia, where his duties had included acting as sentry at the door of the provincial governor. By
AD
218, the emperor Macrinus had appointed Triccianus governor of Pannonia, enabling him to return to the palace that he had once guarded, this time as its gubernatorial occupant. [Dio,
LXXX
, 5]

Either the entire legion or elements from it were soon sent back to the East. Gravestones of men of the 2nd Parthica Legion and their family members found at Apamea show that cohorts of the legion used that city as their winter quarters over an extended period. One such gravestone was erected by 2nd Parthica centurion Probius Sanctus for his “incomparable” 28-year-old wife. [
AE
1993, 1597]

Shipped to Syria for Caracalla’s eastern campaign, cohorts of the legion took part in the Battle of Nisibis against the Persians in
AD
217. These 2nd Parthica troops
remained in Apamea following Caracalla’s murder; it was there that his successor Macrinus found them in the summer of
AD
218. The legionaries, and their family members, returned to the Alban Mount.

In
AD
238, the 2nd Parthica was in Pannonia. Having campaigned with the emperor Maximinus against the Germans and Sarmatians, the legion was preparing to go against the Goths. When news reached Pannonia that the Senate had dethroned Maximinus and recognized Gordian I, governor of Africa, and his son Gordian II as co-emperors, after leading citizens of Africa had declared that pair emperors, Maximinus led his legions, including the 2nd Parthica, into Italy to reassert his control. Meanwhile, in Africa, the resident 3rd Augusta Legion, which remained loyal to Maximinus, killed Gordian II and forced Gordian I to commit suicide. In response, the Senate proclaimed two senators as co-emperors in opposition to Maximinus: Pupienus Maximus and Balbinus. After Maximinus arrived outside Aquileia, which opposed him, he began a siege of that city.

The 2nd Parthica Legion had lost faith in their emperor, and its troops were fearful for their loved ones at Alba, in senatorial territory. During a break in the fighting outside Aquileia, men from the 2nd Parthica combined with Praetorian guardsmen to murder Maximinus and his son Maximus, then killed the prefect of the Praetorian Guard and the emperor’s closest advisers. Soon, the Praetorian Guard murdered both Pupienus and Balbinus, and Gordian I’s teenage grandson Gordian III came to throne. The 2nd Parthica returned to Alba, honored by the new emperor.