Legio XXII Primigenia

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Brick stamp of the Legion, exhibited in the Saalburg Museum Bad Homburg vdH

The Legio XXII Primigenia was a legion of the Roman army that was probably established in AD 39. Reports about the Legion in Mogontiacum (Mainz) exist until the 4th century. Legion symbols were a Capricorn (mythological figure, half ibex, half fish) and the demigod Hercules . The name Primigenia (Latin: the original) probably represents a reference to a manifestation of the goddess Fortuna - Fortuna Primigenia, worshiped in the main shrine in Praeneste .

Legion history

Julian-Claudian dynasty

The Legio XXII Primigenia was set up together with the Legio XV Primigenia of Caligula in 39 for his campaign into the unoccupied Germania . First, it strengthened the Legio XIIII Gemina and Legio XVI Gallica in the province of Germania superior with its sister legion and the Legio IV Macedonica . A list is also possible in 42, when Claudius needed more troops for his invasion of Britain. However, the excavation under Caligula is more likely.

In 41 the Lower Germanic army under Aulus Gabinius Secundus defeated the Cauchi ( Chauken ). The recovery of the last legionary eagle that had been there since the defeat in the Varus Battle (9 AD) was considered so important that Gabinius was allowed to use the nickname "Cauchius". "Gabinio Secundo Cauchis gente Germanica superatis cognomen Cauchius usurpare concessit".

From the year 43 the XXII Primigenia was stationed in Mogontiacum (Mainz). In the spring of 68, Lucius Verginius Rufus , the governor of Upper Germany, and his troops put down the rebellion of Gaius Iulius Vindex in the battle of Vesontio . He rejected the imperial crown, which his soldiers had offered him several times, on the grounds that he would only recognize an emperor elected by the Senate. An evaluation of the Mainz inscriptions between 43 and 70 AD showed that 62% of the legionnaires were of Italian, 33% Gallic and 5% Noric origin.

Four imperial year and Flavian dynasty

Emblem of the Legio XXII Primigenia Pia Fidelis (historicizing floor mosaic Mainz)

On January 1, 69, the Rhine Legions rebelled against Galba , whereby the XXII Primigenia initially hesitated, but then together with the IV Macedonica tore down the images of the emperors in Mainz. Four centurions who met them were chained. In the year of the four emperors , the Legion supported the elevation of Vitellius to emperor. A large part of the legion marched with the Aquila (legionary eagle) to Italy. Vitellius' troops defeated the legions of Otho ruling Rome in the First Battle of Bedriacum on April 14, 69 and marched without further resistance to Rome, where the Senate accepted Vitellius as emperor. In the Second Battle of Bedriacum on October 24, 69 Vitellius was decisively defeated by Vespasian . Then the Legio XXII Primigenia was briefly stationed in Pannonia on the Danube, probably in Carnuntum (Petronell).

The parts of the legion that remained in Lower Germany were involved in the Batavian uprising . The Legio XXII Primigenia was marched from Mogontiacum under the command of Gaius Dillius Vocula to relieve the Legions XV Primigenia and V Alaudae, which were enclosed in Vetera (Xanten) . The Legion united in Novaesium ( Neuss ) with the Legio XVI Gallica , but did not dare to penetrate further into the area around the beleaguered Vetera , but set up camp near Gelduba (Krefeld-Gellep). In 70 the Legion was relocated to Vetera near Xanten , where it stayed for two decades.

After the rebellion of Lucius Antonius Saturninus was suppressed, Domitian gave the Legion the title Pia Fidelis ("dutiful and faithful"), or Pia Fidelis Domitiana, in 89 . She returned to Mainz around the year 92. There, the Legio XXII Primigenia Pia Fidelis was the only legion to occupy the legion camp until the middle of the 4th century, possibly in parts until the beginning of the 5th century. Their task was to monitor the Rhine border and parts of the Limes . After Domitian's death and his " damnatio memoriae " in 96 AD, the name addition Domitiana was deleted. The future emperor Hadrian was one of their military tribunes from 97 to 98/99 . In Aquae Mattiacorum ( Wiesbaden ) the legions I Adiutrix , XIIII Gemina , XXI Rapax and XXII Primigenia expanded the thermal baths in Flavian times .

Adoptive Emperor and Antonine Dynasty

During the Dacian wars (101-106) Emperor Trajan , the Legio I Minervia in action was represented by a vexillation of the Legio XXII Primigenia in the Bonna camp .

A few dedicatory inscriptions from the Brohl valley document the work of the Legion in the local quarries. Under Emperor Hadrian (117-138), a 1,000-strong vexillation of Legio VII Gemina , Legio VIII Augusta and Legio XXII Primigenia was relocated to Britain for the construction of Hadrian's Wall . Although the Legion had its headquarters in Mainz , Vexillations took part in 140 in the construction of the Antonine Wall in Scotland and in the Parthian War of Lucius Verus (162-166). Around 170 the Legio led a successful campaign against the Chatti under their legate Didius Julianus . From Commodus (180-192) the Legion was probably given the nickname Commodiana . However, the reading of the heavily weathered inscription is not certain.

Second year of the four emperors and Severer

IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG, LEG XXII PRI, TR P COS
The Emperor Caesar Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax Augustus had this coin minted in honor of Legio XXII Primigenia .

In the civil war 196/197 the Legion fought on the side of the emperor Septimius Severus against the usurper Clodius Albinus in the battles at Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Lugdunum ( Lyon ). Since 197 a vexillation of legionaries of the XXX Ulpia Victrix , I Minervia , VIII Augusta and XXII Primigenia was stationed in Lugdunum , the capital of the three Gaulish provinces. In 197/198 Claudius Gallus led a vexillation of the four Germanic legions (I Minervia, VIII Augusta, XXII Primigenia and XXX Ulpia) as praepositus in the Second Severan Parthian War. In 208 the Legion probably accompanied Septimius to Britain. In the early 3rd century the Legion was named Legio XXII Primigenia Pia Fidelis Severiana . Caius Iulius Septimius Castinus, the legate of Legio I Minervia and later governor in Pannonia inferior (208-211) and Dacia (214 / 215-217), led as Dux around 207/208 a vexillation of the four Germanic legions VIII Augusta, XXII Primigenia , I Minervia and XXX Ulpia Victrix against rioters and rebels in Gaul and Hispania .

Standard of the 22nd Legion, Kriemhildenstuhl Quarry

During the construction period of the Upper German Limes, the Legion operated brickworks, including in Nied bei Höchst and Rheinzabern ( Tabernae ). Around 200 the Legion operated the Brunhildisstuhl and Kriemhildenstuhl quarries near Bad Dürkheim . In the quarry there are still numerous inscriptions and images of field symbols. Probably for construction work on the Limes to 214 n. Chr., Some soldiers of the Legion were reassigned to fell trees, then the formula agen [syndicate in li] / gna (riis) indicates that on a number of dedicatory inscriptions on Main Limes found.

Under Caracalla (actually Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus 211-217), the Legion took on an important role in a campaign against the Alemanni in 213 . She was given the nickname Legio XXII Primigenia Pia Fidelis Antoniniana . Under Severus Alexander (222-235), the Legion took part in the campaigns against the Sassanids around 235, for which they received the name Legio XXII Primigenia Alexandriana Pia Fidelis . The Legion was still during the attacks of the Alemanni by 233 in Mainz stationed . From among their soldiers came the leader of the murderers of the emperor Severus Alexander, Maximinus Thrax , when he was in Mainz in preparation for a campaign against the Alemanni.

Soldier emperor

In the years 247/248 the Legion was deployed against the Germanic Carps in Dacia (Romania) under the leadership of Philippus Arabs and the senator and later Emperor Decius . You built there z. B. the city wall of Romula (Dobrosloveni) and could be proven by inscriptions in Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa and Dierna ( Orșova ).

According to coin finds, the legion of Emperor Gallienus (253-268) received the honorable nicknames Pia VI Fidelis VI (six times dutiful and six times loyal) and Pia VII Fidelis VII , probably for battles against the usurper Postumus (260-269) . In 269 Laelianus , the commander of the Legion, appointed himself emperor of the Imperium Galliarum . The rebellion lasted only 42 days before he was executed, presumably by his own soldiers. Emperor Aurelian was able to reintegrate the split off part of the empire into the empire in 274.

Late antiquity

Brick stamp P (rimigenia) P (ia) F (idelis) from Jagsthausen

Around the year 300 the legion was probably split into several vexillations, which, in addition to the main camp in Mogontiacum, had their camps probably in Worms , Speyer and Bingen . A vexillation of the legion was presumably assigned to Carausius between 285 and 290 for Maximian's campaign against the rebellious Bagauden Gaul or to fight pirates .

Under Constantine the Great (306–337) the Rhine border was further fortified. In addition to the expansion of the Castellum Mattiacorum ( Mainz-Kastel ), the XXII. also used in the repair of the thermal baths of Aquae Mattiacorum ( Wiesbaden ). The nickname Constantiana Victrix (the Constantinian victorious) is documented. Brickworks operated the XXII. z. B. in Rheinzabern and Worms.

The Castrum Divitium (also Castrum Divitensium , Fort Deutz ) on the right bank of the Rhine was built as a bridgehead to secure the border by the Legio XXII Primigenia , the Divitenses , who were assigned to build. The construction of the elaborately built fort began around the year 308 at the same time as the Roman bridge. It was completed after 312, but probably 315.

According to some archaeologists, the XXII Primigenia was wiped out in the costly battle of Mursa in 351 and was not re-erected afterwards, as no further evidence or activities of the legion have survived since it was mentioned in Constantinian times. It is possible that units of the Legion that remained in Mogontiacum were absorbed into the later mentioned milites Armigeri , which remained under the command of the Dux Mogontiacensis as a military garrison in Mogontiacum until the 5th century . The Alemannic Gau King Rando attacked the city of Mogontiacum in 368, when a festival of the Christian religion (probably Easter or Pentecost ) was being celebrated. Since the garrison troops were on a campaign with Emperor Valentinian I , Rando was able to rob people and household goods without hindrance. As a result, towns near the border were fortified and several new forts (e.g. Altrip ) were built.

literature

Web links

Commons : Legio XXII Primigenia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b Maureen Carroll: Spirits of the dead: Roman funerary commemoration in Western Europe , Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-19-929107-1 , p. 211
  2. ↑ Lawrence JF Keppie: Legions and veterans: Roman army papers 1971-2000 (Mavors. Roman Army Researches Volume 12), Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 978-3-515-07744-6 , pp. 37 and 128.
  3. ^ Suetonius : Claud. 24.3).
  4. ↑ Gerold Walser (Ed.): Römische Insschriftkunst , Steiner, 1993, ISBN 978-3-515-06065-3 , p. 200.
  5. ↑ Cassius Dio 63.23.1-63.24.4.
  6. ^ Plutarch , Galba 10
  7. ↑ Maureen Carroll: Spirits of the dead: Roman funerary commemoration in Western Europe , Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-19-929107-1 , p. 214
  8. ↑ Tacitus, Historien 1, 55–56.
  9. ↑ Gerold Walser (Ed.): Studies on the history of the Alps in ancient times (Historia - individual writings Volume 86), Steiner, 1994, ISBN 978-3-515-06498-9 , p. 56; see: Barbara Levick , Kenneth Wellesley: The year of the four emperors , 3rd edition, (Series: Roman Imperial Biographies), Routledge, London 2000, ISBN 0-203-46899-6 , Aquila: p. 102, Carnuntum: P. 153.
  10. ↑ Tacitus , Hist. IV 26
  11. ↑ Hélène Walter (ed.): La sculpture d'époque romaine dans le nord et l'est des Gaules et dans les Regions Avoisenantes , Presses Univ. Franche-Comté, 2000, ISBN 2913322808 , p. 64.
  12. ↑ CIL 13,6357 .
  13. ↑ a b Gerold Walser (Ed.): Römische Insschriftkunst , Steiner, 1993, ISBN 978-3-515-06065-3 , p. 72.
  14. ^ Jürgen Oldenstein : Mogontiacum. In: Heinrich Beck , Dieter Geuenich and Heiko Steuer (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Volume 20: Metuonis - Scientific Methods in Archeology. P. 151.
  15. ↑ a b c d e Jona Lendering: Legio XXII Primigenia . In: Livius.org (English).
  16. ^ Edward Togo Salmon: History of the Roman World from 30 BC to AD 138 , Routledge, 1968, ISBN 978-041504504-9 , p. 290.
  17. ↑ Gabriele Wesch-Klein : Social aspects of the Roman army in the imperial era , Steiner, Stuttgart 1998 (= Habil. Heidelberg 1995). ISBN 3-515-07300-0 , p. 86.
  18. ↑ Oliver Stoll : Römisches Heer und Gesellschaft , Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07817-7 , p. 311.
  19. ^ Alfred Michael Hirt: Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World: Organizational Aspects 27 BC-AD 235 (Oxford Classical Monographs), Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-019957287-8 , p. 171.
  20. ^ Sheppard Sunderland Frere: Britannia: a history of Roman Britain , 3rd ed., Extensively rev. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London / New York 1987, ISBN 0710212151 , p. 123.
  21. ^ Adolf Lippold , Gerhard Waldherr : The Historia Augusta. A collection of Roman emperors' biographies from the time of Constantine . Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07272-1 , p. 214.
  22. ↑ HD020723 , see: CIL 13, 6728 .
  23. ↑ a b c Gerold Walser (Ed.): Römische Insschriftkunst , Steiner, 1993, ISBN 978-3-515-06065-3 , p. 202.
  24. ↑ Gerold Walser : Römische Insschriftkunst , Steiner, 2nd verb. Edition 1993, ISBN 978-3-515-06065-3 , p. 208
  25. ^ AE 1957, 123
  26. ↑ CIL 13, 6442 .
  27. ↑ CIL 3, 10471 , CIL 3, 10472 , CIL 3, 10473 .
  28. ^ Emil Ritterling : Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix . In: RE Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1821-1829.
  29. ^ Alfred Michael Hirt: Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World: Organizational Aspects 27 BC-AD 235 (Oxford Classical Monographs), Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-019957287-8 , p. 175.
  30. ^ Dietwulf Baatz : The Romans in Hesse. 1989 p. 103; Stockstadt Castle : CIL 13, 11781 ; Fort Obernburg : CIL 13, 6623 as well as Helmut Castritius , Manfred Clauss , Leo Hefner: The Roman stone inscriptions of the Odenwald (RSO) . Contributions to the investigation of the Odenwald 2, 1977, pp. 237-308. No. 28; Trennfurt Fort : AE 1899, 194 .
  31. ↑ CIL 13, 4630 , CIL 13, 6762 , CIL 13, 6992 .
  32. ↑ CIL 12, 144 .
  33. ↑ Ioan Piso: On the Northern Frontier of the Roman Empire (Heidelberger Althistorische Contributions und Epigraphische Studien (HABES) Volume 41), Steiner, 2005, ISBN 978-3-515-08729-2 , p. 56.
  34. ↑ Ralf Scharf: The Dux Mogontiacensis and the Notitia Dignitatum. A study of late antique border defense . Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , supplementary volumes, de Gruyter, 2005, ISBN 978-3110188356 , pp. 14-15.
  35. ^ PJ Casey: Carausius and Allectus: the British usurpers , Routledge, 1994, ISBN 978-0713471700 , p. 90; see: Anthony Richard Birley: The Roman government of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-019925237-4 , pp. 372-373.
  36. ^ Pat Southern , Karen R. Dixon: The late Roman army , Routledge, 1996, ISBN 978-0-7134-7047-5 , p. 33.
  37. ↑ Ralf Scharf: The Dux Mogontiacensis and the Notitia Dignitatum. A study of late antique border defense . Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , supplementary volumes, de Gruyter, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3-11-018835-6 , p. 185.
  38. ↑ CIL 13, 8502 .
  39. ↑ Carl Dietmar, Werner Jung, Small illustrated history of the city of Cologne , 2001, p. 30.
  40. ^ Peter Fuchs, Chronicle of the History of the City of Cologne , Volume 1, 1990, p. 57.
  41. ↑ On the source dispute about the year of construction: Dieter Geuenich, Die Franken und die Alemannen bis zur “Schlacht bei Zülpich” (496/97) , 1998, ISBN 3110158264 , p. 663 ( excerpts from Google book search ).
  42. ↑ so Thomas Fischer in: The Romans in Germany. , P. 155 or Marion Witteyer : Mogontiacum - military base and administrative center. The archaeological evidence. In: Franz Dumont (ed.), Ferdinand Scherf and Friedrich Schütz: Mainz - The history of the city. P. 1051.
  43. ^ Jürgen Oldenstein: Mogontiacum. In: Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich and Heiko Steuer (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Volume 20: Metuonis - Scientific Methods in Archeology. P. 151.
  44. ↑ Ralf Scharf: The Dux Mogontiacensis and the Notitia Dignitatum. A study of late antique border defense . Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , supplementary volumes, de Gruyter, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3-11-018835-6 , pp. 36–38; see: Ammianus Marcellinus : Roman History 27,10,1-2