Legio IIII Flavia Felix

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Signum of the Legio IIII Flavia Felix (simplified representation)

The Legio IIII Flavia Felix (also: Legio IV Flavia Felix ) was a legion of the Roman army. It was set up by Emperor Vespasian in 70 and existed until the early 5th century. She owes her nickname Flavia Felix ("happy Flavian") to the victory of the Vespasian family, the Flavians , in the civil war of 69 AD (year of the four emperors ). The Legion wielded a lion as a symbol .

Legion history

Flavian dynasty

Roman fortifications in Singidunum

The Legion was set up in 70 by Emperor Vespasian and consisted mainly of members of the dissolved Legio IV Macedonica . The Legion was initially stationed in Burnum ( Kistanje ) in the province of Dalmatia , where it replaced the Legio XI Claudia . Domitian (81-96) settled veterans of the legions I Italica , III Augusta , IV Macedonica , V Macedonica , V Alaudae , IIII Flavia and VII Claudia in the newly founded city of Scupi ( Skopje ) at the beginning of his rule . Around 85 it was used by Domitian in his campaign against the Dacians . Under the general Lucius Tettius Iulianus, the legion took part in the Battle of Tapae in 88 . After the war, the Legion may have been for some time to Legio VII Claudia to Viminacium laid before the obermoesische Singidunum (Belgrade) stationed was.

Adoptive Emperor and Antonine Dynasty

The province of Dacia with the capital Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa
Brick stamp of the Legion from a small settlement from the Middle Imperial period on the Pannonian Danube Bend near Visegrád-Lepence (Burgus Solva 23) .

In 101 the Legion of Singidunum broke out and was involved in Trajan's first Dacian War under the command of Manius Laberius Maximus in southwest Dakia . Then she formed with the Legio XIII Gemina under the military governor Gnaeus Pinarius Aemilius Cicatricula Pompeius Longinus the occupying power of the conquered area. An uprising led to the second Dacian War in 105, which ended in 106 with a Roman victory and the establishment of the province of Dacia .

After the Dacian Wars, the Legion was stationed in Berzobis (Berzovia) and guarded the Danube South Road and the pass of the Iron Gate . In the Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa , the Legion was busy between 108 and 117 building the fortifications and public buildings. Vexillations were also stationed in “outposts” to open the aurariae Dacicae (Dacian gold mines) e.g. B. at Ampelum ( Zlatna ) and Bocșa . Bricks stamped with the abbreviation LEG IIII FF indicate construction activities at this location. The Legion is also known as the early occupation unit for Micia Fort . A centurion, Quintus Licinius Macrinus, donated a consecration stone in Micia between 101 and 117.

The Legio I Adiutrix was withdrawn in 115. In the years 116 to 119 Sarmatian attacks resulted in some exposed peripheral areas of Dacia being abandoned. In 119 the Legio IIII Flavia Felix was withdrawn by Emperor Hadrian and moved back to Singidunum. In the further course of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the main burden of the fighting seems to have been on the Legio II Adiutrix and the numerous auxiliary troops, while the Flavia Felix served as a reserve. On these occasions, Vexillations of the Flavia Felix formed the garrison in the Lower Pannonian provincial capital Aquincum (Budapest), in which the main camp of the II Adiutrix was located.

The Legion was relocated to the east of the empire for the Parthian War of Lucius Verus (162–166) and took part in the Marcomann Wars (166–180) in the Danube region during the time of Emperor Mark Aurel (161–180) .

Severer and soldier emperor

Dolabra with the engraving LEG IIII SA , found at the Harzhorn event in Lower Saxony

When the Pannonian governor Septimius Severus was proclaimed emperor in 193 , Flavia Felix probably immediately joined his cause. Septimius had coins minted in honor of the Legion. Around the year 200 veterans of Legions IIII Flavia Felix and Legio VII Claudia were settled in Naissus (Niš). Inscriptions in Apamea on the Orontes from the early 3rd century indicate the use of a vexillation against the Parthians and / or Sassanids .

During the 3rd century it became customary to add the ruler's name to a legion's name as a special distinction. In the early 3rd century, the Legion after Caracalla (actually Antoninus ) was named Legio IIII Flavia Antoniniana . Severus Alexander (222-235) gave the Legion the names Legio IIII Flavia Alexandriana and Legio IIII Flavia Severiana Alexandriana . Under Maximinus Thrax (235-238) the Legion led from 236 the name Legio IIII Flavia Maximiniana and under Gordian III. (238-244) Legio IIII Flavia Felix Gordiana . A pioneer ax ( dolabra ), which can be assigned to the fourth legion through the inscription LEG IIII SA , was discovered in 2010 during the Harzhorn event ; this is an indication of the participation of the unit (or parts of it) in a great Germanic campaign, probably in 235.

Philip Arabs (244-249) raised the Polis Flavia Neapolis 244 to the Colonia Sergia Neapolis and settled there veterans of the Legio IIII Flavia Felix . What role the Legion 249 played in the power struggle between Philip Arabs and Decius is controversial, but at least the IIII Flavia and VII Claudia were probably among Decius' early supporters.

Antoninian of Gallienus
minted in Milan GALLIENVS AVG
LEG IIII FL VI P VI F

Around 260, Gallienus had coins minted in honor of the Legion , probably in connection with an Alemannic invasion of Italy. He also gave her the nickname Galliena and the title VI Pia VI Fidelis ("for the sixth time dutifully and for the sixth time loyal").

The grave inscription of a primipilaris protector of the Legio IIII Flavia indicates that parts of the Legion were outsourced to the field army ( Comitatenses ), as this service did not occur in the border army ( Limitanei ). A vexillation of legionnaires of the Legion seems to have earned merit in Gaul, since Victorinus (269–271) coins with the inscription LEG (io) IIII FLAVIA (Felix) P (ia) F (idelis) ("dutiful and loyal") stamped.

Late antiquity

An Antoninianus , minted under Carausius . On the back are the lion, the symbol of the Legion and the inscription (LEG IIII FL).

The Legion still existed in late antiquity . A vexillation of the Legio IIII Flavia Felix was presumably subordinated to Carausius between 285 and 290 for a campaign by Maximian against the rebellious Bagauden of Gaul or to fight pirates . The "Gallic" vexillation probably followed Constantine the Great around 310 .

Diocletian was able to put down an uprising in Egypt in 297/298 by pulling together large contingents of troops, including a vexillation of Legio IIII Flavia Felix . The leaders of this rebellion were a certain Lucius Domitius Domitianus and a man named Achilles . Alexandria probably capitulated in the spring of 298. Then he went back to the Persian border. A vexillation of legionnaires from Legio XI Claudia, Legio VII Claudia, Legio IIII Flavia Felix, Legio I Italica and Legio I Illyricorum built a 550 km long road under Diocletian (284–305) in Arabia Petraea (Syria, Jordan), which the Forts Bostra , Basianis ( Qasr al-Azraq ), Amata and Dumata (Jawf) combined.

In the early 5th century the Quarta Flavia with its Praefectus legionis was stationed in Singidunum and was subordinate to the Dux Moesiae primae as Limitanei (border army) . Then the legion's traces are lost.

literature

Web links

Commons : Legio IIII Flavia Felix  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Barbara Levick : Vespasian. Routledge, London / New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-16618-7 , p. 152.
  2. ^ A b John J. Wilkes : Army and Society in Roman Dalmatia. In: Géza Alföldy , Brian Dobson , Werner Eck (eds.): Emperor, Army and Society in the Roman Empire. Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07654-9 , p. 327.
  3. ^ M. Mirkovic: Local population and Roman cities in the province of Upper Moesia. In: Hildegard Temporini (ed.): The rise and fall of the Roman world . (ANRW), Part II, Volume 6, Political History (Provinces and marginal peoples: Latin Danube-Balkans) . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1977, ISBN 3-11-006735-8 , p. 831.
  4. ^ Graham Webster: The Roman Imperial Army of the first and second centuries AD University of Oklahoma Press, 1998, ISBN 0-8061-3000-8 , p. 52.
  5. ^ András Mócsy : Pannonia and Upper Moesia. A history of the middle Danube provinces of the Roman empire. Routledge, London 1974, ISBN 0-7100-7714-9 , p. 82.
  6. ↑ EG Hardy: Studies in Roman History. 1906, pp. 224-225. (Reprint from 1906)
  7. ↑ Ioan Piso: On the northern border of the Roman Empire (= Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies, Volume 41) Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08729-X , p. 360.
  8. ↑ a b Ioana Adina Oltean: Dacia: landscape, colonization and romanization. Routledge, London 2007, ISBN 978-0-415-41252-0 , p. 56.
  9. ↑ Heinrich Beck , Dieter Geuenich , Heiko Steuer (Ed.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 26. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2004, ISBN 3-11-017734-X , p. 516.
  10. ↑ AE 1988, 961 .
  11. ^ Alfred Michael Hirt: Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World: Organizational Aspects 27 BC – AD 235. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-957287-8 , pp. 76, 195.
  12. ↑ CIL 03, 1353
  13. ↑ Yann Le Bohec: The Roman Army of Augustus to Constantine the Great. Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06300-5 , p. 194.
  14. ^ Edward N. Luttwak: The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire. From the First Century AD to the Third. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1979, ISBN 0-8018-2158-4 , p. 101.
  15. ^ András Mócsy: Pannonia and Upper Moesia. A history of the middle Danube provinces of the Roman empire. Routledge, London 1974, ISBN 0-7100-7714-9 , p. 99.
  16. ^ Franz Altheim : Decline of the Old World Volume 2: Imperium Romanum , Klostermann, Frankfurt 1952, p. 45.
  17. ↑ Marcelo Tilman Schmitt: The Roman Foreign Policy of the 2nd Century AD. Securing Peace or Expansion? . Steiner, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-515-07106-7 , pp. 176-177.
  18. ^ Yann Le Bohec: The Roman army of Augustus to Constantine the Elder. Size Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06300-5 , p. 217.
  19. ↑ Miroslava Mirkovic: Native population and Roman cities in the province of Upper Moesia. In: Hildegard Temporini (ed.): The rise and fall of the Roman world . (ANRW), Part II, Volume 6. Political History (Provinces and marginalized peoples: Latin Danube-Balkans) . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1977, ISBN 3-11-006735-8 , p. 839.
  20. ^ Nigel Pollard: Soldiers, cities, and civilians in Roman Syria. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2000, ISBN 0-472-11155-8 , pp. 264-265.
  21. ↑ AE 1984, 790 .
  22. ↑ CIL 3, 14555 .
  23. ↑ CIL 3, 8173 .
  24. ^ AE 1952, 186 .
  25. ↑ CIL 3, 8154 .
  26. ↑ Werner Eck : Rome and Judaea: five lectures on Roman rule in Palestine. Tübingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-16-149460-4 , pp. 230-233.
  27. ^ Christian Körner: Philippus Arabs. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-017205-4 , pp. 292-293.
  28. ^ Yann Le Bohec: The Roman army of Augustus to Constantine the Elder. Size Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06300-5 , p. 225.
  29. ↑ CIL 3, 8148 .
  30. ^ Paul Erdkamp (ed.): A companion to the Roman army. Wiley-Blackwell, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4051-2153-8 , p. 461.
  31. ^ Henry Fynes Clinton: The Civil and Literary Chronology of Rome and Constantinople, from the Death of Augustus to the Death of Justin II. Volume 2 Appendix, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010, ISBN 978-1-108-01248-5 , p 59.
  32. ^ PJ Casey: Carausius and Allectus: the British usurpers. Routledge, London 1994, ISBN 0-7134-7170-0 , pp. 82-83.
  33. ↑ Oliver Schmitt: Constantine the Great (275–337) . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-17-018307-0 , pp. 143 and 296.
  34. ^ Samuel Thomas Parker: The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan. Final Report on the Limes Arabicus Project, 1980-1989 (= Dumbarton Oaks Studies 40). Harvard University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-88402-298-6 , p. 544.
  35. ↑ AE 1987, 964 ; Gary Keith Young: Rome's eastern trade: international commerce and imperial policy, 31 BC – AD 305. Routledge, London 2001, ISBN 0-415-24219-3 , pp. 123-124.
  36. ↑ Notitia dignitatum Or. XLI.