Legio IIII Italica

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The Legio IIII Italica was a legion of the Roman army that was established in the 3rd century and lasted until the 5th century. The Legion's emblem has not survived.

Legion history

Sign painting of the Quarta Italica around AD 400

Severus Alexander set up the Legio IIII Italica in 231 in the Transpadana region (northern Italy) for a campaign against the Sassanids   . Your first Tribunus militum Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus, who later became Emperor Maximinus Thrax , personally provided the “basic training” for the recruits. Other historians assume that the Legion will not be established until the end of the 3rd century.

The Legion supported Maximinus in his accession to the throne in 235. Between 235 and 238 Maximinus Thrax had roads built by the young recruits of his new Italica (per tirones iuventutis novae Italicae suae ) near Aquileia and Torviscosa . The IIII Italica probably took part in Maximinus' campaigns against the Alemanni and the "barbarians" on the Danube. Presumably she belonged to the troops with which the emperor moved to Aquileia in 238. Gordian III. (238–244) moved the Legion to Mesopotamia and subordinated them to the governor Serapammon.

In the course of the reforms of Emperor Diocletian (284-305), the Legio IIII Italica was detached from the border defense ( Limitanei ) Transtigritaniens and promoted to Pseudocomitatenses (field army).

The Quarta Italica was a Legio pseudocomitatensis around 400 and was under the Magister Militum per Orientem .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CIL 10, 3856 .
  2. ↑ Herodian : History of the Empire after Marc Aurel , VI, 3–4.
  3. ↑ Historia Augusta , Maximinus , 5-6; see: JC Mann: A Note on the Legion IV Italica , p. 228.
  4. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History . Volume 12: Alan K. Bowman, Averil Cameron , Peter Garnsey (Eds.): The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337. 2nd Edition. University of Cambridge Press, Cambridge et al. 2005, ISBN 0-521-30199-8 , pp. 111, 266; see: Emil Ritterling : Legio (IIII Italica). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1549.
  5. ↑ CIL 5, 7989 ; CIL 5, 7990 ; AE 1979, 256 ; AE 1979, 257
  6. ↑ JC Mann: A Note on the Legion IV Italica , p. 228.
  7. ↑ Historia Augusta , Gordian , 25; see: Edward N. Luttwak: The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire. From the First Century AD to the Third. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1979, ISBN 0-8018-2158-4 , p. 174.
  8. ^ Nigel Pollard: Soldiers, Cities, and Civilians in Roman Syria. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI 2000, ISBN 0-472-11155-8 , p. 28 (Also: Ann Arbor, Univ. Of Michigan, Diss.).
  9. ^ Notitia Dignitatum Orientalis VII.

literature

Web links

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