Legio III Augusta

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The Legio III Augusta was a legion of the Roman army founded by the consul Gaius Vibius Panza Caetronianus in 43 BC. Or by Octavian, later Augustus , in 41 BC. Was excavated. Activities of the Legion in the North African provinces of the Roman Empire , their main area of ​​operation, are mentioned until the early 5th century. Among the Legion's standards were the winged horse Pegasus and the ibex .

History of unity

Julian-Claudian dynasty

The III Augusta was probably at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. Involved in which Octavian and Mark Antony defeated the army of the murderers Gaius Julius Caesar . After this victory, the III Augusta remained under Octavian's command, probably in Sicily, where Sextus Pompey still offered resistance.

From 30 BC The Legio III Augusta was stationed in the Roman province of Africa , where it was primarily occupied with construction contracts. Although Africa was a traditionally peaceful part of the Roman Empire, they were involved in the war against the insurgent Numidian and Mauritanian tribes under Tacfarinas between AD 17 and 24 . Around this time the Legion was moved from Theveste to Ammaedara . After Tacfarinas had been defeated by the governor Marcus Furius Camillus in a field battle in 17 , he switched to guerrilla tactics. In 18, a subunit was destroyed in an attack, an evil which was probably caused by cowardice, since then operated the entire legion of her new proconsul (governor) Lucius Apronius the decimation subject, that is, one in ten legionnaire was killed. This was the heaviest punishment a commander could inflict on his soldiers and was therefore rarely used. In the year 21 the Legio VIIII Hispana was sent to reinforce Africa. The rebellion could only be ended in the year 24 by the governor Quintus Junius Blaesus . Soon after, the VIIII Hispana was withdrawn.

After Lucius Calpurnius Piso took office as proconsular governor of Africa, Caligula withdrew from him the Legio III Augusta, previously commanded by the respective proconsul, and handed it over to an imperial legate , as he feared that Piso could otherwise assume a dangerous position of power. After King Ptolemy was murdered in 40 and Mauretania was incorporated into the empire, riots broke out there, which were "pacified" by the Legion.

The proconsul Sulpicius Galba (45/46), the later emperor (68/69), finally subjugated the Musulamians and took over many of their warriors in auxiliary troops . Today's Tunisia was in Roman hands from the Mediterranean to the edge of the desert.

In the 1st century, Africa was the only province with a legion administered by a proconsul sent by the Senate ( Senatorial Province ). Since he was also the commander of the III Augusta , his loyalty to the emperor was essential. In the final years of the Emperor Nero's government , the proconsul of Africa, Lucius Clodius Macer , revolted against him and raised a second legion, the Legio I Macriana liberatrix , to strengthen the III Augusta . The III Augusta was also briefly nicknamed Liberatrix . Galba had Macer, who had become too powerful, murdered and the I Macriana liberatrix dissolved.

Africa was now protected by the Legio III Augusta with around 5,000–6,000 men and auxiliary troops with around 10,000–15,000 men. About half of the troops were stationed in troubled Mauretania Tingitana , while the other troops were stationed if necessary or were in Ammaedara.

Flavian dynasty

During the turmoil of the four-emperor year 69, III Augusta first supported Galba, then Vitellius and finally Vespasian , without having to intervene in the battles in Italy. In 75 Vespasian moved the legionary camp of the III Augusta from Ammaedara to Theveste.

Under Gaius Valerius Festus , the Legion expelled the Garamanten in 71 , who were called to help by the numerically weaker Oeensern in the dispute between the inhabitants of Oea and Leptis Magna .

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 .

In 84/85 AD, the Roman praetor Gnaeus Suellius Flaccus undertook a victorious campaign against the Nasamones with the legion on behalf of the Emperor Domitian , which apparently pushed them south.

Lambaesis, gateway to the Principia

Adoptive Emperor and Antonine Dynasty

Emperor Trajan had the Colonia Marciana Traiana Thamugadi ( Timgad ) built as a veteran colony in a previously unpopulated location by Lucius Munatius Gallus, the legate of Legio III Augusta, in the year 100 .

A vexillation of the III Augusta was used under Trajan in the campaigns against the Parthians , where it suffered high losses in 115 and was replenished by Syrians. In 126 the III Augusta legionnaires had to hand over to the Legio III Cyrenaica or Legio III Gallica . Under Hadrian , the Legion was stationed in Lambaesis , Numidian, around 129 , where it stayed for the next two centuries to protect the province from the Berber tribes. To suppress the Bar Kochba uprising (132–135), part of the legion was moved to Judaea. Under Antoninus Pius (138-161), the Legio III Augusta Antoniniana was used in a multi-year war against the Moors. Between 162 and 166 vexillations were used in the Parthian War of Lucius Verus . In 175 parts of the III Augusta were relocated to Pannonia in order to replenish the Legio II Adiutrix, which was greatly weakened in the Marcomann War of Marcus Aurelius . In addition to its military use, the Legion was also busy with construction work.

Gate of Caracalla in Theveste

Severer

In 193, Septimius Severus , who himself came from the province of Africa, rewarded the Legion with the nickname Pia Vindex (loyal avenger) for their service in the civil war after the murder of the emperor Pertinax . Severus also ordered the construction of several border forts such as Gholaia (Bu Njem), Gheriat el-Garbia, Si Aioun , Cidamus ( Ghadames ) and Castellum Dimidi (Messad) by the legate Quintus Anicius Faustus , around the Limes Tripolitanus , which secured the province of Africa to expand. Parts of the legion were used by Caracalla against the Parthians in the east of the empire between 215 and 217 . The III Augusta suffered heavy losses in the fighting against desert tribes, so that it had to be replenished with soldiers from the Legio III Gallica, which was dissolved by Elagabal . In Severan times it was common to recruit from the respective province and the “camp offspring”, so that the III Augusta consisted of about 95% “Africans”.

In some inscriptions, the Legion Legion III was named Augusta Severiana . The nickname Alexandriana refers to Severus Alexander (222-235).

Soldier emperor

The 3rd century became a time of crisis for the Legion. In the six-emperor year 238 they suppressed under Capelianus , the governor of Numidia, forcibly the uprising of Gordian I and Gordian II in the province Africa proconsularis , which is why they were replaced by their successor Gordian III. , the grandson of Gordian I, was dissolved as a punishment. Some of the fragmented departments were transferred to Raetia as punishment.

The decision to dissolve the Legion for political reasons, however, turned out to be militarily disastrous. In the period that followed, Roman north-west Africa was increasingly plagued by pillaging tribes who took advantage of the region's largely defenselessness. In 253/4, Emperor Valerian set up the Legio III Augusta again, giving it the nickname Iterum Pia Iterum Vindex ("again loyal, again avenger"). The specific aim of this revival was a war against the Quinquagentiani ("Five Tribes") and the Fraxinenses , a federation of Berber tribes who threatened the Roman settlements. At this time the unit was also called Legio III Augusta Valeriana Galliena Valeriana (after its new founder Valerian, after his co-emperor Gallienus and after Caesar Valerian II ).

When the war against the Berbers ended in 260, Gaius Macrinius Decianus erected a monument to victory in Lambaesis. The city was subsequently fortified, but between 289 and 297 the situation got out of hand again, so that Emperor Maximian came to Africa to lead the Legio III Augusta Maximiana himself into battle. The vexillations and detachments, which had previously been distributed among the forts and small forts of the Limes Tripolitanus and oases, were concentrated in a few locations around this time and advanced outposts apparently abandoned as planned.

Painted shield of Tertio Augustani , early 5th century

Late antiquity

Diocletian put the Legion against an insurgent governor in the early 4th century, for which the Legion was given the nickname Pia Fidelis (“dutiful and faithful”). Around this time the Lambaesis Legion was relocated to an unknown camp in the region. In the year 321 the Legion is mentioned in Codex Theodosianus 4, 13, 3 as Tertio Augustani . Their presence in North Africa is documented until the early 5th century, where they were subordinate to the Comitatenses of the comes Africae under the supreme command of the magister peditum praesentalis or the magister equitum per Gallias . Then the traces of this legion are lost.

literature

Web links

Commons : Legio III Augusta  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Jona Lendering: Legio III Augusta . In: Livius.org (English)
  2. ^ Tacitus , Historien 4, 48. Cf. Cassius Dio 59, 20.
  3. ↑ Claude Lepelley (ed.), Rome and the Empire in the High Imperial Era . Vol. 2: The regions of the empire . Munich 2001, ISBN 3-598-77449-4 , p. 88.
  4. ^ The Roman Imperial Coinage , Vol. 1 on Clodius Macer: L CLODI MACRI SC / LEG III AVG LIB .
  5. ^ David Cherry: Frontier and Society in Roman North Africa . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1998, p. 53.
  6. ↑ Tacitus, Historien 4, 49-50.
  7. ↑ M. Mirkovic: Indigenous population and Roman cities in the province of Upper Moesia , in: Hildegard Temporini (ed.): Rise and decline of the Roman world, part II, volume 6, political history (provinces and marginal peoples: Latin Danube-Balkan area) . de Gruyter, Berlin & New York 1977, ISBN 3-11-006735-8 , p. 831.
  8. ^ Cassius Dio 67, 6.
  9. ↑ Entry in the UNESCO World Heritage List
  10. ↑ a b c Yann Le Bohec: The Roman Army: from Augustus to Constantine the Elder. Size , P. 233 (excerpt) .
  11. ^ AE 1955, 135 .
  12. ↑ a b CIL 8, 2904 .
  13. ↑ CIL 8, 3049 .
  14. ↑ Cf. Gabriele Wesch-Klein: Social aspects of the Roman army in the imperial era , p. 169ff.
  15. ^ Gabriele Wesch-Klein: Social aspects of the Roman army in the imperial era , p. 116.
  16. ↑ CIL 8, 2624 .
  17. ↑ Thomas Fischer , Erika Riedmeier Fischer: The Roman Limes in Bavaria . Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7917-2120-0 , p. 124.
  18. ↑ CIL 8, 2634 .
  19. ↑ Klaus-Peter Johne, Thomas Gerhardt, Udo Hartmann (eds.): Deleto paene imperio Romano: Transformation processes of the Roman Empire ... , Stuttgart 2006, p. 150.
  20. ↑ CIL 8, 2576 , CIL 8, 2577 .
  21. ↑ Cod. Theod. 4, 13, 3 ( Memento from August 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
  22. ^ Notitia Dignitatum in partibus Occidentis, V and XXXVI.