Legio III Gallica

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The legio III Gallica was a legion of the Roman army that was founded by Gaius Iulius Caesar around 49 BC. For the civil war against the republicans under Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus . The nickname Gallica suggests that the recruits originally came from the Gallic provinces of Gallia Cisalpina and Gallia Transalpina . The Legion was active in Syria until the early 5th century . The legion symbol was a bull.

Legion history

Julian-Claudian dynasty

The Legion took part in all of Caesar's campaigns, including the battle of Dyrrhachium (48 BC), Pharsalus (48 BC) and Munda (45 BC). After Caesar's death, the III Gallica was integrated into the army of Mark Antony . After the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. The first veterans were retired and settled in Perugia .

Provincia Syria

Marcus Antonius used the III Gallica for his campaigns against the Parthians . She was part of the troops that Fulvia and Lucius Antonius (Marcus Antonius' wife and brother) raised against Octavian , and was thus in the winter of 41 BC. BC in Perusia besieged until the surrender. After the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. BC and Antonius' suicide, the III Gallica with the Legio VI Ferrata , Legio X Fretensis and Legio XII Fulminata was stationed in the province of Syria .

In the year 20 BC Tiberius let several legions, including the III Gallica , march against the Parthians . But the threat was enough and he regained the Roman standards through diplomacy, which Marcus Licinius Crassus , Lucius Decidius Saxa and Marcus Antonius had lost in sometimes devastating defeats. The III Gallica probably also belonged to the three legions, the Publius Quinctilius Varus , the legatus Augusti pro praetore provinciae Syriae (governor of Syria), in the year 4 BC. BC against a revolt in Judaea . In 45 AD, Emperor Claudius had a colonia built in Ptolemais ( Acre ) for the veterans of the four Syrian legions .

The III Gallica , VI Ferrata and X Fretensis were used by Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo in 58 during his campaign against the Parthians for control of Armenia . The cities of Artaxata (58) and Tigranocerta (59) were conquered and King Trdat I (Tiridates) was conquered by the Roman-friendly Tigranes VI. replaced. The III Gallica was in Armenia until at least 64 and was stationed in Ziata Castellum . In 66 a vexillation was sent to Judaea to support Gaius Cestius Gallus , the governor of the province of Syria in the Judean War . Although the campaign was a failure and the situation escalated further, the III Gallica was moved from Nero to Oescus in the province of Moesia Inferior (Lower Moesia ), where it replaced the Legio V Macedonica . In the winter of 68/69 the Legion was able to repel an incursion by the Roxolans with a vexillation of Legio VIII Augusta .

Four imperial year and Flavian dynasty

In 69, the year of the Four Emperors, the Legion, like the rest of the Danube Army, only stood behind Otho . After his defeat by Vitellius , she supported Vespasian . Under her legate Gaius Dillius Aponianus, she played a major role in the final defeat of Vitellius in the Battle of Cremona and the accession of the Flavians to the throne . The Legion spent the winter of 69/70 in Capua and was then relocated to Syria. The return to the "home" of most of the legionaries was seen as a reward for their loyalty to the new emperor. Around 72/73 the Legio was probably stationed in Samosata before it was moved to Raphaneia (between Antioch and Damascus). The central location of the Raphaneia camp made it possible to use the legion as a strategic reserve in almost all military operations of the 2nd century. Around 75 AD, vexillations of the Legio XVI Flavia Company , Legio IIII Scythica , Legio III Gallica and Legio VI Ferrata were used to build canals and bridges near Antioch .

Adoptive Emperor and Antonine Dynasty

It is very likely that the Legion took part in Trajan's Parthian campaign (114–116) , which brought the Roman Empire great territorial growth. During the Bar Kochba uprising (132-136), the Legion was used successfully. Then the Legion took part in the Parthian War (163-166) of Lucius Verus . Under Avidius Cassius, it advanced to the media and was involved in the conquest of the Parthian twin capital Seleukia-Ctesiphon . Presumably the Legion supported the usurpation of Avidius Cassius against Marcus Aurelius in 175.

In the middle of the 2nd century the Legion was nicknamed Antoniniana , in the second half of the 2nd century it was nicknamed Felix ("the lucky one").

Lucius Artorius Castus , whom some regard as the archetype of the legendary King Arthur , was a centurion of the legion around 170 .

Severer

In the Second Year of the Four Emperors (193) the III Gallica supported the defeated Pescennius Niger against Septimius Severus . Then she took part in the Parthian campaigns (195 and 197-198) of Severus. A vexillation was stationed for a long time from 198 in the province of Mauretania Caesariensis (Algeria) in the Castellum Dimmidi, where a number of legionaries settled as veterans.

IMP CAES M AV ANTONINVS AVG
SEPTIM TYRO COLO, LEG III GAL
As des Elagabal from 218

The Legio III Gallica joined the uprising against Macrinus in 217 under their legate Publius Valerius Comazon and helped Elagabal to the throne on May 16, 218. Comazon was promoted to Praetorian Prefect .

The soldiers were increasingly dissatisfied with Elagabal's rule. In 219 the legionaries rebelled openly. The new Legate Verus took the lead and declared himself emperor. However, he had underestimated the power of the reigning emperor. The Legion was defeated, Verus himself captured and executed. Elagabal probably dissolved the legion and transferred the legionaries to the Legio III Augusta in the province of Africa . It is possible that the Legion continued to exist “on probation”, losing its nickname.

Under Severus Alexander (222-235) the Legio III Gallica Severiana Alexandriana was restored. Her new camp was now Danaba near Damascus, from where she monitored the road to Palmyra. The participation in the costly Sassanid campaign of the emperor Severus Alexander in the years 231-233 applies, as well as that of 243/244 under Gordian III. as secured. His successor Philip Arab signed a peace treaty with Shapur I in 244 .

Soldiers emperors and late antiquity

The report in the often unreliable Historia Augusta about their participation in the Gothic War of Emperor Decius and that Valerian , Aurelian and Probus were commanders of the Legio III (Gallica) Felix in the middle of the 3rd century is generally doubted by historians.

The III Gallica probably took part in Valerian's campaigns between 257 and 260 against the Sassanids, about the exact course of which little is known . Coin finds indicate the presence of a vexillation in the Imperium Galliarum at the time of Postumus (260–269).

In the early summer of 260 the Roman army was defeated in the battle of Edessa and Emperor Valerius was taken prisoner. The Palmyrenian prince Septimius Odaenathus defeated the Persian troops on the march back on Gallienus ' order and in the following time even penetrated as far as Ctesiphon , but without being able to free Valerian. After Odaenathus had defeated the usurper Quietus and Ballista in Emesa in 261 , he took over the leadership of the Roman troops in the east as deputy emperor. Odaenathus' widow Zenobia made independent of Rome in 267, but was captured in 272 by Aurelian (270-275). The III Gallica was involved in the conquest of Palmyra . The Legion probably also took part in Diocletian's Sassanid campaign around 298 .

At the end of the 3rd century, the III Gallica was mentioned together with the Legio I Illyricorum . A vexillation formed from both legions was sent 315-316 to Aegyptus and was stationed under the praepositus Victorinus 321 in Syene on the southern border.

Around 400 the Legio Tertia Gallica with its Praefectus legionis was stationed in Danaba (between Damascus and Palmyra) and was under the command of the Dux Phoenicis, according to the Notitia Dignitatum . At an unknown point during the next 250 years, the unit was eventually disbanded.

literature

  • Emil Ritterling : Legio (III Gallica). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1517-1532.
  • Gabriele Wesch-Klein : Social aspects of the Roman army in the imperial era (= Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies. Volume 28). Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07300-0 (also habilitation thesis, University of Heidelberg 1995).
  • Axel Gebhardt: Imperial politics and provincial development. Studies on the relationship between emperors, armies and cities in Syria in the pre-Severian period (= Klio . Supplements. New series, volume 4). Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003680-X (also dissertation, University of Kiel 1998).

Web links

Commons : Legio III Gallica  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Jona Lendering: Legio III Gallica . In: Livius.org (English)
  2. ↑ Article at imperiumromanum.com
  3. ↑ Pliny the Elder, naturalis historia 5, 75 : Colonia Claudi Caesaris Ptolemais, quae quondam Acce .
  4. ↑ Axel Gebhardt: Imperial Policy and Provincial Development , p. 50.
  5. ^ A b Axel Gebhardt: Imperial Policy and Provincial Development , p. 244; see. Peter Edwell: Between Rome and Persia , London 2008, ISBN 978-0-415-42478-3 , p. 18.
  6. ↑ AE 1983, 927 ; Oliver Stoll: Roman Army and Society , p. 237 f .; see. Axel Gebhardt: Imperial Politics and Provincial Development , p. 42.
  7. ↑ CIL 3, 138 .
  8. ↑ CIL 2, 2103 .
  9. ↑ CIL 3, 1919 .
  10. ↑ See AE 1939, 213 .
  11. ↑ a b Detailed on this Gabriele Wesch-Klein: Social aspects of the Roman army in the imperial era , p. 169 f.
  12. ↑ In a different opinion he was a legate of the Legio II Parthica , which was sent from Italy to put down the usurpation, but defected to Elagabal. Cf. Cassius Dio 79.39.
  13. ↑ Cassius Dio 80.7.
  14. ^ AE 1905, 157 .
  15. ↑ Oliver Stoll : Römisches Heer und Gesellschaft , Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07817-7 , p. 115.
  16. ↑ Gerald Kreucher: The Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus and his time , Steiner, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-515-08382-0 , p. 95; see. Historia Augusta, Aurelian 11 and Probus 5.
  17. ^ Noel Emmanuel Lenski (Ed.): The Cambridge companion to the Age of Constantine . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2006, ISBN 0-521-52157-2 , p. 327.
  18. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Or. XXXII.