Legio III Italica

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Portrait head of Marcus Aurelius (Musée du Louvre, Paris)
Relief depicting a scene from the Marcomannic Wars: Marcus Aurelius as the cavalry winner who accepts the submission of barbarian chiefs.
The Porta Praetoria , the north gate of the former Castra Regina legionary camp from the 2nd century AD, which has largely been preserved in the episcopal brewery to this day.
Double denar (Antoninian) of Gallienus , minted around 260 in Milan; on the lapel the image of a stork, the heraldic animal of the Legion and the inscription LEG III ITAL VI P (ia) F (idelis) ; "The third Italian legion, for the 6th time the reliable and loyal"
Shield sign of the Tertiani , a unit of the Comitatenses and vexillation of the legio III Italica in the army of Comes Illyrici and Magister Peditum , shown in the Notitia Dignitatum
Late Roman officer's helmet ( comb helmet ), found in the Wertach , kept in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg ; 4th century AD

The Legio III Italica Concors (German: the unified) was a legion of the Roman army. It was excavated by Emperor Marcus Aurelius around 165 AD together with the Legio II Italica to strengthen the Danube regions when the Roman Empire was involved in a two-front war against Germania ( Marcomannic Wars ) and Parthians . The Legion was to 170 in Dalmatia ., Followed by the middle of the fifth century AD. AD in Raetia stationed . The legion camp in Castra Regina served as her headquarters . From this point, it was an integral part of the otherwise from Auxiliaries existing Raetian army . The heraldic animal was the stork , the symbol for pietas (piety).

High command

The commander of the legion, a legatus legionis from the senatorial class , was also governor of the province of Raetia since 179. The official title for this was legatus Augusti pro praetore provinciae Raetiae . His term of office was usually one to two years. The official seat of the civil administration was in Augusta Vindelicum / Augsburg , but at the same time the legate often stayed in the legion's main camp.

From Gallienus (253 to 268) the senatorial governors were replaced almost without exception by men from the knighthood ; henceforth a knightly prefect took over the leadership of the Regensburg Legion (praefectus legionis) . From the 90s of the 3rd century duces ( Dux Raetiae ) were used as commander-in-chief of the provincial forces; the legionary prefects sank to the status of regional subordinates.

Administrative staff / guard

The Rhaetian governor had an extensive staff (officium consularis) made up of officers and soldiers of the Legion or of the auxiliary troops available for administrative and logistical tasks , whose presence could be proven by inscriptions; we know of:

  • three centuriones ,
  • one or possibly two beneficiarii consularis ,
  • a librarius consularis (finance),
  • an exactus consularis (scribe).

This staff also included companions (comites) or assessors (adsessores) selected by the emperor , who were supposed to assist the governor, especially in legal matters.

His staff was not particularly high, he essentially consisted of 3 office managers (cornicularii) , 3 accountants (commentarienses) , 6 secretaries for court hearings (exeptores) and 20-30 clerks / copyists (exacti / liberi) . In addition, there were a handful of freedmen ( liberti ) and slaves of the emperor for financial management, and a victimarius to help out with religious questions. However, the seat of the administrative staff was not the legionary camp in Regensburg, but the provincial metropolis of Augsburg, as there is also evidence of an optio praetori , a kind of building manager of the governor's palace (praetorium) .

In addition to these administrative experts, the governor was also entitled to an equestrian guard of 100 men, the equites singulares . 200 infantrymen (pedites singulares) were only called up in times of crisis. In quieter times, they were also used for other activities in the province, such as the expansion of the Ellingen fort around 182 AD. The Legion provided the personnel for the life guards together with other ales and cohorts of the Raetian border army. These men were assigned to the governor's guard for a certain period of time after their superiors recommended them, and they were also referred to as stratores (stable boys ).

function

Primarily concerned with the protection of Italy and the eastern Alpine regions, the Legion fought from 170 mainly Germanic invaders such as the tribes of the Marcomanni , Quaden and Jazygen , who several times in the provinces of Raetia , Pannonia , Moesia and Dacia on the Danube Limes, but also partly in Noricum had invaded. In the 3rd century the Legion had to repel Iuthungen and Alamanni in particular . In addition to Regensburg, most of the evidence for the presence of members of the Legion was found in the provincial metropolis and the seat of the governor in Augsburg. But also in other parts of the province numerous legionaries were active in administrative and control offices. A beneficiarius consularis had z. B. its location in the Brigantium stage (Bregenz). With the sudden influx of more than 6,000 Roman citizens in Raetia, the Legion probably also made a massive contribution to the Romanization of the province. In late antiquity, among other things, it secured the supply routes from Italy and to the Limes on the Danube and Iller.

development

2nd century

Marcus Aurelius commissioned two new legions around the year 165 AD Gnaeus Iulius Verus and Tiberius Claudius Proculus Cornelianus - the II. And III. Italica - to be excavated ( dilectus ). Their nickname suggests that their recruiting area was the populous Upper Italy and that the soldiers initially came mostly from there. The III Italica should primarily serve as a strategic reserve. Immediately after it was set up, the High Command set vexillations of the Legion in the crisis-ridden Pannonia on the march, and then they fought under Marcus Aurelius in the Marcomann Wars. Under the command of Quintus Antistius Adventus Postumius Aquilinus , the Legion was deployed between 167 and 170 in the course of the expeditio Germanica in the area of ​​the Central Alps to protect Italy against Germanic tribes. In 170 AD the legion was relocated to Tridentum ( Trient ) and probably took part in a campaign led by the general and later emperor Pertinax , who succeeded in driving out Germanic invaders from the provinces of Raetia and Noricum.

In the same year she also sent (together with the legio II Italica ) a department for the expansion of the fortifications of the Dalmatian port city of Salona / Solin:

vexillationes leg (ionum) II Piae et III Concordiae ped (es) CC sub cura P (ubli) Aeli Amyntiani (centurionis) frumentari leg (ionis) II Traianae
"(The) departments of Legions II Pia and III Concors (built) 200 feet (the wall) under the supervision of Publius Aelius Amyntianus, the centurion for the grain supply of Legio II Traiana fortis ".

Until the end of the 170s, the Legion had no fixed camp and only operated at vexillation strength. At that time, your headquarters were probably in Mogontiacum (Mainz). Probably after AD 172 and up to 179 AD, some cohorts of the Legion were stationed in the large, temporary Eining-Unterfeld camp . This garrison location was probably chosen because of its use in the Marcomannic Wars.

Presumably one of her vexillations was also in Alkofen and Regensburg-Kumpfmühl .

According to an inscription on the east gate, the Legion began building Castra Regina ( Regensburg ) from 175 onwards, which became their main camp and headquarters for the next 200 years. From 179 AD, the entire legion was stationed in Castra Regina . In 182 the Legion took part in a campaign against the Germanic Boers.

Soon after their arrival in Raetia, the Legion developed extensive construction work there and was involved, among other things, in the repair of damage to the Limes forts that had occurred in the course of the Marcomann Wars, such as the forts in Ellingen , Pfünz , Künzing , Dambach , Passau and Straubing. For this purpose, the Legion u. a. a brick factory in Bad Abbach . A vexillation erected the fortifications of Böhming Castle in AD 181 under the supervision of a centurion :

“ A department of the III. The Italian legion under the direction of Centurios Julius Julinus has built the defense and the gates with four towers. "

3rd century

Initially, the Legion was able to obtain most of its supplies itself from the numerous villae rusticae in Raetia. After the catastrophic Germanic invasions from the middle of the 3rd century onwards, many of these farms were destroyed and not rebuilt. Even earlier, the supplies were probably brought in from northern Italy. An inscription from the late 2nd century was discovered in Trento, according to which a certain Gaius Valerius Marianus was employed there as adlectus annonae legionis III Italicae (literally: chosen for the food supply of the Legio III Italica). However, the route over the Brenner Pass was not the only supply line; an inscription (200 AD) by Titus Claudius Severus, a frumentarius legionis (supply officer) , is also known from the Great St. Bernhard . Perhaps he was traveling as a courier on behalf of the governor when he donated a bronze votive tablet to Jupiter Poeninus at the top of the pass . Aurelius Silvinus, another frumentarius legionis , left a dedicatory inscription in the capital Rome. He was probably on duty in Rome under Severus Alexander and consecrated a small marble statue of a god in the "camp of strangers" (castra peregrina) on the Caelius .

In the civil war of 193 (so-called Second Four Emperor's Year ), the Legion supported Septimius Severus against Pertinax and Didius Julianus , and later also against Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus in the battle for the imperial throne. As a reward for the legionnaires' loyalty, coins were struck with a legionary eagle flanked by standards and the inscription LEG (io) III ITAL (ica) on the lapel .

Her loyalty was also to Severus' successor and son Caracalla , under whose leadership she took part in a campaign against the Alamanni in 213 , in 214 against the Carps in Dacia and in 217 in Syria. From then on, she was given the honorary name Antoniniana . Two inscriptions from the Dacian garrison town of Alba Iulia prove the presence of two centurions of the III. Legion, Marcus Ulpius Caius and Marcus Ulpius Vitalis. As part of the particularly powerful Danube Army, the III. Italica was often involved in the disputes of the so-called soldier emperors in the 3rd century (see also the Imperial Crisis of the 3rd Century ). Some of their departments must have been repeatedly in action under the last two Severers Elagabal (218–222) and Severus Alexander (222–235). Severus Alexander gave the Legion the honorary name Severiana .

On an inscription from Celeia (Celje, SLO) another honorific name is handed down, Gordiana , which suggests that a vexillation of the Legion under Gordian III. proven in a campaign against the Sassanids (242–244).

In 253 she supported the elevation of the Rhaetian governor Valerian to emperor, a vexillation moved with him again to the east in 259/60. An inscription by the Sassanid king Shapur I , who defeated Valerian near Edessa and took prisoner, speaks of soldiers "from the Raeter people" in the Roman army. Meanwhile, under the leadership of his son and co-emperor Gallienus (253-268), she won several victories against Germanic tribes in the west , for which she was awarded the titles VI pia and VII pia (“pious and dutiful for the sixth / seventh time”).

Strangely enough, the III. Italica is not mentioned on the historically significant dedicatory inscription of the Augsburg Victory Altar around 260, which has given rise to speculation about its whereabouts at the time. A complete withdrawal of the Legion from Raetia can probably be ruled out, since at that time they were no longer marching into the field with their full strength. Although the Legion had repeatedly deployed departments for the Persian Front, the fight against the usurper Ingenuus and the Alamanni, a withdrawal of the entire Legion would have been unwise in view of the very tense security situation.

In the year 273, during the war of Emperor Aurelian against the secession of the Queen of Palmyra , Zenobia , she was set on march again in the east of the empire. A vexillation of her sister legion, the Noric II. Italica, was also involved in the Palmyrenian campaign. In 272 there was a decisive battle near Emesa :

“... the Palmyrenian army was 70,000 strong [...] and gathered on the plain in front of Emesa. Opposite them [Aurelian] stood with his Dalmatian cavalry, as well as with the Moesiern, the Pannoniern [...], and the Norikern and Raetern, who are Celtic legions ... "

According to the Historia Augusta , Aurelian also undertook an expedition to Raetia in 275 to repel the Germanic tribes that had invaded there. Emperor Probus (276-282) also became militarily active in Rhaetia and achieved a crushing victory over a coalition of Burgundians and Vandals on Lech in 278/279 , but the II. And III. Italica 282 the usurper Carus as the new emperor on the shield. Around 285 a vexillation possibly took part in Maximian's campaign to Africa .

4th to 5th century

Legionnaire of the Tertia Italica, 4th century AD
List of troops of the Magister Peditum : Painted shields of the Ursarienses in the early 5th century

By the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries at the latest, the Rhaetian House Legion had been split up into six independent vexillations , each under the command of a prefect. About 1000 men remained stationed in Regensburg. Since the main source for this, the Notitia Dignitatum (ND), apparently no longer reproduces the original complete collection with the pars inferior (section between Regensburg and Passau), even more vexillations can be assumed for the early 4th century.

According to ND, the northern border of Raetia now formed the pars superior (upper part), while larger divisions of the Legion were stationed in Submuntorio and Vallato . The western border formed the pars media (middle part) with the city of Cambodunum and border posts from Vemania to Cassilacum .

The Tertia Italica , which was spread over five locations, was now held by the "most honorable" general of the provinces Raetiae I and II ("Sub dispositione viri spectabilis ducis provinciae Raetiae primae et secundae ").

In the corresponding passage of the Notitia Dignitatum it says:

  • "Praefectus legionis tertiae Italicae partis superioris, Castra Regina, nunc Vallato" (Manching or Weltenburg ),
  • "Praefectus legionis tertiae Italicae partis superioris deputatae ripae primae, Submuntorio" ( Burghöfe (Mertingen) ),
  • "Praefectus legionis tertiae Italicae pro parte media praetendentis a Vimania " (Isny) Cassiliacum usque, Cambidano (Kempten),
  • "Praefectus legionis tertiae Italicae transvectioni specierum deputatae, Foetibus" (Prefect of Legio III Italica, department for securing supplies in Fort Foetibus, Füssen / Tyrol) and
  • “Praefectus legionis tertiae Italicae transvectioni specierum deputatae, Teriolis” (department for securing supplies in the Teriolis fort in Zirl near Tyrol ).

The soldiers from Zirl probably transported and secured the food and consumer goods brought in with pack animals via the Brenner to the Seefelder Sattel and handed them over to the cohort from Füssen. From Füssen, the supplies could be transported further down the Lech Valley by boat . B. to supply the departments in Submuntorio ( Burghöfe (Mertingen) ) and other units. The road from Füssen to the northwest also led to Cambodunum ( Kempten (Allgäu) ), from where the forts on the Iller could be reached.

The vexillation in the Burghöfe fort probably monitored the road section to the nearby provincial capital Augsburg. Presumably this unit was also equipped with rowing ships and thus controlled, among other things, the Danube marshes to the west and east of the Lech estuary.

With the loss of the Dekumatland , Cambodunum (Kempten) had also become a border town. The imperial border ran along the river from Kempten to the mouth of the Iller. It is very likely that the legion's 200 man strong vexillation station, mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum, was stationed in the fort on the Burghalde (0.7 ha). She was responsible for the manning and defense of the chain of castles from Vimania (Isny) to Cassiliacum ( Memmingen ?).

From the most combat-capable soldiers of the Legion, two independent units were formed around 300 and included in the field army of Comes Illyrici as Tertiani ( legionis comitatenses ) and as Ursarienses in the Gallic Comitaneses . These in turn were subordinate to the supreme command of the Magister Peditum Praesentalis .

Remarks

  1. ↑ The purpose of this coinage is disputed. Possibly the Legion was honored for the overthrow of Ingenuus in Pannonia and Regalianus on the lower Danube or because of two victories of Gallienus over Teutons in northern Italy around 260.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Emil Ritterling : Legio (III Italica). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1532-1539.
  3. ^ Bernhard Overbeck : Raetien at the time of the principle . In: Hildegard Temporini , Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world , part II, vol. 5/2 Political history (provinces and marginal peoples: Germania FS., Alpenprokuraturen, Raetien) , de Gruyter, 1976, ISBN 3 -11-007197-5 , pp. 684-685.
  4. ↑ CIL 3, 5817 , CIL 3, 5820 .
  5. ↑ CIL 3, 5815 .
  6. ↑ CIL 3, 5814 .
  7. ↑ CIL 3, 5812 .
  8. ↑ Dietz / Fischer: 1996, pp. 100-101.
  9. ↑ Dietz / Fischer: 1996, p. 100.
  10. ↑ Dietz / Fischer: 1996, p. 101.
  11. ↑ CIL 3, 5768 = Vollmer, Inscriptiones Baivariae Romanae (IBR) 74B.
  12. ^ AE 1956, 123 .
  13. ↑ praetentura Italiae et Alpium : AE 1893, 88 = Hermann Dessau , Inscriptiones Latinae selectae 8977.
  14. ^ Péter Kovács : Marcus Aurelius' Rain Miracle and the Marcomannic Wars (= Mnemosyne Supplements. 308). Brill, Leiden 2009, ISBN 978-90-04-16639-4 , p. 224.
  15. ↑ CIL 3, 1980 .
  16. ↑ Hans-Jörg Kellner (edit.): The coins found in the Roman period in Germany. Department I. Bavaria, Volume 2. Lower Bavaria . Mann Verlag, Berlin 1970, p. 47.
  17. ^ Thomas Fischer: The Romans in Germany . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8062-1325-9 , p. 110.
  18. ↑ a b c Bernhard Overbeck : Raetien at the time of the principle ; In: Hildegard Temporini , Wolfgang Haase (ed.): Rise and decline of the Roman world , part 2, vol. 5/2: Political history (provinces and marginalized peoples: Germanien FS., Alpenprokuraturen, Raetien) , de Gruyter, 1976, ISBN 3-11-007197-5 , pp. 677-678.
  19. ↑ CIL 3, 11965 .
  20. ↑ AE 1983, 730 182 AD.
  21. ^ Ulrich Brandl and Emmi Federhofer: Ton + Technik. Roman bricks. Theiss, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-8062-2403-0 ( publications of the Limes Museum Aalen. No. 61).
  22. ↑ CIL 3, 14370 , 2.
  23. ↑ CIL 5, 5036 .
  24. ↑ CIL 5, 6869 .
  25. ↑ Dietz / Fischer: 1996, p. 108.
  26. ↑ a b AE 1991, 266 .
  27. ↑ CIL 3, 1178 .
  28. ↑ CIL 3, 7785 .
  29. ↑ CIL 3, 5760
  30. ^ Res gestae divi Saporis
  31. ^ Zosimos 1: 52-53.
  32. ↑ ( Vindelicos obsidione barbarica liberavit )
  33. ↑ Pat Southern : The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine , Routledge, 2001, ISBN 978-0-203-45159-5 , p. 335.
  34. ↑ See also Dietz 1993 and 1999
  35. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occ. XXXV.
  36. ↑ Andreas Kraus (Ed.): Handbook of Bavarian History . Volume III, 2: History of Swabia up to the end of the 18th century , CH Beck, 2001, ISBN 978-3-406-39452-2 , p. 82
  37. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occ. VII.
  38. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occ. V.
  39. ↑ Michaela Konrad: The excavations under the Niedermünster in Regensburg II. Buildings and finds from the Roman period. Evaluation . CH Beck, 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-10757-3 ( Munich contributions to prehistory and early history . Vol. 57), p. 97.

literature

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