Legio II Augusta

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Memorial stone of Titus Cornasidius, military tribune of LEG II AVG around 200 AD.
Location: Falerio, Picenum / Regio V
Memorial stone of Tiberius Claudius Candidus , military tribune of LEG II AVG around 175 AD.
Location: Tarragona, Hispania citerior
Grave stele of the legionnaire Caius Largennius of the Legio II Augusta
Location: Strasbourg-Königshofen, today in the Musée archéologique de Strasbourg
Plaque with the symbol of LEG II Augusta in Caerleon

The Legio II Augusta ( 2nd Exalted Legion or 2nd Augustan Legion ) was a legion of the Roman army. Her symbols were Capricorn , Pegasus (since its use in Britain) and Mars . Since the late 3rd century AD, the Legion only used the ibex as a heraldic animal.

Legion history

Civil war

The Legio II was founded in 43 BC. Probably excavated by the consul Gaius Vibius Panza Caetronianus on behalf of Octavian, the later emperor Augustus . Because of the main recruiting area in the Sabinerland , it was initially named Legio II Sabina .

At the civil war , the legion took part on the side of Octavian and suffered on 14 or 15 April 43 v. High losses in the battle of Forum Gallorum . In the battle of Philippi in 42 BC. BC the Caesarians ( Marcus Antonius and Octavian) triumphed over the Republicans. With Caesar Leg II stamped spin Leads lay participation of the Legion at the siege of Perusia 41 v. Near. Between 35 and 30 BC BC veterans of the Legion of Octavian were settled in the province of Narbonensis in Arausio ( Orange ).

Cantabrian War

Presumably disbanded after this operation, the Legion was put back into service after the end of the civil war under Augustus and received its final name Legio II Augusta . From 30 BC The Legion was stationed in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis and was used in the Cantabrian War . During this time the Legio II Augusta and Legio I Germanica expanded the Colonia Iulia Gemellensis Acci . Veterans were settled in Barcelona and Cartennae ( Mauretania ).

Germania

After the Varus Battle , the Legio II Augusta was relocated to Mogontiacum ( Mainz ) in 9 AD on the occasion of the reorganization of the Rhine army from the province of Hispania ulterior . There it can be proven in the year 14. Participation in the Germanicus campaigns (14-16 AD) is also documented. From 17 AD the Legion was in Argentorate ( Strasbourg ). When the Treveri and Haedu tribes under the nobles Iulius Florus and Iulius Sacrovir rebelled against the Romans in Gaul in 21 AD , the legion was used to suppress the uprising.

Britain

In AD 42, Aulus Plautius , governor of the province of Pannonia , was entrusted with the invasion of Britain by Emperor Claudius . In 43 AD he landed with a force of four legions ( Legio II Augusta , Legio VIIII Hispana , Legio XIIII Gemina and Legio XX Valeria Victrix ) and conquered Britannia for the Roman Empire. He became the first governor of the newly founded province . During the invasion, the unit was under the command of the legate and later Emperor Vespasian , who led the campaigns against the Durotrigers and Dumnonians in southeastern Britain.

On British soil, the Legio II Augusta was stationed first in Calleva Atrebatum ( Silchester ) and from 49 AD in Durnovaria ( Dorchester ) and Lake Farm near Wimborne , before setting up its first permanent legionary camp in Isca Dumnoniorum in 55 AD ( Exeter ) built.

When the governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus asked the legion to intervene during the Boudicca uprising (60 to 61 AD), the praefectus castrorum Poenius Postumus refused to obey this call for help. When Poenius saw after the battle on Watling Street that he had robbed the Legion of "glory of victory", he committed suicide.

In the Four Emperor's year 69 AD, parts of the Vitellius Legion joined and defeated the troops of the Emperor Otho in the First Battle of Bedriacum , although large parts of the Legion favored Vespasian. When Vespasian finally prevailed in the Second Battle of Bedriacum , the vexillation returned to Britain.

Around 74 the provisional legion camp Burrium (on the southern outskirts of Usk ) was built on the banks of the Usk . This location was about 13 kilometers upstream from today's Caerleon . However, this area was unsuitable for supplying the camp. A few months later (74/75) a new camp was built, which was strategically located at the mouth of the Usk. This camp, Isca Silurum , remained the headquarters of the II Augusta until the early 3rd century AD.

During the governorship of Gnaeus Iulius Agricola (77-83), she played a decisive role in the conquest and pacification of present-day Wales . In 83 AD, a vexillation under the command of Velius Rufus took part in Domitian's campaign against the Chatti .

Around 120 AD some of their vexillations were moved north, where they took part in the construction of Hadrian's Wall . Around 142 AD, the II Augusta were also used to build the Antonine Wall . Between 155 and 158 AD, unrest broke out in the north of Britain so severe that the troops of the legions there had to be increased with soldiers from Germania inferior and Germania superior .

In 185 AD, the dux Lucius Artorius Castus led three British legions, including parts of Legio II, to Aremorica to put down a rebellion there.

In 196 AD the governor Clodius Albinus crossed over to Gaul and had his legions proclaim him emperor. However, he was defeated by Emperor Septimius Severus on February 19, 197 at Lugdunum ( Lyon ). The absence of the Roman troops had meanwhile been used by the northern tribes to invade Britain. The lengthy punitive expeditions of the returning legions had little success, so that Emperor Septimius Severus came to Britain in 208 to finally subjugate Caledonia ( Scotland ). The Legio II Augusta and Legio VI Victrix were moved to the large Carpow legionary camp on the Tay . Probably under Caracalla (211-217), in whose Germanic campaign in 213 AD at least one vexillation of the Legio II was involved, possibly only under Elagabal (218-222) the legion received the honorary title Antonina . Emperor Severus Alexander (222–235) finally gave up the expansion policy and the legion was moved back to Caerleon, where it remained until at least 255 AD. Around 260 AD, a vexillation of the Legio II Augusta was involved in a campaign by Gallienus in Pannonia.

A coin, minted around 290 AD, shows the inscription LEG II AVG with an ibex next to a portrait of Carausius on the lapel . This is the last tangible written record for this legion. The Legio II Brittannica , attested in the early 5th century AD , may have been pulled out of the mobile part of the II Augusta during the existence of the British Sonderreich (287–296).

Late antiquity

According to Notitia Dignitatum , the Legion was commanded in the early 5th century AD by a prefect who in turn was under the supreme command of the Comes litoris Saxonici per Britanniam .

The II Augusta was now in the Rutupiae fort near present-day Richborough in the County of Kent ; it could be the same unit listed as Secundani iuniores in the Comes Britanniarum and as Secundani Britones / Britannica in the Magister Peditum / Equitum . Archaeological excavations show that the late antique fort at Richborough ( Rutupiae ), called "Rutupis" in the Notitia , is only a tenth the size of the legionary camp of Isca Silurum ; the legion was much smaller than in the early imperial period, since after the army reforms of Gallienus and Diocletian the best soldiers were assigned to the comitatenses . The number of coins found at Richborough (all datable to the years around 400 AD) is considerably larger than at any other British excavation site, which speaks for the information in the Notitia. It is possible that the Legion moved to Gaul with the usurper Constantine III in 407 AD in order to enforce his claims to the throne on the continent. Then their tracks are lost.

literature

Web links

Commons : Legio II Augusta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CIL 9, 5439 .
  2. ↑ CIL 2, 4114
  3. ↑ CIL 13,5978 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Jona Lendering: Legio II Augusta . In: Livius.org (English)
  5. ^ Servius Sulpicius Galba , in Marcus Tullius Cicero , ad familiares 10, 30 .
  6. ↑ So Jona Lendering, while Emil Ritterling regards the identity of the legions as uncertain.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f Emil Ritterling: Legio (II Aug.). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1457-1466.
  8. ^ Tacitus , Annals 1, 37.
  9. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 1, 70.
  10. ^ Emil Ritterling: Legio (VIIII Hispana). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1664-1668.
  11. ↑ So Jona Lendering, while Emil Ritterling considers Durocornovium ( Cirencester ) and Glevum ( Gloucester ) to be the first camps. According to another opinion, the Legion was divided into "many small detachments".
  12. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14, 37.
  13. ^ Tacitus, Historien 3, 44.
  14. ↑ CIL 3, 1919 and Cassius Dio 73, 2a.
  15. ^ Emil Ritterling: Legio (II Brittannica). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1466 f.
  16. ^ Notitia dignitatum Occidentis XXVIII