Legio II Isaura
The Legio II Isaura ( second Isaurian Legion ) was a legion of the late ancient Roman army, which was set up by Diocletian (284-305) to protect the Roman province of Isauria . The thesis advocated in older research, namely that Probus (see also Lydius ) raised to fight against predatory Isaurian mountain tribes in Asia Minor around 278/279, is considered to be refuted. In the early 4th century the Legion had a troop strength of about 6000 men, which was reduced to about 2000 men in the course of the century.
Ammianus Marcellinus describes in his historical work that the Isaurians left their country in the middle of the 4th century, probably in the 350s, and devastated the coastal region around Seleucia for several years as wandering robbers . In 354 the Legio I Isaura Sagittaria , Legio II Isaura and Legio III Isaura successfully defended the city of Seleucia under the command of Comes Castricius.
In the year 368 there were again raids of the Isaurians. The vicarius Asiae Musonius was wiped out with his diogmites (police auxiliaries). Only the deployment of the legions could end the unrest.
In the early 5th century, the II Isaura and its sister legion III Isaura were subordinate to the Comes per Isauriam as Limitanei .
literature
- Karl field: barbarian citizens. The Isaurians and the Roman Empire (= Millennium Studies 8). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2005, ISBN 3-11-018899-6 (also: Berlin, Univ., Diss., 2004), ( excerpts ).
- Emil Ritterling : Legio (II Isaura). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, column 1468.
Web links
- Jonah Lendering: Legio II Isaura . In: Livius.org (English)
- Article at imperiumromanum.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Historia Augusta : Probus , 16; see: Emil Ritterling : Legio (II Isaura). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, column 1468.
- ↑ Karl Feld: Barbarische Bürger , p. 133.
- ↑ a b Karl Feld: Barbarische Bürger , p. 92.
- ↑ Ammian 14: 2-8.
- ^ Karl Feld: Barbarische Bürger , p. 147.
- ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Or. XXIX.