Legio II Traiana fortis

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Trajan, creator and namesake of this legion

The legio II Traiana fortis is a legion of the Roman army that was set up around 103 and existed at least until the 5th century. The emblem of this legion was the demigod Hercules , to whom Trajan compared himself .

Legion history

Adoptive Emperor and Antonine Dynasty

The Legion was lifted around 103 together with the Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix in the course of the Second Dacian War (105-106) of the Emperor Trajan (98-117). After the Roman victory over the Dacians and the creation of a new province of Dacia , the Traiana Fortis disappeared from the history books for the time being. It is possible that she was sent to Judea or Arabia Petraea directly after the Dacian War , where Trajan was also at war. But the Legion probably stayed in Dacia and secured the young province with Legio III Cyrenaica .

In 114 at the latest, Trajan transferred the Legion to Syria , from where it operated in the Parthian War (114–117). After the Roman retreat, Trajan moved the Legion to reinforce the Legio X Fretensis in the trouble spot Judea, where they suppressed some uprisings. Presumably she was stationed in Caparcotna (Kefar 'Otnay) in Galilee . Under Emperor Hadrian , vexillations of the X Fretensis , II Traiana , III Cyrenaica and the Legio VI Ferrata were busy building the aqueduct of the Colonia Prima Flavia Augusta Caesariensis near Caesarea Maritima . Around the year 120 the legion built a road from Caparcotna via Diocaesarea ( Sepphoris ) to Ptolemais ( Akkon ). In 123 the Roman-Parthian conflict came to a head: Hadrian and Tiberius Claudius Quartinus led parts of the Legio II Traiana and Legio III Cyrenaica to the Euphrates . The conflict was resolved through military threats and diplomacy.

The Legion was replaced by the Legio VI Ferrata around 125 in Caparcotna and transferred by Hadrian (117-138) to Nicopolis near Alexandria in the province of Aegyptus , where it was to remain for the next three and a half centuries. In the Jewish uprising (132-135) under Simon Bar Kochba , the Legio XXII Deiotariana was sent to Judea with parts of the Traiana Fortis to suppress the revolt. Hadrian left several cohorts of the II Traiana in Nicopolis because there was a large Jewish community there and unrest was to be feared.

After the victory against the Jewish rebels, the soldiers of the II Traiana returned in greatly reduced numbers (the XXII Deiotariana had even been completely wiped out). Now the Traiana Fortis became the most important legion in all of Egypt . The responsible politicians and military officers deployed the soldiers not only in Alexandria but throughout the province: the legionaries ensured security in the rural areas of Upper Egypt. Even in Pselchis , the southernmost city of the empire, we know of soldiers from the Traiana Fortis who served as customs officers on the Nubian border. Parts of the legion were stationed in Panopolis (el-Achmim), Thebes and Syene (Aswan).

Vexillations of the II Traiana were probably not actively used again in combat until the Parthian War of Lucius Verus (162–166). Participation in the Marcomann Wars of Marcus Aurelius from 166 to 180 can neither be excluded nor proven, but at least some relatives were assigned to the region and entrusted with the expansion of the fortifications of the Dalmatian port city of Salona ( Split ) in 170 . Since 185 at the latest, the Legion has had the honorary title Germanica , which can indicate participation in these wars.

It is certain that the Legion supported the rebellious General Avidius Cassius in 175 , but could not save him from defeat either.

Second year of the four emperors and Severer

In the second year of the four emperors, in 193, she joined another usurper: Pescennius Niger (193–194), who fought with Septimius Severus (193–211) for rule. Shortly before the decisive clash of the two usurpers, the II Traiana changed sides, helped defeat the remaining troops of Pescennius and from then on claimed to be the "kingmaker" of Severus. Under Caracalla (211-217) the Legion 213/214 took part in his wars against the Alamanni . Under the emperors Caracalla and / or Elagabal (218–222) the legion was named Legio II Traiana Fortis Antoniniana . After Elagabals damnatio memoriae , the nickname Antoniniana was no longer used.

Severus Alexander undertook a campaign against the Parthians in 232, in which a vexillation of the II Traiana fortis was also involved. Parts of the Legion revolted against Emperor Severus Alexander, who however put down the uprising and relocated troops involved to the border with the Barbaricum for probation . Apparently not the entire legion was punished, which even received another nickname as Legio II Traiana Fortis Germanica Severiana .

Soldier emperor

In 260, after the capture of Valerian (253-260) by the Sassanids , Macrianus (260-261) was proclaimed anti -emperor together with his brother Quietus . It could have been followed by a vexillation of the II Traiana fortis , defeated by the general Aureolus in a battle near Serdica (Sofia) in Thrace in 261 , passed to Emperor Gallienus (253-268) and stayed in the west. But Gallienus probably withdrew part of the legion from Egypt to Gaul , where they should fight the troops of Postumus (260-269), emperor of the Imperium Galliarum , under Aureolus' leadership . Aureolus switched sides. Postumus' successor Victorinus (269–271) had gold coins minted in honor of the Legion. After Aurelian (270-275) was able to win back the rebellious provinces in 274, the detachment returned to Egypt. Emperor Carinus (283–285) had coins minted in honor of the legion.

Late antiquity

In 296, Emperor Diocletian reinforced the garrison near Alexandria with the newly raised Legio III Diocletiana . The situation in Upper Egypt remained unsettled, so that in 297/298 Diocletian himself led a campaign that brought him to Elephantine . Presumably, vexillations of Legio II Traiana fortis and Legio III Diocletiana were brought in from the province of Aegyptus Iovia (western Nile delta ) for reinforcement . Perhaps parts of the Legio were withdrawn to fight Mauritanian Moors .

According to controversial opinion of individual historians, a vexillation of the Legio II Traiana fortis moved to Gaul could represent the historical core of the legend of the Thebaic Legion . Around the year 300 two vexillations in the Upper Egyptian province Thebais and around 320 one vexillation in the central Egyptian province Herculia are documented. After that it is quiet about the II Traiana Fortis ; The only thing that is certain is that the legion still existed when the empire was divided in 395 and that it was integrated into the army of the newly established Eastern Roman Empire .

In the early 5th century, part of the Legio secunda Traiana was stationed under the Comes limitis Aegypti in Parembole on the southern border of Egypt as Limitanei (border army). Another part of the legion in Apollonos superioris (also Apollonopolis Magna , today: Edfu ) was under the Dux Thebaidos .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gunnar Seelentag : Deeds and Virtues of Traians. Representation of rule in the Principate ( Hermes individual writings, volume 91), Steiner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-515-08539-4 , pp. 406-407.
  2. ↑ Cassius Dio : 55, 24, 3-4 .
  3. ↑ Werner Eck : Rome and Iudaea - the contribution of epigraphy . In: Aharon Oppenheimer (Hrsg.): Jewish history in Hellenistic-Roman times Series: Writings of the Historisches Kolleg Vol. 44, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56414-5 , pp. 247–248.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Jona Lendering: Legio II Traiana Fortis . In: Livius.org (English)
  5. ↑ a b Werner Eck: Rom und Judaea: five lectures on Roman rule in Palestine , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-16-149460-4 , p. 113.
  6. ^ A b Edward Dabrowa: Legio X Fretensis. A Prosopographical Study of its Officers (I – III c. AD) , Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-05809-5 , p. 15.
  7. ^ Benjamin H. Isaac: The Near East under Roman Rule , Brill, 1997, ISBN 90-04-10736-3 (Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava: Supplementum, Volume 177), p. 203.
  8. ↑ Werner Eck: Roms Wassermanagement im Osten , kassel university press, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89958-409-7 (Kasseler Universitätsreden 17), pp. 25-26 ( PDF; 3.2 MB ).
  9. ^ So: Benjamin H. Isaac: The Near East under Roman Rule , Brill, 1997, ISBN 90-04-10736-3 (Mnemosyne. Supplementum, Volume 177), p. 203. However, this view, based on the interpretation of two inscriptions, is controversial. see: Axel Gebhardt: Imperial Politics and Provincial Development , Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003680-X , p. 93.
  10. ↑ Axel Gebhardt: Imperial politics and provincial development . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003680-X , pp. 116–117; see: CIL 6, 1567 and CIL 13, 1802
  11. ↑ CIL 3, 6025
  12. ↑ Bernhard Palme : Civilian tasks of the army in Imperial Egypt . In: Anne Kolb (Ed.): Dominance structures and rule practice. Concepts, principles and strategies of administration in the Roman Empire , Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-05-004149-8 , pp. 299–328.
  13. ↑ CIL 3, 1980 .
  14. ↑ AE 1902, 219 ; Titus Longaeus Rufus was Praefectus Aegypti in 185 .
  15. ↑ CIL 3, 6592 , CIL 3, 6609 .
  16. ^ Holger Komnick: The coinage of Nicopolis ad Mestum , Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-05-003792-X , pp. 13-14.
  17. ↑ CIL 3, 12057 .
  18. ^ Richard Alston: Soldier and Society in Roman Egypt. A Social History , Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-415-18606-4 , p. 73.
  19. ↑ CIL 3, 12052 , AE 2003, 1841 .
  20. ↑ Markus Handy: Die Severer und das Heer , Antike Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-938032-25-1 (Studies on Ancient History, Vol. 10), p. 164.
  21. ^ E. Mary Smallwood: The Jews under Roman rule. From Pompey to Diocletian. A study in political relations , 2nd edition, Brill, Leiden 2001, ISBN 0-391-04155-X , pp. 530-531.
  22. ↑ Michael Alexander Speidel : The Thebaic Legion and the late Roman army . In: Otto Wermelinger, Philippe Bruggisser, Beat Näf and Jean M. Roessli (eds.): Mauritius and the Thebean Legion / Saint Maurice et la Légion Thébaine: Actes du colloque, 17-20 Sept. 2003 . Academic Press Friborg, Friborg, Saint-Maurice, Martigny 2005, ISBN 3-7278-1527-2 , p. 42.
  23. ↑ Benno Schubiger (Red.): Solothurn. Contributions to the development of the city in the Middle Ages. Colloquium from 13./14. November 1987 in Solothurn . Verlag der Fachvereine, Zurich 1990, ISBN 3-7281-1613-0 , p. 36.
  24. ^ Paul Erdkamp (ed.): A companion to the Roman army , Wiley-Blackwell, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4051-2153-8 , p. 282.
  25. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Or. XXVIII.
  26. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Or. XXXI.