Legio IIII Parthica

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The Legio IIII Parthica (also Legio IV Parthica , "Fourth Parthian Legion") was a legion of the late ancient Roman army, which was probably set up together with the Legio V Parthica and Legio VI Parthica around the year 300 by the Roman emperor Diocletian . In the course of the reorganization of the empire, additional troops had to be garrisoned in the newly formed provinces in the east. The name was anachronistic, however, since by that time the Parthians had long since perished. The Sassanids had taken their place .

The legion's recruits presumably came from the region of the first camp. The Legion was stationed in Mesopotamia together with the III Parthica . Initially presumably in Circesium (Arabic Ķarķīsiyā), at the Chabur estuary in the Osrhoene province . There it was mentioned in the early 5th century as Legio Quarta Parthica in the Notitia dignitatum under the command of the Dux Osrhoenae .

It is one of the last verifiable legions in the Eastern Empire . The legion lost its importance dramatically in the course of late antiquity, so that more and more legions virtually disappeared. The Greek historian Theophylaktos Simokates mentions the Legion for the last time at the time of Emperor Maurikios (582–602) when it was stationed in Beroea , today's Aleppo . Soon after, it was apparently also dissolved.

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Remarks

  1. ^ Emil Ritterling: Legio VI Parthica. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1598.
  2. ^ Nigel Pollard: Soldiers, cities, and civilians in Roman Syria. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2000, ISBN 0-472-11155-8 , p. 138.
  3. ^ Notitia dignitatum partibus orientis 35.
  4. ^ A b Emil Ritterling: Legio IIII Parthica. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1556.
  5. ↑ Theophylactus Simokates 2,6,9.