Legio IIII Scythica

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The Legio IIII Scythica was a legion of the Roman army raised by Mark Antony . The Legion was still active in the province of Syria in the 5th century . Their symbol was the Capricorn .

Legion history

origin

The Legio IIII was probably dug up by Marcus Antonius for his campaign against the Parthians , which is why it was sometimes also called Legio IIII Parthica , although the name also suggests that it was used against the Scythians on the Danube. The assumption that it emerged from Gaius Vibius Panza Caetronianus ' Legio IIII Sorana is rather unlikely .

After the Battle of Actium (31 BC) and Antony's suicide (30 BC), Octavian took over the Legion. It seems to have been "reconstituted" by Octavian, which would explain the Capricorn, a typical Octavian emblem, as a legion symbol and the new name Scythica .

Julian-Claudian dynasty

Moesia

Octavian moved the legion to Moesia on the lower Danube to Viminacium ( Kostolac / Serbia).

In the years 29 to 27 BC The Legio IIII fought against the Bastarnen under the proconsul Marcus Licinius Crassus . At that time, the term Scythians was a collective name for the south-east European barbarian peoples, so that the epithet Scythica can also come from this time.

From 6 to 9 AD, the IIII Scythica belonged to an army of 15 legions, which represented over half of the total military potential of the Romans at the time, with which Tiberius put down the uprising in Pannonia and Illyria . 6 AD Aulus Caecina Severus , the governor of the province of Moesia , defeated the Breuker, but had to return to Moesia, which was threatened by invasions by the Dacians and Sarmatians . In the following year he narrowly escaped defeat with five legions and had to accept criticism of his military qualities.

It is possible that the IIII Scythica was the legion that is reported to have been moved to Aegissos by ships on the Danube with their legate Vitellius in AD 12. The legions IIII Scythica and V Macedonica often operated together and belonged to the occupying power in the province of Moesia around 23 AD. In his youth, the future emperor Vespasian served as a military tribune in one of these legions around AD 27 and possibly participated in the suppression of an uprising in Thrace.

The Legion also took on civil duties, such as building and maintaining roads to develop the region. In 33/34 IIII Scythica and V Macedonica built a road along the Danube in Moesia superior . The IIII Scythica may have been stationed in Saparewa Banja . Also Scupi ( Skopje ) and Naissus ( Niš ) represent possible garrison locations.

Syria

Around the middle of the 1st century, possibly under Tiberius (14–37) or Claudius (41–54) or only under Nero (54–68) in 57/58, the legion was relocated to the east. Kyrrhos is considered as the first garrison town before the Legion moved to Zeugma on the Euphrates for the next 200 years .

The Roman-Parthian War 61–63

When Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo , the governor of the province of Asia , gathered troops in the eastern provinces on behalf of Emperor Nero in the year 55 to clarify the Armenian question, the IIII Scythica probably stayed in Syria. The IIII Scythica under Lucius Funisulanus Vettonianus and the Legio XII Fulminata under their legate Calavius ​​Sabinus participated in the Armenian campaign of 62 under the command of Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus . After initial minor successes, Paetus proved incapable. The Roman outposts were overrun by the Parthian king Vologaeses I and the legionary camp at Rhandea was besieged. Paetus had to make peace and evacuate Armenia under humiliating conditions. The defeated legions were then withdrawn from the theater of war.

In 66 Gaius Cestius Gallus , the governor of Syria, set out from Antioch with the Legio XII Fulminata under their legate Caesennius Gallus, vexillations of the Legio VI Ferrata and IIII Scythica as well as numerous auxiliary troops from Antioch to fight the Judean rebellion . First of all, some villages were sacked, the residents of which had fled from him. Then Cestius Gallus attacked Jerusalem , but was forced to break off the siege and suffered great losses in his hasty retreat.

Towards the end of the 1960s, the Legio IIII Scythica temporarily represented the entire occupying power of Syria: from 67 to 69, the Legio X Fretensis and XII Fulminata were engaged in the Judean uprising, the Legio III Gallica was assigned to the lower Danube in 67/68 to cause unrest pacified and the VI Ferrata marched to Rome in 69 in the civil war. Pompeius Collega, the legate of the IIII Scythica, temporarily held the office of governor, while the Tribunus laticlavius Caius Petillius Firmus took over command of the legion.

Flavian dynasty

In 69, the year of the Four Emperors, the Legion sided with Vespasian from day one . In spite of this demonstrated loyalty, the IIII Scythica was not involved in combat operations as its combat strength was not rated highly. In 70 the IIII Scythica suppressed a pogrom in Antioch.

Around 75 AD, vexillations of the Legio XVI Flavia Company , Legio IIII Scythica, Legio III Gallica and Legio VI Ferrata were used to build canals and bridges near Antioch .

Adoptive Emperor and Antonine Dynasty

The Legion took part in Trajan's campaigns against the Parthians (114–117). The city of Artaxata in conquered Armenia was fortified by the IIII Scythica.

There is no evidence that the Legion was used between 132 and 135 to suppress the Bar Kochba revolt .

Around the year 149 vexillations of the Legio XVI Flavia company and Legio IIII Scythica were also used to build a canal at Seleukia Pieria . Another vexillation was stationed at the Enesch quarries on the Euphrates in the 2nd century. The legion is proven by inscriptions mainly in the north of the province of Syria, but its historical and temporal assignment is usually not possible.

Due to the border location of the Zeugma legionary camp, the IIII Scythica was involved in all operations against the Parthians. The Legion's next major mission was in the Parthian War of Lucius Verus (162–166). During this campaign large parts of Mesopotamia were conquered and the capital Seleukia-Ctesiphon was occupied.

Between 181 and 183, the future emperor Septimius Severus (193–211) was the legion of the Legion.

Severer

In the Second Year of the Four Emperors in 193, the IIII Scythica sided with the governor Pescennius Niger .

In 194 the support of the usurper Pescennius Niger by Parthian vassals served as a pretext for the successful expeditio Parthica of the new emperor Septimius Severus. In the course of the campaign, the Adiabene and Osrhoene dominions came under Roman control. The Legio IIII Scythica was assigned to the Syria Coele province, which was established in 194 under Septimius Severus and which comprised the northern part of the previous province of Syria.

In 197 a vexillation of IIII Scythica expanded the Eski Hisar fortress in Osrhoene. Three new legions were raised for the Second Parthian War (197). The Roman offensive met with no significant resistance: The Parthian capital, Ctesiphon, was probably stormed at the end of 197 (or beginning of 198), the Parthian King Vologaeses V had preferred to flee; According to Cassius Dio , 100,000 prisoners are said to have been taken. These victories in the east were immortalized on the Arch of Septimius Severus . Two attempts against the strategically important Hatra failed, however.

Several bridges were built in the northern Syrian area around 200 by the Legion. A vexillation of legionnaires from the XVI Flaviae company and the Legio IIII Scythica was stationed in Dura Europos around 210 under the joint command of the Centurion Antonius Valentinus , where they repaired a Mithras shrine. Of Caracalla (actually Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus), the legion was surnamed Antoniniana received. In Dura Europos, legionaries of Legio III Cyrenaica and Legio IIII Scythica built the amphitheater around 216.

Coin of the emperor Philip Arabs (244–249) with the portrait of his wife Marcia Otacilia Severa . Back: An ibex, the symbol of the Legio IIII Scythica and a temple of the garrison town of Zeugma

In 219 Gellius Maximus , the legate of the IIII Scythica, was proclaimed anti-emperor, but was soon executed by Elagabal . The Legion then disappears from the sources, although it certainly continued to exist. The deletion of the legion's name in some inscriptions, however, indicates a brief dissolution and Damnatio memoriae of the legion.

Soldiers emperors and late antiquity

The Zeugma garrison was completely destroyed by the Sassanids in 252, but until at least 254 parts of the Legio IV Scythica Valeriana Galliena were stationed in Zeugma.

The “rump troop” of the Legion was presumably moved to Oresa ( Tayyibe / Israel) by Diocletian (284–305) , while the greater part was garrisoned elsewhere. In the early 5th century the “legio quarta Scythica” appears for the last time in the sources. She was under the command of the Dux Syriae and was stationed with her praefectus in Oresa.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oliver Stoll: Roman Army and Society , p. 66.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Jona Lendering: Legio IIII Scythica . In: Livius.org (English).
  3. ^ Lawrence Keppie: The making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1998, ISBN 0-8061-3014-8 , p. 206.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Emil Ritterling : Legio (IIII Scythica). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1556-1564.
  5. ^ Lawrence Keppie: The making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1998, ISBN 0-8061-3014-8 , pp. 134, 140, 229.
  6. ↑ Barbara Levick : Vespasian (= Roman Imperial Biographies ). Routledge, London and New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-16618-7 , p. 114.
  7. ↑ Cassius Dio 55, 29, 3–30, 5.
  8. ↑ Velleius Paterculus 2, 112, 4-6; Cassius Dio 55, 32, 3-4.
  9. ↑ CIL 3, 1698 .
  10. ^ András Mócsy : Pannonia and Upper Moesia. A History of the Middle Danube, Provinces of the Roman Empire. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London et al. 1974, ISBN 0-7100-7714-9 , p. 51.
  11. ↑ Oliver Stoll: Römisches Heer und Gesellschaft , p. 233.
  12. ^ Fergus Millar: The Roman Near East , p. 67.
  13. ^ Yann Le Bohec: The Roman Army. From Augustus to Constantine the Elder Size Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06300-5 , p. 195.
  14. ↑ Tacitus : Annalen 15, 7ff; CIL 3, 4013 .
  15. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus , Jüdischer Krieg 2,18, 9-11
  16. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Jewish War 2.19, 1-9.
  17. ↑ AE 1983, 927 ; Oliver Stoll: Roman Army and Society , p. 237f; see. Axel Gebhardt: Imperial Politics and Provincial Development , p. 42.
  18. ↑ Julian Bennett : Trajan. Optimus Princeps. A Life and Times. Routledge, London et al. 1997, ISBN 0-415-16524-5 , pp. 195-196; see: AE 1968, 510 .
  19. ↑ Axel Gebhardt: Imperial Politics and Provincial Development , p. 138
  20. ↑ on the background cf. Roman-Persian Wars
  21. ↑ a b c d e Oliver Stoll: Römisches Heer und Gesellschaft , pp. 235–238.
  22. ↑ Cassius Dio 76.9.
  23. ↑ AE 1940, 220
  24. ^ Fergus Millar: The Roman Near East , p. 2
  25. ↑ Oliver Stoll: Römisches Heer und Gesellschaft , p. 115
  26. ^ Paul Erdkamp (ed.): A companion to the Roman army. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden MA et al. 2007, ISBN 978-1-4051-2153-8 , p. 253.
  27. ^ Fergus Millar: The Roman Near East , p. 131.
  28. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Or. XXXIII.

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