Legio I Flavia Pacis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Legio I Flavia Pacis ("first Flavian peace legion ") was a late antique legion of the Roman army.

Legion history

Shield painting of the Prima Flavia Pacis , in the early 5th century.

The sister legions Legio I Flavia Pacis , Legio II Flavia Virtutis and Legio III Flavia Salutis were presumably set up by Constantius I (293-305) after defeating the usurpers Carausius and Allectus , to serve as a limitanei under the command of the Dux tractus Armoricani et Nervicani to secure the Gallic Atlantic coast against pirates. According to another opinion, the legion of Constantine the Great was formed after 312 by renaming a tetrarchical legion. An even later list under Constantius II (337–361) was also considered.

Constantine the Great (306–337) released vexillations from the legions , which he incorporated into the field army as Comitatenses . It is possible that the legions were given the nicknames Pacis , Virtutis and Salutis at this time .

Flavius ​​Theodosius , the father of Theodosius I (379–395), moved the legions 373 to North Africa to overthrow the usurper Firmus . The conflict took place mainly in the regions of Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Sitifensis . The Legions I Flavia and II Flavia were temporarily stationed in the destroyed Caesarea for "clean-up work" .

Probably around 389 a sub-unit was moved to Britain. Under the command of the Dux Britanniarum , the Praefectus numeri Pacensium was stationed in Magis (?). Around 407 a vexillation of this unit was transferred to the mainland and around 413 it was stationed as Pacenses in Saletio ( Seltz in Alsace). They were commanded by a Praefectus militum under the command of the Dux Mogontiacensis .

In the early 5th century the Prima Flavia Pacis is mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum as Comitatenses under the supreme command of the magister peditum . As Primani they were subordinate to the Comes Africae .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Notitia Dignitatum Occ. V.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Ralf Scharf: The Dux Mogontiacensis and the Notitia Dignitatum , pp. 226–237.
  3. ^ Hugh Elton: Warfare and the Military ; In: Noel Emmanuel Lenski (ed.): The Cambridge companion to the Age of Constantine , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2006, ISBN 0-521-52157-2 , p. 331.
  4. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus : 29.5.18 ; see: Ralf Scharf: Der Dux Mogontiacensis and the Notitia Dignitatum , p. 226.
  5. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occ. XL.
  6. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occ. XLI.
  7. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occ. VII.