Legio I Germanica

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The Legio I (Latin for "First Legion") was a legion of the Roman army. The legion history up to 14 AD is associated with uncertainties, since the republican legions were mostly designated with a number and without a name. From AD 14, the legion's history is considered secure.

Legion history

The Legio I was founded in 48 BC. Set up by Gaius Iulius Caesar in the civil war against Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and used for the first time in the Battle of Dyrrhachium . Like all of Caesar's legions, their sign was the bull (with the exception of Legio V Alaudae ). A list in 43 BC is also possible. By Gaius Vipsanius Pansa .

After Caesar's assassination, the Legion was established in 41 BC. Reorganized by Octavian and in 36 BC. Used against Sextus Pompeius .

After the Battle of Actium (31 BC) it was used between 30 BC. BC and 17 BC BC in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis and took part in the campaigns against the Cantabrians ( Cantabrian War ). During this time the Legio I and Legio II Augusta expanded the Colonia Iulia Gemellensis Acci . Veterans have been settled in Luceria (Italy), Barcelona and Cartennae ( Mauretania ). It is possible that the Legion was given the honorable nickname Augusta in 19 BC. Revoked because of misconduct in Spain.

At 16 BC It was moved to Germania, subordinated to the army of Drusus and founded in 16 BC. The camp Mogontiacum ( Mainz ). In the summer of 6 AD, the Legio I and at least seven other legions probably took part in the ultimately failed campaign of Tiberius against the Marcoman king Marbod . Lucius Nonius Asprenas , as a legate of his uncle Varus , commanded the Legions Legio I and Legio V Alaudae in Germania from the year 7 AD. While Varus and his army of three legions ( Legio XVII , XVIII , XIX ) were defeated by the Teutons under the leadership of the Cheruscan Arminius in the Battle of Varus in the year 9 , Asprenas managed to get into the battle with two legions (Legio I and V) To escape winter camp on the Lower Rhine ( Vetera near today's Xanten) and secure the Rhine line for Rome.

From 9 AD to 16 AD, the Legion was probably stationed in Cologne , where it was moved in response to the Varus defeat. Here it is documented for the year 14 AD apud aram Ubiorum . Of Tiberius , she received the nickname of this year Germanica . In the same year veterans of the Legion were settled in Raetia . Eight legions took part in the Germanicus campaigns in Germania on the right bank of the Rhine from 14 to 16 AD. The legions II Augusta , XIII Gemina , XIIII Gemina and XVI Gallica belonged to the army group of Germanicus , while the I Germanica , V Alaudae , XX Valeria Victrix and XXI Rapax belonged to the army group of the Aulus Caecina Severus .

In AD 21, vexillations of the four Lower Germanic legions I Germanica , V Alaudae , XX and XXI Rapax were jointly led by the tribune of the Legio I Germanica , Torquatus Novellius Atticus, against the rebellious Gallic tribes of the Andecavers and Turons under Iulius Sacrovir and Iulius Florus installed in Gaul. Little is known about their stay in the following years: Vexillations of the Legio I Germanica and Legio XX Valeria Victrix were stationed a few kilometers south of the Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne) in Alteburg until the 1930s . The Legio I Germanica was relocated to Bonn in AD 35 and founded the Castra Bonnensia legion camp there .

In the spring of 68 Gaius Iulius Vindex and Servius Sulpicius Galba rose against Emperor Nero . The Lower Germanic troops (I Germanica, V Alaudae, Legio XV Primigenia and Legio XVI Gallica ) behaved "loyal to the emperor" and defeated Gaius Julius Vindex. The legionaries awaited a reward, but Nero committed suicide in June 68 and Galba was recognized as the new emperor. First, the legions Galba joined, but soon the troops of the applicable Germania inferior their commander Vitellius the emperor and marched in January of four emperors year 69 to Rome. Fabius Valens , the legatus of Legio I, played a significant role in these disputes. Vitellius' supporters defeated Otho, the successor to the murdered Galba, and helped him to the throne. Vitellius was overthrown by Vespasian that same year .

During the Batavian uprising in 70, the Legio I under Herennius Gallus was sent together with the Legio XVI Gallica to relieve the Legio V Alaudae and Legio XV Primigenia, which were enclosed in Vetera near today's Xanten , and got themselves into an enclosure. After the uprising was put down, it was dissolved. The Legio VII Hispana was reformed by Vespasian with the involvement of soldiers from the Legio I Germanica and / or Legio XV Primigenia and was given the new name Legio VII Gemina (Latin gemina "twin").

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Lesley Adkins: Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome , Sonlight Christian, 2004, ISBN 0-8160-5026-0 , pp. 56-57.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Jona Lendering: Legio I Germanica . In: Livius.org (English)
  3. ^ J. Brian Campbell: Legio. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 7, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01477-0 , column 9.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Lawrence Keppie: The making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire , University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma 1998, ISBN 978-080613014-9 , p. 205.
  5. ↑ See also: Philip Sabin, Hans van Wees, Michael Whitby (eds.): The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare . Volume 2, Rome from the Late Republic to the Late Empire , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007, ISBN 9780521782746 , p. 36
  6. ^ A b Lesley Adkins: Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome , Sonlight Christian, 2004, ISBN 0-8160-5026-0 , p. 58.
  7. ↑ Farnum 2005, p. 43.
  8. ↑ Tacitus , Annals 1, 39, 1.
  9. ^ Tacitus, Annalen, 1.46
  10. ^ Mary Bradford Peaks: The General, Civil and Military Administration of Noricum and Raetia , Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010 (reprint of the 1907 edition), p. 211
  11. ^ Siegfried Schoppe : Varusschlacht Vol 2 , Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 3-8391-1287-7 , p. 205.
  12. ↑ CIL 14, 3602 .
  13. ^ Tacitus: Annales 3, 41ff. see: Emil Ritterling: Legio (V Alaudae) .
  14. ↑ Maureen Carroll: Spirits of the dead: Roman funerary commemoration in Western Europe , Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-19-929107-1 , p. 224
  15. ↑ Farnum 2005, p. 44.
  16. ↑ David Colin Arthur Shotter: Nero Caesar Augustus: Emperor of Rome , Pearson, 2008, ISBN 9781405824576 , p. 159
  17. ^ Lawrence Keppie: The making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire , University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma 1998, ISBN 978-080613014-9 , p. 214.

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