Legio I Illyricorum

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The Legio I Illyricorum ("First Legion of the Illyrians") was a legion of the Roman army.

Legion history

The legion was probably set up by Aurelian around 272/273 AD shortly before his campaign against Zenobia of Palmyra in the Roman province of Illyricum . After the successful conclusion of the campaign, the Legio I Illyricorum was stationed in Palmyra. Their task was not only to prevent further revolts, but also to guard the border against nomadic tribes.

The destroyed Palmyra only experienced an upswing under Diocletian (284–305), when the city was included in the fortification system of the Limes Arabicus along the Strata Diocletiana . Around the year 300, Sossianus Hierocles , the praeses of the province of Syria Phoenice , ordered the construction of a new legion camp and the fortification of the city. Some historians believe that the Legio I Illyricorum was only moved to Palmyra at that time.

A vexillation of legionnaires from Legio XI Claudia , Legio VII Claudia , Legio IIII Flavia Felix , Legio I Italica and Legio I Illyricorum built under Diocletian in Arabia Petraea (Syria, Jordan) an approximately 550 km long road, which connects the castles Bostra , Basianis ( Qasr al-Azraq ), Amata and Dumata (Jawf) combined.

A vexillation of legionnaires of Legio I Illyricorum and Legio III Gallica under the praepositus Victorinus was moved by Licinius to Egypt and used in Koptos (Qift) in 315/316 AD . Around 321 this unit was stationed on the southern Egyptian border near Syene (Aswan).

In the early 5th century the Legio Prima Illyricorum with its Praefectus was still stationed in Palmyra and was under the Dux Foenicis .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Udo Hartmann : The Palmyrenian Partial Kingdom . Steiner, Stuttgart 2001 ( Oriens et Occidens Vol. 2), ISBN 3-515-07800-2 , pp. 409-410.
  2. ↑ CIL 3, 133 .
  3. ↑ Udo Hartmann : The Palmyrene Partial Kingdom . Steiner, Stuttgart 2001 ( Oriens et Occidens Vol. 2), ISBN 3-515-07800-2 , p. 425.
  4. ↑ AE 1987, 964 ; Gary Keith Young: Rome's eastern trade: international commerce and imperial policy, 31 BC-AD 305 , Routledge, 2001, ISBN 978-0-415-24219-6 , pp. 123-124.
  5. ^ Noel Emmanuel Lenski: The Cambridge companion to the Age of Constantine , Series: Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World Volume 13, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2006, ISBN 978-052152157-4 , p. 327
  6. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Or. XXXII.