Legio VI Victrix

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Stamped roof tiles of the (legio VI) VICTR (ix) from Novaesium , Clemens-Sels-Museum , Neuss

The Legio VI Victrix (the victorious 6th Legion) was a legion of the Roman army that formed in 41 BC. BC was excavated by Octavian and existed until the early 5th century. The legion emblem was believed to be a bull.

Legion history

Julian-Claudian dynasty

Gravestone of the Tribunus militum Titus Pompeius Albinus from Emerita Augusta (Mérida, Spain)

It was a copy of the Legio VI Ferrata that served under Mark Antony and probably consisted partly of veterans of this legion, some of whom upheld the traditions of the Caesarian Ferrata. The VI Victrix had its first mission in the same year in Perusia , also fought in Sicily against Sextus Pompeius , who disrupted Rome's grain supply from there . 31 BC BC she stood in the battle of Actium against Marcus Antonius. The following year she was stationed in Tarraconensis , where she took part in Augustus' Cantabrian War against the Cantabrians , which began in 29 BC. Until 19 BC Lasted.

The legions VI Victrix and X Gemina were initially stationed together in an unknown camp in Asturias. Later the VI Victrix was presumably moved to León , while the X Gemina was stationed in Petavonium (Rosinos de Vidriales). Veterans of the IIII Macedonica , VI Victrix and the X Gemina were around 15 BC. BC among the first settlers in the Colonia Caesaraugusta ( Saragossa ). At that time, the legions were used for extensive road and bridge construction work on the Via Augusta . The Legion stayed in Spain for almost a century, earning the nickname Hispaniensis . The name Victrix dates from the time of Nero .

Four imperial year and Flavian dynasty

Honorary inscription of Sextus Caelius Tuscus, Legatus of the Legio VI Victrix, at Vetera II (Xanten)

By the year 68, apart from the Legio VI Victrix, all legions had gradually been withdrawn from Spain. Galba , the governor of Tarraconensis, joined the uprising of Gaius Iulius Vindex against Nero in 68 and was proclaimed emperor by the Legion and the Provincials on April 3, 68 in Carthago Nova . When Galba marched to Rome with the newly excavated Legio VII Galbiana , the VI Victrix stayed in Spain without intervening in the battles of the four emperors year. From Vespasian the VI. Relocated to the Rhine in the year 70 to fight the Batavian uprising . After the initial successes of the Batavians under their leader Iulius Civilis , who defected from the Romans , the uprising was suppressed by Quintus Petilius Cerialis until the autumn of 70. The decisive battle at Xanten in July 1970 lasted two days. After the campaign, the legion was relocated to Novaesium (Neuss). As early as 70 AD, the camp, which had been destroyed during the war, was rebuilt in the same place by the legion in stone construction (camp G3).

In 89, Lucius Antonius Saturninus , the governor of Germania superior , revolted against Domitian . The Lower Germanic legions ( I Minervia , VI Victrix, X Gemina, XXII Primigenia) marched to Mogontiacum (Mainz) and put down the Saturnine uprising. In gratitude, Domitian gave the legions the title of Pia Fidelis Domitiana ("dutiful and loyal to Domitian"). After Domitian's death and his " damnatio memoriae " in 96 AD, the name addition Domitiana was deleted.

In Aquae Granni (Aachen) the Büchelthermen were expanded in stone by the Legio VI Victrix. There was also a water pipe that leads to Burtscheid . The line was covered with bricks, the brick stamps VI VIC PF indicate the legion.

Adoptive Emperor and Antonine Dynasty

Since 99 vexillations have been moved to Vetera II , which Legio XXII Primigenia had left a few years earlier. They played a key role in building the Colonia Ulpia Traiana and building the aqueduct to supply the city of Aachen . In 103 the Novaesium camp was abandoned and the entire legion was relocated to the strategically more favorable Vetera. Vexillations were stationed near Brohl in the Eifel around 100 AD in order to cut the required building material in the tuff quarries. A vexillation of the VI Victrix , I Minervia and X Gemina took part in Trajan's Dacer Wars (101/102 and 105/106).

SOLI INVICTO VEXILLATIO LEG VI VIC PFF SVB CVRA SEX CALPVRNI AGRICO LAE LEG AVG PR PR "The invincible sun god ( Mithras ) established by a vexillation of the Legio VI Victrix Pia Fidelis on the instructions of the governor Sextus Calpurnius Agricola" from Coriosopidum ( Corbridgeumberland )

At 121 the Legion in Vetera was replaced by the Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix and relocated to Britain. The main camp was Eburacum (York). Vexillations have been used in the construction of Hadrian's Wall since 122 . Your "construction phase" included the area between Newcastle upon Tyne and Carlisle . Between 139 and 142 Vexillations were entrusted with the construction of the Antonine Wall between Edinburgh and Glasgow . The building material was mined by the legionaries in the nearby quarries at Coombe Crag, Lodge Crag and Haltwhistle Burn . Between 155 and 158 unrest broke out in the north of Britain, so that the legions there had to be increased with replacements from Germania inferior and Germania superior . From 158 the Legion had been busy rebuilding Hadrian's Wall in preparation for the retreat from Antonine Wall. Around 165 Pertinax , who later became emperor, became a tribune of the Legion. Between 175 and 190, decades after the Antonine Wall was abandoned, vexillations of the Legio VI Victrix were at least temporarily stationed in Castlecary as an outpost. In the late 2nd century a vexillation was stationed in Coriosopidum .

Lucius Artorius Castus , whom some identify with King Arthur , was Praefectus of the Legio VI Victrix between 180 and 230 . He probably led a vexillation of the three British legions ( Legio II Augusta , VI Victrix, Legio XX Valeria Victrix ) against rebels in Brittany in the late 2nd century .

Second year of the four emperors and Severer

In 196 the British governor Clodius Albinus crossed with his legions to Gaul and had himself proclaimed emperor by the legions. However, he was defeated by the governor of Upper Pannonia, Septimius Severus , on February 19, 197 in the battle of Lugdunum (Lyon). As the stamps on lead ingots ( ancient lead mining ) suggest, the defeated troops of Clodius Albinus ( Legio VI Victrix , Legio XX Valeria Victrix ) were used to mine the lead deposits in Britain. The absence of much of the Roman troops had meanwhile been taken advantage of by the northern tribes to invade Britain and plunder with impunity. The meanwhile returned VI Victrix , however, soon retook Eburacum , rebuilt the city and repaired Hadrian's Wall. At that time the Legion was given the honorary title fidelis constans (faithful and steadfast). The long and loss-making punitive expeditions of the British legions to the north had little success, however, so that Emperor Septimius Severus personally landed in Britain with an army to subdue Caledonia (today's Scotland) once and for all. The Legio II Augusta and Legio VI Victrix were relocated to the large legion camp of Carpow am Tay for this purpose . In this war the Legion earned the title Britannica . Around the year 213 the legate of VI Victrix was promoted to governor of the newly created province of Britannia Inferior .

Soldiers emperors and late antiquity

Even in the 3rd century, Eburacum remained the main camp of the legion. Vexillations of the British legions were also used in Pannonia on the Danube in the 260s . From 260 to 274 Britain belonged to the Imperium Galliarum and from 286 to 297 it became independent from Rome under Carausius and Allectus for some time.

Carausius had coins minted in honor of all the legions that accompanied him on his campaign in Gaul. The Legio VI Victrix stayed to secure the border in northern Britain and was not involved in this campaign. It is therefore not represented on the coins. This gave rise to the legend that the Legion opposed Carausius. In fact, Carausius was also recognized in the north. In another opinion, the Legion hesitated and only later sided with Carausius.

Remains of a corner tower of the Eburacum legionary camp

In 297, Britain was reintegrated into the Roman Empire by Constantius I. When Constantius died in 306 on a campaign against the Picts and Scots in Eburacum , the Legio VI Victrix proclaimed his son Constantine (306–337) on July 25, 306 as Augustus (Upper Emperor). In the early 4th century, the Legion undertook major renovations at their main camp, Eburacum . Fortifications and towers were strengthened and other buildings such as the Principia were repaired.

In late antiquity, the military administration was separated from the civil administration throughout the empire and the army was divided into movement armies ( comitatenses ) and border troops ( limitanei ). The Dux Britanniarum , to which the Praefectus legionis sextae was now subordinate , had the supreme command of the border troops on the British northern border with Hadrian's Wall . Interestingly, it doesn't seem to have had its own garrison fortress either. One would actually expect it to be still stationed in York, as it had been for centuries; however, their absence may be an indication that the Legion may have just been relocated to another location while the list of dux Britanniarum was being compiled in the Notita Dignitatum.

Possibly the VI. but also in connection with the mysterious Primani iuniores under the Comes Britanniarum . The panegyric Claudian reports that the Western Roman magister militum Stilicho launched an offensive against Picts and Skots around 398/99, before numerous units of the British army were withdrawn again in 401/402 to secure Italy against the Visigoths . Not only was the primani possibly withdrawn, but Stilicho was probably forced to call in reinforcements from the most distant parts of the empire in order to defend Gaul, Illyria and Italy ; it is obvious to assign the Primani to the apparently “homeless” Legio VI. After comparing all of Claudian's information about the Legio VI, it looks like that, together with many other Limitanei , who were initially under the command of the comes Britanniarum , they were withdrawn around 402 and together with other units of the dux Britanniarum and the comes Litoris Saxonici per Britanniarum were then used against the Goths in Ilyricum and Italy, while others had to be handed over to Gaul. Inscriptions of the VI. Legion can be proven on the island until the beginning of the 5th century AD. It is possible that in post-Roman Britain a kind of militia system was maintained by their veterans in order to close the gaping gap in the defense of the northern border at least partially.

literature

Web links

Commons : Legio VI Victrix  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ AE 1935, 5
  2. ^ Lawrence Keppie: The making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire , University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma 1998, ISBN 978-080613014-9 , p. 125.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Jona Lendering: Legio VI Victrix . In: Livius.org (English).
  4. ^ Alan K. Bowman, Edward Champlin, Andrew Lintott : The Augustan Empire, 43 BC-AD 69 ( The Cambridge Ancient History , 2nd Edition, Volume 10), Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 9780521264303 , pp. 453-454.
  5. ^ Lesley Adkins: Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome , Sonlight Christian, 2004, ISBN 0-8160-5026-0 , p. 59.
  6. ↑ Jörg Rüpke : Fasti sacerdotum. The members of the priesthoods and the sacred functional staff of Roman, Greek, Oriental and Judeo-Christian cults in the city of Rome from 300 BC. Chr. To 499 AD. Vol. 1, Steiner, Stuttgart 2005 ( Potsdamer Classical Studies , Vol. 12I – III), ISBN 978-3-515-07456-8 , p. 675.
  7. ↑ Claude Lepelley (Ed.): Rome and the Empire in the High Imperial Era, Vol. 2: The Regions of the Empire , de Gruyter, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-598-77449-4 , p. 129.
  8. ↑ a b Claude Lepelley (Ed.): Rome and the Empire in the High Imperial Era, Vol. 2: The Regions of the Empire , de Gruyter, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-598-77449-4 , p. 168.
  9. ↑ AE 1905, 00135 , CIL 13, 08549 , CIL 13, 08550 and CIL 13, 08551
  10. ^ Aqueduct remains found in Aachen (video) . Accessed January 2020.
  11. ↑ a b Ingo Runde: Xanten in the early and high Middle Ages. Tradition of sagas - history of monasteries - city development , Verlag Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2003, ISBN 3412154024 , p. 43.
  12. ↑ Marietta Horster : Building inscriptions of Roman emperors: Investigations into inscription practice and building activity in cities of the western Roman Empire in the time of the Principate (dissertation), Steiner, Stuttgart 2001 ( Historia Einzelschriften, H. 157) ISBN 3-515-07951-3 , p 180; see: CIL 13, 7695 , CIL 13, 7696 , CIL 13, 7715 , CIL 13, 7716
  13. ^ Anthony R. Birley : The people of Roman Britain , University of California Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0520041196 , p. 82.
  14. ^ Anthony R. Birley: The people of Roman Britain , University of California Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0520041196 , pp. 74-75.
  15. ^ Alfred Michael Hirt: Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World: Organizational Aspects 27 BC-AD 235 (Oxford Classical Monographs), Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-019957287-8 , p. 176.
  16. ^ Anthony R. Birley: The Roman government of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0199252374 , p. 148.
  17. ^ Anthony R. Birley: The people of Roman Britain , University of California Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0520041196 , p. 61.
  18. ↑ National Museums & Galleries of Wales (Ed.): Birthday of the eagle: the second Augustan legion and the Roman military machine , 2002, ISBN 0-7200-0514-0 , p. 76.
  19. ^ Anthony R. Birley: The people of Roman Britain , University of California Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0520041196 , p. 86.
  20. ^ Anthony R. Birley: The people of Roman Britain , University of California Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0520041196 , p. 45; see: CIL 3, 1919 , CIL 3, 12791
  21. ↑ a b c A. Simon Esmonde-Cleary: The Ending of Roman Britain , Routledge, 1991, ISBN 978-0-415-23898-4 , pp. 45-46.
  22. ↑ Norbert Hanel , Peter Rothenhöfer, Michael Bode, Andreas Hauptmann: "After the battle of Lugdunum (197 AD). British lead on the way to Rome." Chiron 43, 2013, 303 f., 308 f.
  23. ↑ National Museums & Galleries of Wales (Ed.): Birthday of the eagle: the second Augustan legion and the Roman military machine , 2002, ISBN 0-7200-0514-0 , p. 72.
  24. ^ Anthony R. Birley: The people of Roman Britain , University of California Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0520041196 , p. 43.
  25. ^ PJ Casey: Carausius and Allectus: the British usurpers , Routledge, 1994, ISBN 978-0713471700 , pp. 82-83
  26. ↑ Malcolm Todd : A companion to Roman Britain , Wiley-Blackwell, 2006, ISBN 978-0-631-21823-4 , pp. 398-399.
  27. ^ Peter Salway: A History of Roman Britain , Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 978-0192801388 , p. 215.
  28. ^ Anthony R. Birley: The Roman Government of Britain , Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0199252374 , p. 406.
  29. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occ. XL
  30. ↑ AHM Jones: 1986