Legio V Alaudae

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Signum of the Legio V Alaudae

The Legio V Alaudae (also Alauda or Alaudarum ) was a legion of the Roman army that was founded around the year 52 BC. Was established by Gaius Iulius Caesar and went down in the 2nd half of the 1st century AD.

Naming and emblem

The nickname Alaudae goes back to a Celtic name for the crested lark , which was adopted by the Romans and was already used under Caesar. This was probably alluding to the legion's unusual crista ( crest ). The name was rarely used in inscriptions and outside of Gaul. Mostly, the legion was simply called Legio V respectively. The legion symbol was the elephant.

The long-standing discussion as to whether the Legio V Alaudae might be identical to the Legio V Gallica has not yet been concluded.

Legion history

Late republic

The Legion V Alaudae goes back to the militia troops that Caesar founded in 52 BC. BC initially set up privately and at their own expense from "foreigners" in the Roman province of Gallia Transalpina . After the Legion was recognized by the Senate , the legionaries were given Roman citizenship .

Denarius Caesar with the symbol of the Legio V Alaudae

The Legion took part in the civil war under Caesar and conquered in 49 BC. The city ​​of Corfinium (today Corfinio) defended by Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus . In the further course of the year 49 BC Caesar used the legion against the Pompeian legions in Spain. Possibly the Legion was 48 BC. Involved in the battle of Pharsalus . In 47 BC The Legion in Messana was mobilized by Caesar and distinguished itself in the battle of Thapsus in 46 BC. In the fight against the elephants of King Juba . The elephant was henceforth the emblem of the Legion. After the Battle of Munda (45 BC) the Legion was moved to Italy.

After Caesar's death, the Legion fought on the side of Mark Antony in the battles of Forum Gallorum (43 BC), Mutina (43 BC) and Philippi (42 BC) and probably against the Parthians . After the defeat of Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The Legio V Alaudae was taken over into his regular army by the victorious Octavian, later Augustus .

Julian-Claudian dynasty

Between 30 and 25 BC The Legion was transferred to the Iberian Peninsula, where it took part in the Cantabrian War (29–19 BC). The Legion camp is unknown. Missing inscriptions from active legionaries suggest that the legion was only briefly stationed in Hispania . In Augustan times, veterans of the Legion were settled in Ligures Baebiani (southern Italy), Thuburnica (Sidi Ali Ben Kassem / Tunisia) and in the Spanish cities of Emerita Augusta ( Mérida ), Corduba ( Córdoba ) and Hispalis ( Seville ).

The Legion was founded between 19 BC. And 9 AD relocated to the Rhine border. The transfer can begin with the end of the Cantabrian War, but also in connection with the Drusus campaigns against the Teutons from 12 BC. Or after the Varus Battle in 9 AD.

It is not clear whether they or another 5th Legion, e.g. B. the Legio V Gallica (which some scholars equate with the V Alaudae), at the defeat of Lollius in 17 or 16 BC. Lost her eagle .

Lucius Nonius Asprenas , as the legate of his uncle Publius Quinctilius 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 in the year 9 by the Teutons under the leadership of the Cheruscan Arminius in the battle in the Teutoburg Forest , Asprenas succeeded with a two-legion army (Legio I and V ) to escape to the winter camp on the Lower Rhine ( Vetera near today's Xanten ) and secure the Rhine line for Rome. According to Cassius Dio, Asprenas hurried from the Rhine to meet the legionnaires and civilians who were fleeing from the Aliso fort on the Lippe after the Varus defeat .

The lost associations from Vetera were replaced by the Legio V Alaudae and the Legio XXI Rapax . Vetera became the capital of the Lower Germanic Army District (Exercitus Germanicus Inferior), which was newly established around 11/12 AD .

In 14 AD the Legio V Alaudae is safely occupied again. It had its garrison in the right (more elegant) half of the double legion camp of Vetera. She took part in the mutiny of the legions after the death of Augustus and in the Germanicus campaigns . in the decades that followed, the Legion remained in Vetera. Traces of the Legion's building activity can be found in Sentiacum ( Sinzig ), Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum ( Nijmegen ), Vechten, Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium ( Cologne ) and Kleve .

As of Claudius with the insignia of the Legio V Alaudae and Legio VIII Augusta

In 21 n. Chr. Were vexillations the four Lower German legions I Germanica , V Alaudae , XX Valeria Victrix and XXI rapax together under the guidance of the tribune of Legio I Germanica , torquatus Novellius Atticus against the revolted Gallic strains of Andecaver and Turones used .

Lucius Apronius , the governor of the province of Germania inferior , set out with his legions, supported by vexillations from Germania superior and auxiliary troops, in the year 28 to put down an uprising by the Frisians . Under the command of their legate, Cethegus Labeo, the Legion excelled in these battles. Presumably the Legion 39/40 took part in Caligula's Germanic campaign. The involvement of a vexillation in the conquest of Britain by Claudius in 43 is not documented, but possible.

Four imperial year and Flavian dynasty

On January 1, 69, the Rhine Legions rebelled against Galba , with the V Alaudae playing a leading role. The Legion supported the elevation of Vitellius to emperor; a large part with the Aquila (legionary eagle) marched to Italy and took part in the battles against Otho and later that year against the armed forces of Vespasian . The legion of the Legion at the time of the defeat in the Second Battle of Bedriacum was Fabius Fabullus. The remnants of the legion that remained in Lower Germany were involved in the Batavian revolt and besieged in Vetera by Iulius Civilis .

A relief army of soldiers from the Legio XXII Primigenia under the command of Gaius Dillius Vocula was set on the march from the south, united in Novaesium with the Legio XVI Gallica , but did not dare to penetrate further into the area around the besieged Vetera, but struck Gelduba (Krefeld-Gellep) set up camp. Vetera could be “liberated” at short notice before the insurgents closed the siege ring again. The troops remaining in the legionary camp Vetera, parts of the Legio XV Primigenia , the Legio V Alaudae and possibly the Legio XVI Gallica, surrendered after the supplies were exhausted in March 70. The legionaries were granted free retreat. However, they were ambushed and massacred by Teutons five miles south of Veteras. A few managed to escape back to Vetera, where they perished in the fire that the insurgents started in the course of the looting.

Some historians believe that the Legion was wiped out in 69/70, while others postulate its continued existence.

The defeated Legio V Alaudae was posted to Moesia superior after the battle to protect the border against Sarmatians and Dacians , which had been exposed in the civil war . Your legion camp is unknown. In Moesia , under the governor Fonteius Agrippa, there were costly battles against the Scythians (collective term for the Eastern European barbarian peoples , meaning the Sarmatians). Presumably the Legion survived these losses as well.

Domitian (81-96) settled veterans of the legions I Italica , III Augusta , IV Macedonica , V Macedonica , V Alaudae, IIII Flavia and VII Claudia in the newly founded city of Scupi ( Skopje ) at the beginning of his rule . In the winter of 85/86 strong Dacian warriors of King Diupaneus penetrated from the north across the Danube into the Roman province of Moesia and met the Romans completely unexpectedly. Their governor, Gaius Oppius Sabinus , fell in battle and the attackers were able to pillage and pillage almost unrestrained. 86/87 Cornelius Fuscus commanded an army fighting the Dacians under their king Decebalus . He suffered a crushing defeat at the beginning of the Dacian Wars , in which the V Alaudae were probably wiped out.

Tomb of Lucius Poblicius

Tomb of Poblicius

Several military tribunes and soldiers of the Legio V Alaudae are epigraphically documented. A veteran of the Legion, Lucius Poblicius, erected a magnificent tomb near Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne) in the middle of the 1st century , which is now in the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne.

literature

Web links

Commons : Legio V Alaudae  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Emil Ritterling : Legio (V Alaudae). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1564-1571.
  2. ^ Brian W. Jones: The Emperor Domitian , Routledge, 1992, ISBN 0-415-04229-1 , p. 226; see: Victor Gardthausen : Augustus und seine Zeit , 2nd part, 3rd volume, Teubner, Leipzig 1904, p. 678 ( online ; reprint: Bibliobazaar, 2008, ISBN 0-554-51293-9 ); Alfred von Domaszewski : Treatises on the Roman religion , Leipzig 1909, reprint Olms, Hildesheim, New York 1977, pp. 8–9
  3. ^ Lawrence Keppie: The making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire , University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma 1998, ISBN 978-080613014-9 , p. 98.
  4. ^ Suetonius , Caesar 24 ; see. Pliny the Elder , naturalis historia 11, 121 .
  5. ^ Lawrence Keppie: The making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire , University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma 1998, ISBN 978-080613014-9 , p. 104.
  6. ^ A b c Lesley Adkins: Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome , Sonlight Christian, 2004, ISBN 0-8160-5026-0 , p. 59.
  7. ↑ Cf. Marcus Tullius Cicero , Ad Atticum 16, 8 .
  8. ↑ For the role of the Legion in the civil war against Octavian see: Ulrich Gotter : The dictator is dead! , Steiner, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-515-06815-5 .
  9. ↑ The veteran settlements are dealt with in great detail in: Sabine Panzram: Stadtbild und Elite: Tarraco, Corduba and Augusta Emerita between Republic and Late Antiquity (Historia, individual writings 161), Steiner, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-515-08039-2 , p. 233 and 267; Review at sehepunkte and review (PDF file; 90 kB) by Joachim Gruber .
  10. ^ Rainer Wiegels : From the defeat of M. Lollius to the defeat of Varus ; In Helmuth Schneider : Hostile Neighbors: Rom und die Germanen , Böhlau, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20219-4 , pp. 50–51; cf.: Velleius Paterculus 2, 97,1: accepta in Germania clades sub M. Lollio… amissaque legionis quintae aquila vocavit from urbe in Gallias Caesarem “the defeat suffered in Gaul under M. Lollius… and the loss of the eagle of the 5th legion called Caesar (= Augustus) from Rome to Gaul ”.
  11. ↑ Jonah Lendering: Legio V Alaudae . In: Livius.org (English).
  12. ↑ Velleius Paterculus 2,120,3 ( Latin text ).
  13. ↑ Cassius Dio 56: 18-23: “And they would all have perished or also been taken prisoner, if the barbarians had not stopped too much to catch the booty. Because in this way the strongest gained a great advantage, and by the trumpeters who were with them blew the usual signal during a fast march, they made the enemy believe that they were sent by Asprenas. Therefore, they abandoned the persecution, and when Asprenas heard of the incident, he actually came to their aid. "
  14. ^ The defeat of Lollius and the Augustan campaigns on the private website of the archaeologist Jürgen Franssen.
  15. ^ Tacitus , Annales 1:45.
  16. ↑ Tacitus, Annales 1, 31 and 1, 45.
  17. ^ Tacitus, Annales 1, 51 and 1, 64.
  18. ↑ CIL 14, 3602 .
  19. ↑ Tacitus, Annales 3, 41ff. see: Emil Ritterling: Legio (V Alaudae) .
  20. ^ Tacitus, Annales 4, 73. see: Emil Ritterling: Legio (V Alaudae) .
  21. ^ Tacitus, Historien 1, 55.
  22. ↑ Tacitus, Historien 1, 61; 2, 43; 2, 100.
  23. ^ Tacitus, Histories 3, 14 and 22.
  24. ↑ Tacitus, Historien 4, 35.
  25. ↑ Tacitus, Historien 4, 26.
  26. ↑ Tacitus, Historien 4, 60.
  27. ^ Jürgen Kunow : The military history of Lower Germany. The year of the four emperors and the Batavian revolt. In: Heinz Günter Horn (Ed.): The Romans in North Rhine-Westphalia . Licensed edition of the 1987 edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-59-7 , pp. 59–63.
  28. ↑ Dirk Schmitz: The Batavian Rebellion in the context of the Roman civil war 68-70 AD. In Martin Müller, Hans-Joachim Schalles and Norbert Zieling (eds.): Colonia Ulpia Traiana. Xanten and its surroundings in Roman times . Zabern, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-8053-3953-7 , pp. 117-140.
  29. ^ Brian W. Jones: The Emperor Domitian , Routledge, 1992, ISBN 0-415-04229-1 , p. 139; Alfred von Domaszewski: Treatises on the Roman religion , Leipzig 1909, reprint Olms, Hildesheim, New York 1977, pp. 8-10.
  30. ^ András Mócsy : Pannonia and Upper Moesia: History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire , Routledge, 1974, ISBN 978-071007714-1 , p. 81f.
  31. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus , Jewish War 7, 4, 3.
  32. ↑ M. Mirkovic: Native population and Roman cities in the province of Upper Moesia , in: Hildegard Temporini (Ed.): Rise and decline of the Roman world (ANRW), Part II, Volume 6, Political History (Provinces and marginal peoples: Latin Danube- Balkan area) . Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin & New York 1977, ISBN 978-3-11-006735-4 , p. 831; also Lawrence Keppie: The making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire , University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma 1998, ISBN 978-080613014-9 , p. 214.
  33. ^ Brian W. Jones: The Emperor Domitian , Routledge, 1992, ISBN 0-415-04229-1 , p. 138.
  34. ↑ Miriam Griffin : The Flavians . In: Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, Dominic Rathbone (Eds.): The Cambridge Ancient History . Vol. 11: The High Empire, AD 70-192 . University Press, Cambridge 2000, ISBN 0-521-26335-2 , p. 73
  35. ↑ AE 1979, 412 .