Legio XVI Gallica

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Brick stamp of Legio XVI Gallica from Novaesium
( Neuss , Clemens-Sels-Museum )

The Legio XVI Gallica (Sixteenth Legion, nicknamed "The Gallic") was a legion of the Roman army. The legion symbol was a lion.

Legion history

The Legio XVI was probably built by Octavian, later Emperor Augustus , around 40 BC. Set up to take action against Sextus Pompeius . Coin finds indicate a mission in the province of Africa . At the latest from the year 27 BC. The Legion was stationed in the province of Gallia Comata .

Raetia

Overview of the excavation at the small fort Burlafingen

From 15 BC BC to AD 9, at least parts of the XVI Gallica were stationed in Augsburg-Oberhausen in the western Rhaetian Danube region, for which a rather complete helmet of the Hagenau type with the punched inscription Le (gio) XVI P found in 1959 in a gravel pit near Burlafingen (ubli) Aur (eli) IR (?) I (centuria) Arabi M (arci) Munati could speak, especially since the location was in the immediate vicinity of the small fort Burlafingen . The helmet, which is typical for the first half of the first century AD, fits in with the construction activities that took place around 40 AD when the Tiberian-Claudian Danube fortification was built. At that time, among other places, in Burlafingen and in the nearby small fort Nersingen, wood-earth fortifications for border surveillance were built. However, it is very unlikely that these camps will be occupied by Legion troops. As two punched owner inscriptions - P. Aurelius and M. Munatius - show, this helmet was probably in use for a long time. However, in its found situation, this helmet cannot provide proof of the presence of the Legio XVI Gallica in Raetia - in full or in part. In view of the large number of river finds in the Burlafingen area, it was assumed that the helmet should be seen as an offering for the river. This gift could have come from a soldier recruited from the indigenous population who adhered to ancient local rituals.

Mogontiacum

City map of Mogontiacum in the period 1st century BC. BC to 5th century

In the year 13 BC The Legio XIV Gemina and Legio XVI Gallica were relocated to the newly built camp Mogontiacum ( Mainz ) and took part in the campaigns in Germania (12 to 9 BC) under Drusus . When Drusus in 9 BC After he died, the Legio XIIII Gemina and Legio XVI Gallica erected a cenotaph , the Drususstein, for him in Mainz .

In the spring of 6 Tiberius armored against Marbod , the king of the Marcomanni . A total of twelve legions with auxiliary troops were set up, which represented half of the total military potential of the Romans at the time. Shortly after the campaign began, Tiberius broke it off again when he received news of the Pannonian uprising . However, Tiberius concluded a friendship treaty with Marbod in order to concentrate fully on the difficult task in Pannonia. From 6 to 9 AD he put down the rebellion in Pannonia and Illyria with the greatest effort, with the deployment of an army of 15 legions .

After the Battle of Varus , the Mogontiacum garrison was reinforced by two further legions from 9 to 17 AD by the Legio XIII Gemina and Legio II Augusta . After Augustus' death in 14 AD, the legions mutinied in Germania, but were soon calmed down again by concessions from Germanicus , and they all took part in the Germanicus campaigns (14 to 16 AD).

In the winter of 40/41, Servius Sulpicius Galba , the governor of Upper Germany and later emperor, defeated the Chatten , who lived northeast of Mainz . The participation of XVI Gallica in this campaign is not documented, but is considered certain.

An analysis of the Mainz inscriptions showed that 71% of the legionaries were of Italian and 29% of Gallic origin.

Novaesium

Novaesium before the Batavian Uprising

In 43 AD at the latest, the LEG XVI was relocated to Novaesium ( Neuss ) on the Lower Rhine to replace the Legio XX Valeria Victrix , which moved to conquer Britain. Around the time it was moved to Novaesium, the Legion was also called Legio XVI Germania . A vexillation was stationed near Brohl in the Eifel around 50 AD .

In the turmoil of the four-emperor year 69 AD, the LEG XVI joined Vitellius with the other "Rhine Legions" . Vexillations followed the emperor to Italy without being particularly prominent in the battles against Otho . Vitellius dismissed the Praetorians and set up a new guard from members of the legions loyal to him. In the Battle of Bedriacum on October 24, 69 Vitellius was decisively defeated by Vespasian. The vexillation of LEG XVI was probably destroyed or subsequently disbanded in this battle.

The main part of the Legion remaining in Novaesium fought the Batavian Rebellion : A relief army of soldiers from the Legio XXII Primigenia under the command of Gaius Dillius Vocula was marched from the south, united in Novaesium with the Legio XVI Gallica , but did not dare to continue to penetrate into the room around the besieged Vetera (Xanten), but pitched a camp near Gelduba (Krefeld-Gellep). 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. The XVI Gallica withdrew via Gelduba to Novaesium, where it surrendered and was taken captive to Augusta Treverorum (Trier). Several legionaries defected, but soon joined the new Emperor Vespasian . Quintus Petilius Cerialis defeated the Treveri in the Battle of Rigodulum ( Riol ) and freed the prisoners.

Vespasian reorganized the army and disbanded some legions that were considered unreliable due to their involvement during the civil war and the Batavian revolt, including the XVI Gallica. Soon afterwards he set up a new "sixteenth", the Legio XVI Flavia company ("The Reliable Flavian"). He recruited the soldiers of the new unit to a large extent from the ranks of the disbanded Legio XVI Gallica.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Emil Ritterling: Legio (XVI) . In: RE Volume XII, 2, Stuttgart 1925, Sp. 1761-1764
  2. ^ EDH dataset at Heidelberg Epigraphic Database
  3. ↑ AE 1978, 580
  4. ↑ Hans-Peter Kuhnen (Ed.): Abgetaucht, aufgetaucht - river finds. From history. With their story. Exhibition catalog. Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, Trier 2001, ISBN 3-923319-48-7 . P.56; Fig. 57.
  5. ^ Marcus Junkelmann : The Legions of Augustus , Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1986, ISBN 3-8053-0886-8 . P. 172.
  6. ↑ Hans-Peter Kuhnen (Ed.): Abgetaucht, aufgetaucht - river finds. From history. With their story. Exhibition catalog. Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier, Trier 2001, ISBN 3-923319-48-7 . P.56; Fig. 63.
  7. ↑ Hildegard Temporini , Wolfgang Haase, (Ed.): Rise and decline of the Roman world (ANRW). Part II Vol. 5/1, de Gruyter, Berlin - New York 1976, ISBN 978-3-11-006690-6 , p. 491.
  8. ^ Heinz Bellen : Politics - Law - Society: Studies on ancient history , Steiner, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-515-07150-4 , p. 93.
  9. ↑ Tacitus: Annals 2,46,2 .
  10. ↑ Hildegard Temporini , Wolfgang Haase, (Ed.): Rise and decline of the Roman world (ANRW). Part II Vol. 5/1, de Gruyter, Berlin - New York 1976, ISBN 978-3-11-006690-6 , p. 532.
  11. ↑ Tacitus , Ann. I 37
  12. ↑ Tacitus, Ann. I 56
  13. ^ Cassius Dio , Roman History, August 60, 7
  14. ↑ Jonah Lendering: Legio XVI Gallica . In: Livius.org (English)
  15. ↑ Maureen Carroll: Spirits of the dead: Roman funerary commemoration in Western Europe , Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-19-929107-1 , p. 214
  16. ↑ CIL 3, 6074
  17. ↑ CIL 13, 7720
  18. ↑ Tacitus , Hist. IV 26
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. ↑ Tacitus, Hist. IV 36
  22. ↑ Tacitus, Hist. IV 62
  23. ↑ Tacitus, Hist. IV 70-72