Legio XV Primigenia

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The Legio XV Primigenia was a legion of the Roman army that presumably existed from 39 to 70 AD. The name Primigenia (Latin: the original) probably represents a reference to a manifestation of the goddess Fortuna - Fortuna Primigenia, worshiped in the main shrine in Praeneste .

Legion history

Gravestone of the legionnaire Quintus Petilius Secundus (copy from the Xanten Archaeological Park )

Mogontiacum

The Legio XV Primigenia was set up together with the Legio XXII Primigenia of Caligula (37-41) in the year 39 for his campaign in Germania . In the autumn of 39, both legions marched across the Alps. With the Legio IV Macedonica they reinforced the Legio XIIII Gemina and Legio XVI Gallica in the province of Germania superior . The battles against the Chatten on the right bank of the Rhine were apparently costly, because several legionaries died in their first year of service. The XV Primigenia was stationed in its main camp Mogontiacum ( Mainz-Weisenau ) for almost four years . Parts of the legion were at least temporarily in Borbetomagus (Worms).

Vetera

After the conquest of Britain in 43, the Roman army was regrouped by Claudius (41-54). The Legio XXI Rapax in Vetera (Xanten) was replaced by the Legio XV Primigenia . The XV Primigenia was quartered in the left half of the camp, while the Legio V Alaudae occupied the “more elegant” right side. At this time, the expansion of Veteras began with the first stone buildings, for which the XV Primigenia operated a brick factory northwest of the camp.

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo became 47 army commander in Germania inferior and thus commander in chief of the Legio XV Primigenia . The new task was difficult, Corbulo had to deal with major rebellions of the Germanic tribes of the Frisians and Chauken . During his stay in Germania he ordered the construction of the Fossa Corbulonis ("Canal des Corbulo"), a canal between the rivers Rhine and Maas . The canal connected Voorburg , the main town of the Cananefaten, with Matilo ( Leiden ). Several fortifications were built on the Rhine at this time.

Four emperor year

In the spring of 68 Gaius Iulius Vindex and Servius Sulpicius Galba rose against Emperor Nero (54–68). The Lower Germanic troops ( I Germanica, V Alaudae, XV Primigenia and 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. At first the Galba legions joined, but soon the troops of the Germania Inferior elevated their commander Vitellius to imperator. Parts of the “Germanic” legions marched against Rome in January 69 , the year of the Four Emperors. Vitellius's followers defeated Otho , the successor of the murdered Galba in the first battle of Bedriacum on April 14, 69 and helped Vitellius to the throne. Vitellius was defeated and overthrown by Vespasian in the second battle of Bedriacum on October 24, 69 that same year .

Batavian Uprising

At the same time the parts of Legio XXII Primigenia that remained in Lower Germany were involved in the Batavian uprising .

When Vitellius carried out levies in the tribal areas of the Batavians and the Cananefates, which they perceived as arbitrary, in order to strengthen his associations for the impending conflict with Vespasian, the Batavians and Cananefates rose up together with the Frisians under the leadership of the Batavian nobleman and commanders of a Batavian cohort Iulius Civilis . At first, Civilis cleverly gave the appearance of intervening on the side of Vespasian against Vitellius in the civil war. A punitive expedition by the (Vitellian) Romans under Munius Lupercus , the commander of Legio XV Primigenia, ended in disaster, as the Batavian auxiliary riders changed sides during the battle and the ubian and Treverian auxiliary associations fled. The remnants of the corps were only able to save themselves to Vetera with great difficulty .

A relief army of soldiers from the Legio XXII Primigenia under the command of Gaius Dillius Vocula was set off from Mogontiacum , united in Novaesium with the Legio XVI Gallica , but did not dare to advance further into the area around the besieged Vetera (Xanten), but set up camp at Gelduba (Krefeld-Gellep). 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 Legio XV Primigenia was not restored by Vespasian, but probably dissolved in the year 70.

literature

Web links

Commons : Legio XV Primigenia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Maureen Carroll: Spirits of the dead: Roman funerary commemoration in Western Europe , Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-19-929107-1 , p. 211
  2. ↑ a b c d e Jonah Lendering: Legio XV Primigenia . In: Livius.org (English)
  3. ^ Heinrich Beck , Dieter Geuenich and Heiko Steuer (eds.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Volume 20: Metuonis - Scientific Methods in Archeology. P. 148.
  4. ↑ a b Gerold Walser (Ed.): Römische Insschriftkunst , Steiner, 1993, ISBN 978-3-515-06065-3 , p. 194.
  5. ↑ Claude Lepelley: Rome and the Empire in the High Imperial Era. The regions of the empire , de Gruyter Saur, 2001, ISBN 978-3-598-77449-2 , p. 167
  6. ↑ Ingo Runde: Xanten in the early and high Middle Ages. Legend tradition - monastery history - city development (= Rheinisches Archiv 147) , Verlag Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-412-15402-4 , p. 39.
  7. ↑ Ioan Piso: On the northern border of the Roman Empire (Heidelberger Althistorische Contributions und Epigraphische Studien (HABES) Volume 41), Steiner, 2005, ISBN 978-3-515-08729-2 , p. 161.
  8. ↑ In this context, a letter from Antonius Primus to Civilis is often cited, which should have reached its addressee in the late summer of 69 and in which the Batavians were asked to intervene in the war on Vespasian's side. Tacitus, Histories 4, 13; Barbara Levick: Vespasian . Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-16618-7 , p. 108.
  9. ^ Jürgen Kunow: The military history of Lower Germany . 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. 27-109.
  10. ↑ Tacitus , Hist. IV 26
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. ^ Lawrence Keppie: The making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire, University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma 1998, ISBN 978-0-8061-3014-9 , p. 214.