Roman Legion - Legio IIII Scythica
Legio IIII Scythica was a Roman legion of the Principate and Late Empire. Its early history is usually connected with Mark Antony and the Danubian wars; later it became one of the key units of the Syrian frontier, was long stationed at Zeugma on the Euphrates and served in Rome's wars against Parthia and the Sasanians.
Founded: after 42 BCE.
Symbol: Capricorn.
Main service areas: Moesia, Syria, Zeugma on the Euphrates.
Origins and the Danube
The title Scythica was probably connected with operations against peoples of the Lower Danube and the northern Black Sea region, whom ancient writers often called Scythians. In the Augustan period the legion served in Moesia; its base is usually associated with Viminacium. On the Danube IIII Scythica was involved not only in warfare but also in road building and military construction, a normal duty of legions on new frontiers.
Among the men who served in the legion was the future emperor Vespasian. This episode shows the unit's status: IIII Scythica was not a minor detachment but part of the standing army through which future commanders of imperial rank could pass.
Syria and the Armenian Wars
Under Nero the legion was transferred to the East. In the Armenian-Parthian war it became associated with the failed campaign of Lucius Caesennius Paetus: together with XII Fulminata it was trapped and forced to surrender at Rhandeia in the winter of AD 62/63. Corbulo later restored the Roman position in Armenia, but the disgraced IIII Scythica and XII Fulminata were not used in the final campaign.
From AD 66 the legion was stationed at Zeugma, an important point on the Euphrates opposite the Parthian frontier. This position made IIII Scythica a permanent part of Rome's eastern policy: guarding the crossing, controlling communications, supporting Syria and joining campaigns against Parthia became its normal service environment.
Painted Roman scutum from Dura-Europos. Wood and paint, mid-third century AD; the object belongs to the garrison context near the western wall.The Severans and the Late Empire
In AD 181-183 the commander of IIII Scythica was the future emperor Septimius Severus. Later, as ruler, he used the Syrian legions in wars against Parthia: the legion served in the eastern campaign of AD 194 and probably in the campaign of AD 197-198, which ended with the sack of Ctesiphon.
After the rise of the Sasanians the eastern frontier again became one of Rome's most dangerous zones. Direct information about every campaign of IIII Scythica is limited, but its Syrian base and its mention in the Notitia Dignitatum show that the unit survived the third-century crisis and still existed in Late Roman times. By the early fifth century it still belonged to the Syrian army, although its old base at Zeugma was no longer its main station.
The scutum from Dura-Europos shown here is not a find from the camp of IIII Scythica, but it illustrates the material setting of the Syrian-Mesopotamian frontier where legions, cohorts and vexillations of Rome's eastern army operated.
Related topics
List of Roman legions, Legion, Roman army, Legio X Fretensis, Legio VI Ferrata, Legio XII Fulminata, Dura-Europos, Dominate
Literature
1. Tacitus. Annals.
2. Cassius Dio. Roman History.
3. Speidel M. A. Legio IV Scythica // Les legions de Rome sous le Haut-Empire. Lyon, 2000.
4. Wagner J. Legio IV Scythica in Zeugma am Euphrat // Studien zu den Militargrenzen Roms 2. 1977.
5. Lendering J. Legio IIII Scythica // Livius.org.
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