Roman Legion - Legio X Fretensis

Багерман А.Я.

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The Legio X Fretensis (Antoniniana Pia Fidelis) was a Roman legion formed by Emperor Octavian Augustus in 41 or 40 BC to fight the younger son of Gnaeus Pompey the Great, Sextus Pompey, who then controlled the island of Sicily and was one of the leaders of the Pompeians, against Caesar's supporters and commanded a large naval force.

The last mention of the legion dates back to 410.

Legion symbols: bull, warship, boar, Neptune, dolphin.

The name Fretensis can be translated as "Crushing in the Strait", "Guarding the Strait", "Legion of the Strait" or simply "Legion of the Strait". According to Mommsen, this cognomen is due to the fact that the legion was originally created to protect the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Italy (Latin Fretum Siculum). Despite its name, the Legion was not a naval unit.

Battle Path

• In 36 BC, the Naval Battle of Navloh (a cape in Italy). In this battle, Agrippa defeated Sextus Pompey and for participating in this battle, the legion received its name-Fretensis.

• In 31 BC, the legion participates in the famous naval battle between the troops of Octavian and Antony at Cape Actium. Shortly after this battle, the legion was transferred to Syria. From Syria, the legion was sent to suppress the Jewish revolt in Judea, which occurred after the death of King Herod the Great in 4 AD.

• In 6 AD, the legion was transferred to Cyrrhus (present-day Turkey). Later, he was again transferred to Syria and during the reign of Emperor Nero (54-68) was sent to participate in the Armenian campaign of Gnaeus Corbulonus (58-63). Corbulo was a Roman general who, on the orders of the Emperor Nero, set about solving the Eastern question, in particular, to conquer Armenia and turn it into a Roman province. Several legions, including the Legio X Fretensis, participated in Corbulo's campaign against Armenia (Roman-Parthian War of 58-63).

• During the reign of Emperor Nero (54-68), the legion participated in the Armenian campaign of Gnaeus Domitius Corbuon. Corbulo was a Roman general who, on the orders of the Emperor Nero, set about solving the Eastern question, in particular, to conquer Armenia and turn it into a Roman province. Several legions, including the Legio X Fretensis, participated in Corbulo's campaign against Armenia (Roman-Parthian War of 58-63). The legionnaires of Legio X Fretensis managed to capture part of Armenia, including the two capitals of Armenia – the cities of Artashtat and Tigranakert.

• After that, the legion was again returned to Syria. Here, a legion unit took part in the suppression of the uprising in Jerusalem in 66 (1st Jewish War (revolt) 66-71). The uprising was not suppressed, and the legion soldiers were defeated. The remnants were assigned to the main legion units located in Ptolemais (modern city of Acre in Israel).

• The Legion, having regained its strength after the defeat in Judea, near Jerusalem in 66, again takes part in the suppression of the first Jewish uprising (in the literature called the First Jewish War).

• During the First Jewish War (66-71), the legion is commanded by Marcus Ulpius Trajan, father of the future Roman Emperor Trajan (reigned 98-117) and Titus Flavius Vespasian, who later became Emperor Titus. In 68, the legion, after capturing the important Jewish city of Gamala, was transferred to Scythopolis (the modern city of Beit She'an, located in the Jordan Valley, about 25 km away). from Lake Kinneret, Israel). Here he operates in the Jordan Valley, where he destroys the Qumran monastery, which later became famous from the Dead Sea scrolls.

• In 70 AD, when Titus, son of the Emperor Vespasian, became commander of the legion, the legion took part in the siege and storming of Jerusalem. After the capture of Jerusalem, the legion with a new legate, Titus by then transferred to Rome and soon became Roman emperor, proceeds to lay siege to the last formidable fortress held by the Jewish rebels, Massada. For the capture of Massada, which took the legion 3 years (71-73), as the fragments of Roman siege camps buried around Massada remind us today, the legion was forgiven for its defeat at Jerusalem at the beginning of the Jewish uprising (66).

Josephus, during the First Jewish War was a Jewish general, but during the war was captured by the Romans and later went to their service and wrote a detailed work on the 1st Jewish War, which called: "The Jewish War".

According to the book of Josephus, on the night of the 15th of Nisan, Elazar ben Yair, the leader of the defenders of Massada, gave a fiery speech to the Jews and urged them to die free men-to prefer death to painful and shameful slavery (excerpt from their speech by Elazar ben Yair, delivered on the night of the fall of Masada (Josephus, The Jewish War, VII, 320-336)):

"Take heart, heroes, cover yourself with glory! We have long ago decided not to submit to the Romans or to any other rulers, except God alone, for He alone is the true and just king over men. And now it is time to fulfill our vow. Let us not put ourselves to shame in this hour, for even before our soul abhorred the share of slavery, although then slavery did not threaten us with such monstrous dangers. Let us not even now voluntarily surrender ourselves to slavery, nor to the terrible torments that await us. We will not disgrace ourselves before the Romans, we will not surrender to them alive! We are the first to rise up against them, and the last to leave the battlefield. The Lord has shown us a great mercy by giving us the opportunity to die the death of heroes, to die as free men, which was not possible for our brothers who were captured suddenly. But we are open to what awaits us tomorrow, and given the right to choose the glorious death of heroes-along with those who are dear to us. May our wives not die disgraced, and may our orphans not experience the bitterness of slavery. And then we will do one another a last service, we will show one another a last favor, and what can be better and more precious, brothers, than the honorable shroud of freedom? But before we die, let us set our property and fortress on fire. I know for a fact that the Romans will be upset if they see that they didn't take us alive and were disappointed in their hopes of plundering us. Only our food supplies will be left untouched, so that after our death they will show that we did not suffer from hunger or lack of water, but we chose death over slavery - as we had previously decided...."

In his description, Josephus refers to the story of two women who took refuge in a cave with five children and told the Romans how men killed their wives and children, and then by lot each other.

"...then ten people were chosen by lot, who were to kill the rest. And each of them sprawled on the ground beside his dead wife and children, his arms wrapped around their bodies, and willingly offered his throat to the ten who were performing this terrible duty. These people stabbed everyone with their swords without flinching, one by one. Then they cast lots among themselves, so that whoever fate pointed out would kill nine of their comrades, and then lay hands on himself.…So they all perished with the certainty that they had not left behind a single soul to be abused by the Romans. The next day the Romans went up to Masada, and when they found the dead heaps, they did not rejoice at the sight of their dead enemies, but only stood in silence, struck by the greatness of their spirit and the invincible contempt for death" (VII, 9: 1).

The last of the 960 besieged set fire to the fortress and committed suicide.

The legate of the legion, during the siege of Massada, was Lucius Flavius Silva Nonius Bassus. A Hollywood film was made about the storming and fall of the Massada fortress in 1981, where the role of Legate Bass was played by actor Peter O'Toole.

An interesting moment, after filming the film, all the props, recreated ancient Roman assault vehicles, were presented by the film crew to the Massada Museum and displayed on the south side of the preserved Roman embankment.

Also from the height of the Massada walls today, you can still see the remains of the preserved outlines of Roman military camps around the fortress, built by legionnaires Legio X Fretensis.

• After the fall of Massada, the legion is transferred to Jerusalem for almost 150 years, where it encamps. His stay in Jerusalem during this period is evidenced by the finds of the 10 Legion baths near the bridge leading to the old city of Jerusalem, the remains of tiles with the legion's brands, a column with the mention of the legion's name, located in Jerusalem, near the Imperial Hotel. At this time, the Legion is subordinate to the procurator (a public official of Ancient Rome who ruled small provinces and was subordinate to the governors of larger provinces). The Jews.

• In the second century during the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117), the legion took part in the Parthian Campaign (115-117) of Emperor Trajan. In the course of this campaign, at first, the Emperor Trajan captured the entire Mesopotamia, and then was forced to leave it and retreat to Syria.

• The Legion continues to serve in Syria and already under the next emperor, Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD), takes part in the suppression of the 2nd Jewish uprising (war) known in history as the Uprising of Shimon Bar Kokhba (131-135 AD). The Legion participates in the siege and destruction of the last rebel stronghold, the fortress city of Beitar, located in the Judean Mountains, southwest of the city of Jerusalem.

• After the fall of Beitar, the legion and the Legio VI Ferrata camp together in the Galilee region. The next mention of the legion dates back to the reign of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (reigned 161-180).

• During the reign of this emperor, the legion took part in the Marcomanian wars in Dacia. These wars were fought by Rome with alliances of Sarmatian and Germanic tribes, in 166-180, due to their movements of these tribes to the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Separate episodes of the Marcomanian War are depicted on the bas-reliefs of the column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. After that, the legion continues to serve in Syria.

• In 193, the so-called “ Year of the Five Emperors”, the legion supported one of the contenders for the imperial throne in Rome, Pescennius Niger, who declared himself emperor, but was defeated by the forces of another pretender to the imperial throne, Septimius Severus. The victorious Severus leaves the legion to serve in Judea.

• At the beginning of the third century, cavalry assigned to the legion takes part in the war in Gaul, where it receives the title Pia Fidelis ("Loyal and honest"). Previously, the legion received the title of Antoniniana , but when and for what merits is unknown.

• At the beginning of the third century, the legion is still located in Jerusalem, but later it is transferred to Ayla (near the southern city of Eilat, Israel), where it is engaged in the protection of an important trade and transport road from Eilat to Jerusalem.

• At the beginning of the 5th century (410), the Legion was still stationed in Aila (a city located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea, belongs to Jordan, near the Israeli city of Eilat).

• There are no later records of the legion.

Interestingly, there is a version according to which the Tenth Legion that crushed in the Strait is the legendary Tenth Legion of Caesar. As a refutation of this version, the famous Australian writer Stephen Dando-Collins (Legions of Rome. The complete history of all the legions of the Roman Empire), telling about the legions of Rome, mentioning our legion, explains why our legion is not the legion of Caesar, as the German historian of the XIX century thought before him, in his writings.

Reconstruction

Our club, Legio X Fretensis, is engaged in the reconstruction of this combat unit by the Roman Empire, after which it is called, although for a long time the activity has gone beyond the reconstruction of only the Tenth Legion. The main time period in which the Tenth Legion is reconstructed is the 1st-2nd century AD.

However, there are other clubs for the reconstruction of this division around the world, one of them is located in Malta.

Related topics

Legion, Legionnaire

Literature

1. Theodor Mommsen. "History of the Roman Emperors".

2. I. Golyzhenkov- " The Army of Imperial Rome. I-II centuries A.D.".

3. A. Makhlayuk. "The Roman legions. The most complete illustrated Encyclopedia (3rd Edition, revised and expanded)".

4. Grushevoy A. G. "Jews and Judaism in the history of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire".

5. Dando-Collins. "The Legions of Rome. The Complete History of the Legions of the Roman Empire”"

6. Josephus. "The Jewish War".

8. E. Dombrova, Legio X Fretensis. Prosopographical study of its officials (I-III C AD) (1993).

9. E. Dombrova, "Legio X Fretensis", in: Yann Le Boheck, " The Legion of Rome and the Upper Empire "(2000 Lyon) 317-325.

10. H. Geva, "The Tenth Legion Camp in Jerusalem: An Archaeological reinterpretation," in Israel Exploration Journal 34 (1984) 239-254.

11. M. Guichon, "The Siege of Masada", in: Jan Le Bogec, Les legions de Rome sous Le Haut-Empire (2000 Lyon) 541-554.

12. J. Meshorer, "Two finds from the Roman Tenth Legion," in: Israel Museum Journal 3 (1984), 41-45.

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