Roman Legion - Legio X Gemina

Багерман А.Я., Евсеенков А.С.

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Legio X Gemina The Tenth Paired Legion was a Roman legion formed in 58 BC by Gaius Julius Caesar for his upcoming war in Gaul. The Tenth Paired Legion is considered one of the oldest legions of the Roman Republic, and later the Roman Empire.

Title: Legio X Gemina (The Tenth Paired Legion). Later - Equestris

Dates of existence: 58 BC-early 5th century AD

Logo: Bull

Nicknames: Equestris, Pia VI Fidelis VI, Domitiana, Antoniniana, Gordiana, Deciana, Floriana, Cariniana, Maximiniana.

Battle Path

• The Tenth Paired Legion was formed in 58 BC .Gaius Julius Caesar for his upcoming war in Gaul.

• The baptism of fire for legionnaires of Legio X Gemina was the battle of Sabis (modern river Sambre in the territory of modern France and Belgium) in 57 BC. In this battle, Gaius Julius Caesar won a victory over the superior forces of the Nervii (one of the tribes of the Belgae).

• In 55 BC, Legio X Gemina participates in Caesar's expedition to Britain.

• In 52 BC, the Legio X Gemina fights against Vercingetorix and participates in the siege of Gergovia (the modern city of Clermont-Ferrand).

• In the civil War between Caesar and Pompey 's Legio X Gemina stands on Caesar's side and participates in several key battles: in the summer of 49 BC, the Battle of Ilerda, in the spring of 48 BC, the Battle of Dyrrachia, in August 48 BC, the Battle of Pharsalus, in March 45 BC, the Battle of Munda.

• Legio X Gemina received a cognomen (nickname) Equestris-cavalry for the fact that its soldiers often fought on horseback.

• After the end of the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey, in which Caesar won, the veterans of the Legio X Gemina received lands in the vicinity of Narbonensis (modern Narbonne, France) in Southern Gaul.

• After the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC and the subsequent civil war between Caesar's supporters and his assassins, Marcus Lepidus recreated Legio X Gemina in the winter of 44/43 BC with the cognomen Equestris.

• The recreated Legio X Equestris took part in the Battle of Philippi in Macedonia in 42 BC on the side of the victorious Caesarians. After the victory, the veterans settled in Cremona in northern Italy.

• After the end of the war with Caesar's assassins and the division of spheres of influence, Legio X Equestris remains in the army Mark Antony and goes with him to the East.

• In the east, the Legio X Equestris takes part in Mark Antony's campaigns against Parthia and his invasion of Armenia in 36-34 BC.

• In 31 BC, the Legio X Equestris fights for Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium. But Antony lost the war for power and died, and Legio X Gemina was recognized by the Legion .Octavian.

• Octavian settles the veterans of Legio X Equestris in Patras (modern city of Patras, Greece). But there is a mutiny in the camp, which was suppressed. The Legio X Gemina has been stripped of the cognomen Equestris, and the legionnaires loyal to Octavian from the Legio X Gemina are joined with other legionnaires from different parts to form a new legion called the Legio X Gemina ("Twins").

• Octavian then directs the Legio X Gemina to Petavonium (present –day city of Rosinos de Vidrialis, Spain) in Terracotta Spain.

• Legio X Gemina took part in the campaigns of the Emperor Augustus against the Cantabrians (the Cantabrian Wars), which lasted from 25 to 13 BC.e. and were aimed at making the ocean the border of the empire, that is, to seize the entire Iberian Peninsula under Roman rule.

• Legionnaires of Legio X Gemina were among the first settlers of Merida, Cordoba and Zaragoza in Spain.

• The legion remained in Spain until 63 AD, when it was transferred to replace the Legio XV Apollinaris, which had departed from Corbulonm for the war with Parthia , at Carnuntum (present-day Petronel-Carnunt, Austria) in Pannonia, just east of present-day Vienna.

• In Pannonia, the legion remained until 68 AD, when the new emperor Galba briefly transferred it back to Spain. But already in 70, the new emperor Vespasian sent Legio X Gemina as part of the army of Quintus Petillius Cerialis to suppress the Batavian uprising on the Rhine (Germany).

• Immediately upon arrival in Lower Germany, the legionnaires of Legio X Gemina were forced to defend their winter apartment in Arenak (modern Arnhem, the Netherlands) from the rebels and successfully coped with this.

• Later, Legio X Gemina moves its camp east of Noviomag (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) to the top of Hunerberg Hill to protect Batavian prisoners. This camp is now partially excavated, as is the De Holdern country estate, near Nijmegen, which once housed a major center for the production of tiles and pottery for the Roman Army and Legio X Gemina in particular.

• Legionnaires of the Legio X Gemina also worked in a quarry in the Moselle Valley, which was far beyond the borders of Lower Germany.

• In 89, when the governor of Upper Germany, Lucius Antonius Saturninus, rebelled against the Emperor Domitian, the Legio X Gemina sided with the emperor, for which he was awarded the title Pia Fidelis Domitiana ("Loyal and devoted to Domitian"). The last part of this honorary title was dropped when this emperor was assassinated in 96.

• At the end of the first century AD, while in Cologne, on the orders of the new Emperor Trajan (98-117), the Legio X Gemina rebuilt several forts and built a dam along the Rhine River in 99-100.

• In 103 AD, the legion was transferred to Aquincus (present-day Budapest, Hungary), and in 114 AD it was transferred again to Vindobona (present-day Vienna, Austria) to protect the Danube border.

• During the reign of Emperor Hadrian in 132 AD, a large vexillation Legio X Gemina was sent to participate in the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judah.

• During the reign of Emperor Antonius Pius, the Legio X Gemina vexilatio took part in his campaign in Mauretania.

• During the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Legio X Gemina participated in a battle against the ancient Germanic Quadi tribe, related to the Suevi tribe. Emperor Marcus Aurelius died of the plague in Vindobone at the Legio X Gemina base in 180 AD.

• In the civil war that began in 193 (the year of the five Emperors), after the assassination of Emperor Pertinax, Legio X Gemina supported the governor of Upper Pannonia, Lucius Septimius Severus. Also during Severus ' reign, several legionnaires of the Legio X Gemina were transferred from the Legion to the Imperial Guard in Rome.

• In the third century, several Roman emperors-Caracalla or Helioglabalus, Gordianus III, Decius, Florianus, and Carinus-bestowed venerable nicknames on Legio X Gemina for its participation in the Germanic wars and the Sasanian war. Now the full title of Legio X Gemina was: Legio X Gemina Pia Fidelis Antoniniana, Maximiniana, Gordiana, Deciana, Floriana, Cariniana.

• The latest news about Legio X Gemina dates back to the beginning of the 5th century, when it was still stationed in Vindobon (modern city of Vienna, Austria) and, most likely, after that it ceased to exist.

Related topics

List of Roman Legions, Legion, Legionnaire, Roman Republic, The Roman Empire, Gaius Julius Caesar, Octavian Augustus, Legio XV Apollinaris

Literature

1. J. Gomez-Pantoja, "Legio X Gemini", in: Yann Le Boek, Les legions de Rome sous le Haut-Empire (2000, Lyon) 169-190

2. JK Haalebos, «Römische Truppen in Nijmegen», в: Yann Le Bohec, Les legions de Rome sous le Haut-Empire (2000 Lyon) 465-489

3. MCJ Miller, " Legio Decima Equitata. The Tenth Legion after Caesar and the Colonists of Patras", in Ancient World 2 (1979) 139-144

4. A. Morillo Cerdan and V. Garcia Marcos, "New evidence of the legions VI Victrix y X Gemina en la region septentrional de la península Ibérica", in: Yann Le Bohec, Les legions de Rome sous le Haut-Empire (2000, Lyon)) 589-607

5. I. Piso, "Legions in the province of Dasi", in: Yann Le Bohec, Roman Legions in the Upper Empire (2000, Lyon) 205-225.

6. Stephen Dando-Collins: Legions of Rome. The complete history of all legions of the Roman Empire, Moscow, Tsentrpoligraf Publ., 2017.