Legions of Rome (96 page)

The soldier emperor
Pertinax
, depicted on this gold coin, reigned only for several months. His murder inspired Septimius Severus to take the throne and to punish the Praetorian Guard for the murder.
(Alamy)

The soldier emperor
Septimius Severus
, at right, with his sons, the ambitious Caracalla and the ill-fated Geta. This relief, dating from around AD 203-204, is from the Arch of Severus, in Severus’s home town of Leptis Magna, in today’s Libya, North Africa.
(AKG Images / Gilles Mermet)

Elagabalus
, reigning from AD 218–222, was only 14 when he became emperor through the support of the legions. His eccentric behavior led to his assassination by his own Praetorian Guard, not an uncommon fate for wayward emperors.
(Corbis / Araldo de Luca)

Maximinus
was busy fighting barbarians in the Balkans, as depicted here on the Ludovisi Sarcaphagus, when news arrived that the Senate had replaced him with the Gordians, father and son. He led his legions to Italy to defend his throne, only to be murdered by men of his own 2nd Parthica Legion and Praetorians.
(Werner Forman Archive)

The Temple of Bel in the heart of the city-state of Palmyra. The city was destroyed by Rome’s legions after the defeat of Queen Zenobia’s army. Zenobia would be led through the streets in golden chains during a Triumph. Living at Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli outside Rome, she would eventually marry a Roman senator. (see
The Palmyran Wars
)
(Corbis / Michael Nicholson)

Valentinian I
, depicted here on a medallion, was a cavalry commander prior to attaining the throne, and fought in Julian’s famous victory at Argentoratum, today’s Strasbourg, against a large invading German army.
(SCALA, Florence / Bildagentur fuer Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin)

For years Alaric and his Visigoths were kept beyond these massive Aurelian Walls around Rome by Stilicho and his legions. Once Stilicho was dead, Alaric’s AD 410 sack of Rome was inevitable. (see
The Fall of Rome
)
(SCALA, Florence / Royal Academy of History, Madrid)

The
Notitia Dignitatum
, whose pages are variously dated by scholars between AD 360 and 420, depicts shield emblems and shows postings for hundreds of Late Empire units. Many of these units had disappeared by the start of the fifth century, wiped out by the Persians in the East and invaders from beyond the Rhine and Danube.
(Bodleian Library)

Picture Acknowledgment

Part 1: X. The Legionary’s Weapons -
Selection of Roman swords
(AKG / Peter Connolly)

KEY TO SOURCES

AE
—
L’Annee Epigraphique
, Paris

Alex. W
.—
The Alexandrian War
(Caesar,
CW
)

Amm.—Ammianus Marcellinus

Arr.
TH
—Arrian,
Tactical Handbook

Arr.
EAA
—Arrian,
Expedition Against the Alans

A.V.—Aurelius Victor,
De Caesaribus

Birl.
DRA
—Birley,
Documenting the Roman Army
, “The Commissioning of Equestrian Officers”

Bon.
B&B
—Bonet,
Bulls & Bullfighting

Caes.
GW
—Caesar,
The Gallic War

Caes.
CW
—Caesar,
The Civil War

Carc.—Carcopino,
Daily Life in Ancient Rome

CAS
—Chester Archaeological Society, Table 1

Cic.
Phil
.—Cicero,
Philippics

CIL
—
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
, Berlin

Claud.
OSC
—Claudian,
On Stilicho’s Consulship

Claud.
SCH
—Claudian,
Sixth Consulship of Honorius

Claud.
TGW
—Claudian,
The Gothic War

Cow.
RL 58–69
—Cowan,
Roman Legionary, 58 BC–AD 69

Dio—Cassius Dio,
Roman Histories

Dus.—Dusanic,
Documenting the Roman Army
, “The Imperial Propaganda of Significant Day-Dates”

Eus.
Chron
.—Eusebius Pamphilius,
Chronicle

Eus.
EH
—Eusebius Pamphilius,
Ecclesiastic History

Eus.
LC
—Eusebius,
Life of Constantine

Front.—Frontinus,
Stratagems

Guey—
Essai de la Guerre Parthique de Trajan

Herod.—Herodian,
History of the Empire

Hold.
DRA
—Holder,
Documenting the Roman Army
, “Auxiliary Deployment in the Reign of Hadrian”

Hold.
RAB
—Holder,
The Roman Army in Britain

Horr.—Horrocks,
Secrets & Stories of the War
, Foreword

ILS
—
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae
, H. Dessau, Berlin

Jos.
JA
—Josephus,
The Jewish Antiquities

Jos.
JW
—Josephus,
The Jewish War

Kepp.
CVSI
—Keppie,
Colonisation & Veteran Settlement in Italy 47–14 BC