List of Roman legions#Late Empire legions

Republican legions were formed by compulsory levy of Roman citizens (who met a minimum property qualification) and raised whenever it was necessary. Usually they were authorized by the Roman Senate and later disbanded.

Throughout the late Republic, soldiers and commanders served only for short periods intending, respectively, to secure plunder or political advancement from military victory.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=xvii}} There is little evidence of changes in the wealth and social backgrounds of the men who joined before and after the opening of recruitment;{{sfnm|Rich|1983|1p=329|Gruen|1995|2pp=xvii, 367|Evans|1995|3p=91}} the pay remained pitiful.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=369. "Bare subsistence".}} Conscription remained the main method by which Rome mustered troops.{{sfn|Rafferty|2021}} The evidence for the abolition of property requirements is very weak,{{sfn|Cadiou|2018|pp=52–53}}{{Cite book |last=Rosenstein |first=Nathan S |title=Rome at war: farms, families and death in the middle republic |date=2004 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-2839-7 |series=Studies in the history of Greece and Rome |location=Chapell Hill, NC |pages=14, 235 n. 75}} The figures of 11,000, 4,000, and 1,500 {{lang|la|asses}} are reported in the sources; "nothing warrants the presumption that the figures are to be arranged in a descending sequence" however. and there were no significant changes in population size or demographics that would drive such a reduction.{{sfn|Cadiou|2018|pp=42 n. 24, 49–50}}{{harvnb|Cadiou|2018|p=48 n. 64|ps=, also mentioning an alternative theory – given in {{harvnb|Shochat|1980|pp=62–64}} – that reductions in property qualifications, if they happened, were driven not by a quantitative shortage of {{lang|la|assidui}} but rather a shortage of {{lang|la|assidui}} willing to serve. }}{{harvnb|Rich|1983|p=316|ps=. "The view that the property qualification... was progressively reduced derives much of its plausibility from the fact that it fits well with received doctrine on Roman manpower... It would thus smack of circularity to use the supposed second century reduction in the property qualification as evidence for the shortage of {{lang|la|assidui}}."}} The bulk of recruits were still landed citizens, who would appear poor to the elites authoring the surviving sources.{{sfn|Rafferty|2021}} Again, their pay was not enough to sustain professional career in the military, and soldiers generally did not expect land grants after discharge.{{sfnm|Gauthier|2015|1p=101|Keaveney|2007|2p=62}}

In the last century of the Republic, proconsuls governing frontier provinces became increasingly powerful. Their command of standing legions in distant and arduous military campaigns resulted in the allegiance of those units transferring from the Roman state to themselves. These imperatores (lit: victorious generals, from the title imperator they were hailed with by their troops) frequently fell out with each other and started civil wars to seize control of the state, such as Sulla, Caesar, Pompey, Crassus, Mark Antony and Octavian (later Augustus, the first Emperor himself). In this context, the imperatores raised many legions that were not authorised by the Senate, sometimes having to use their own resources. As civil wars were resolved, many of these "private" units would be disbanded, only for more to be raised to fight the next civil war. By the time Augustus emerged as sole ruler of Rome in 31 BC, over 50 legions were in existence, many of which were disbanded.

The legions included in the following list had a long enough history to be somehow remarkable. Most of them were levied by Julius Caesar and later included into Octavian's army, some of them were levied by Marc Antony.

• Fimbrian legions: 86 BC – 66 BC, Lucius Valerius Flaccus. These 2 legions fought in the Mithridatic Wars.
• Legio I Germanica (Germanic): 48 BC – AD 70 (Revolt of the Batavi), Julius Caesar (emblem: bull)
• Legio II Sabina (Sabine): 43 BC – 4th century AD, early name of the Legio II Augusta, Augustus
• Legio III Cyrenaica (from Cyrene): probably {{circa|36 BC}} to (at least) the 5th century, Mark Antony
• Legio III Gallica (Gallic): around 49 BC to at least early 4th century, Julius Caesar (emblem: bull)
• Legio IV Macedonica (Macedonian): 48 BC – AD 70 (renamed by Vespasian), Julius Caesar (emblem: bull, capricorn)
• Legio IV Scythica (from Scythia): {{circa|42 BC}} to at least early 5th century, Mark Antony (emblem: capricorn)
• Legio V Macedonica (Macedonian): 43 BC – 637 AD, Augustus (emblem: bull)
• Legio V Alaudae (Larks): 52 BC – AD 70 or 86 (destroyed either during the Batavian rebellion or by the Dacians in first Battle of Tapae), Julius Caesar (emblem: elephant)
• Legio VI Ferrata (Ironclad): 52 BC – after 250, Julius Caesar (emblem: bull, she-wolf and Romulus and Remus); twin legion of Legio VI Victrix
• Legio VI Victrix (Victorious): 41 BC – after 402, Octavian (emblem: bull)
• Legio VII Claudia Pia Fidelis (loyal and faithful to Claudius): 51 BC – 44 BC, Julius Caesar; disbanded and re-formed by Augustus
• Legio VIII Augusta: 59 BC – 46 BC, Julius Caesar, originally named Gallica, disbanded and re-enlisted by Augustus as Legio VIII Augusta, 44 BC – 420
• Legio IX Hispana (Hispanian): before 58 BC – at least 120 AD
• Legio X Equestris (Equestrian): before 58 BC – 45 BC, Julius Caesar's personal legion, later renamed as Legio X Gemina
• Legio X Fretensis (of the sea strait): levied by Augustus in 41/40 BC, recorded to have existed at least until the 410s
• Legio XI Claudia: 58 BC – 45 BC, Julius Caesar (emblem: Neptune), disbanded, reconstituted by Augustus
• Legio XII Fulminata (Thunderbolt): 57 BC – AD 45, Julius Caesar, first reconstituted by Lepidus in 43 BC, named by Mark Antony as Legio XII Antiqua (Ancient)
• Legio XIII Gemina (Twin): 57 BC – 45 BC: Julius Caesar, later (41 BC) reconstituted by Augustus. The legion that crossed the Rubicon with Caesar on his assault on Rome.
• Legio XIV Gemina Martia Victrix (Twin martial and victorious): 57 BC – 48 BC: Julius Caesar, destroyed and reconstituted in 53 BC. Reconstituted by Augustus after 41 BC.
• Legio XV Apollinaris (Apollo's) 41 BC - 40 BC Octavian, raised to end the occupation of Sicily by Sextus Pompeius.
• Legio XVI Gallica (Gallic) 41 BC - 40 BC Octavian, disbanded after Batavian revolt in 70AD.
• Legio XVII raised by Octavian in 41 BC, destroyed in Teutoburg forest in 9AD with XVIII and XIX legions.
• Legio XVIII raised by Octavian in 41 BC, destroyed in Teutoburg forest in 9AD with XVII and XIX legions
• Legio XIX raised by Octavian in 41 BC, destroyed in Teutoburg forest in AD 9 with XVII and XVIII legions
• Legio XX Valeria Victrix (Victorious Valeria) raised by Octavian in 31 BC.
• Legio XX Siciliana: 36 BC – 6 BC, Octavian probably for his campaign against Sextus Pompey.
• Legio XXI Rapax (Predator) raised by Octavian in 31 BC
• {{III|Legio XXV|lt=Legio XXV|es|Legio XXV}}: 49 BC – 42 BC, Julius Caesar
• {{III|Legio XXVI|lt=Legio XXVI|es|Legio XXVI}}: 49 BC – 30 BC, Julius Caesar
• {{III|legio XXVII|lt=legio XXVII|es|legio XXVII}}: 49 BC – 30 BC, Julius Caesar
• {{III|Legio XXVIII|lt=Legio XXVIII|es|Legio XXVIII}}: 47 BC – 31 BC, Julius Caesar
• {{ill|Legio XXIX|es|Legio XXIX|lt=Legio XXIX}}: 49 BC – 30 BC, Julius Caesar
• {{ill|Legio XXX Classica|de|Legio XXX Classica|WD=}} (Naval): 48 BC – 41 BC, Julius Caesar

Image:Roman Empire 125.png.]]

Codes for Roman provinces in the table:

:

The numbering of the legions is confusing, since several legions shared the same number with others. Augustus numbered the legions he founded himself from I, but also inherited numbers from his predecessors. Each emperor normally numbered the legions he raised himself starting from I. However, even this practice was not consistently followed. For example, Vespasian kept the same numbers as before for legions he raised from disbanded units. Trajan's first legion was numbered XXX because there were 29 other legions in existence at the time it was raised; but the second Trajanic legion was given the sequential number II. XVII, XVIII and XIX, the numbers of the legions annihilated in the Teutoburg Forest, were never used again. (These three legions are without titles, suggesting that in disgrace their titles may have been deliberately forgotten or left unmentioned.) As a result of this somewhat chaotic evolution, the legion's title became necessary to distinguish between legions with the same number.

Legions often carried several titles, awarded after successive campaigns, normally by the ruling emperor e.g. XII Fulminata was also awarded: paterna (fatherly), victrix (victorious), antiqua (venerable), certa constans (reliable, steadfast) and Galliena (Gallienus '). Pia fidelis (loyal and faithful), fidelis constans and others were titles awarded to several legions, sometimes several times to the same legion. Only the most established, commonly used titles are displayed on this table.

The geographical titles indicate

• the country a legion was originally recruited e.g. Italica = from Italy or
• peoples the legion has vanquished e.g.Parthica = victorious over the Parthians

Legions bearing the personal name of an emperor, or of his gens (clan) (e.g. Augusta, Flavia) were either founded by that Emperor or awarded the name as a mark of special favour.

The title GEMINA means that two diminished legions have been combined to make one new one.

This shows the castra (base) where the legion spent the longest period during the Principate. Legions often shared the same base with other legions. Detachments of legions were often seconded for lengthy periods to other bases and provinces, as operational needs demanded.

Legions often sported more than one emblem at the same time, and occasionally changed them. Legions raised by Caesar mostly carried a bull emblem originally; those of Augustus mostly a Capricorn

For legions that are documented into the 4th century and beyond, we do not know when or how they were terminated. For legions disappearing from the record before 284, the reason (certain or likely) is given as:

• XX = annihilated in battle
• DD = disbanded in disgrace
• UF = unknown fate

Indicates the bases (castra) and/or provinces where the legion was based during its history, with dates.

Contains points of note, including explanation of titles and details of a legion's fate.

Province names and borders are assumed throughout the Principate period as at 107, during the rule of Trajan, and after the annexation of Dacia and Arabia Petraea. The map above shows provinces at the end of Trajan's reign, 117. They are the same as in 107, except that Armenia and Mesopotamia have been annexed (they were abandoned soon after Trajan's death); and Pannonia has been split into two (the split occurred {{circa|107}}). In reality provincial borders were modified several times between 30 BC and 284: this explains any discrepancy with other sources, as to a legion's location at a particular date.

{{Main|Late Roman army}}

Image:Scutum Iovianorum seniorum.svg legion of the Ioviani seniores, according to the Notitia Dignitatum.]]

Diocletian reorganized the Roman army, in order to better counter the threat of the Germanic peoples of northern Europe as well as that of the Persians from the East. The army was formed by border and field units.

The border (limitanei) units were to occupy the limes, the structured border fortifications, and were formed by professional soldiers with an inferior training.

The field units were to stay well behind the border, and to move quickly where they were needed, with both offensive and defensive roles. Field units were formed by elite soldiers with high-level training and weapons. They were further divided into:

1. Scholae: the personal guard of the Emperor, created by Constantine I to replace the Praetorian Guard;
2. Palatinae: "palace troops" were the highest ranked units, created by Constantine I after he disbanded the Praetorian Guard, it was comprised originally of former guardsmen;
3. Comitatenses: regular field units, some were newly-formed, others were descended from Early-Empire legions;
4. Pseudocomitatenses: these were limitanei units diverted into the field army and often kept there; some Early Empire legions became pseudocomitatenses units.

These units usually numbered between 300 and 2,000 soldiers and some of them kept their original numbering schemes. The primary source for the legions of this era is the Notitia Dignitatum, a late 4th-century document containing all the civil and military offices of both halves of the Roman Empire (revised in {{circa|420}} for the Western Empire).

• Legio I
• I Armeniaca
• I Flavia Constantia (reliable Flavian): comitatensis unit under the command of the Magister militum per Orientis
• I Flavia Gallicana Constantia (reliable Flavian legion from Gallia): pseudocomitatensis under the command of the Magister Peditum per Gallias. The legion was founded by Constantius I Chlorus. The legions objective was to protect the Armorican coast and fight the Roman-British usurper, Allectus.{{Cite web|title=Legio I Flavia Gallicana Constantia - Livius|url=https://www.livius.org/articles/legion/legio-i-flavia-gallicana-constantia/|access-date=2020-08-06|website=www.livius.org}}{{Cite book|title=History of the Roman Legions}}{{Cite book|last=Lacey|first=James|title=Great Strategic Rivalries From the Classical World to the Cold War|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016}}
• I Flavia Martis (Flavian legion devoted to Mars): pseudocomitatensis. The legion was founded by Constantius Chlorus to fight Allectus.{{Cite web|title=Legio I Flavia Martis - Livius|url=https://www.livius.org/articles/legion/legio-i-flavia-martis/|access-date=2020-08-06|website=www.livius.org}} It was stationed in Gaul.
• I Flavia Pacis (Flavian legion of peace): comitatensis under the command of the Magister Peditum
• I Flavia Theodosiana: comitatensis.
• I Illyricorum (of the Illyrians): stationed at the Camp of Diocletian in Palmyra
• I Iovia (devoted to Jupiter): levied by Diocletian, stationed at Noviodunum in Scythia Minor
• I Isaura Sagittaria (archers from Isauria): pseudocomitatensis under the command of the Magister militum per Orientis
• I Iulia Alpina: pseudocomitatensis under the command of the Magister Peditum in Italy. It is unknown who founded the legion although it was probably Crispus or Constans.{{Cite web|title=Legio I Iulia Alpina - Livius|url=https://www.livius.org/articles/legion/legio-i-iulia-alpina/#:~:text=Legio%20I%20Iulia%20Alpina:%20one,%22the%20Julian%20Alpine%20legion%22.&text=The%20element%20Julia,%20however,%20suggests,Empire%20between%20337%20and%20350.|access-date=2020-08-06|website=www.livius.org}}
• I Martia possibly based near modern Kaiseraugst. The Legion could have had the surname Victrix.{{Cite web|title=Legio I Martia - Livius|url=https://www.livius.org/articles/legion/legio-i-martia/|access-date=2020-08-06|website=www.livius.org}} The legion was probably founded by Diocletian. It also may have built forts in Valeria.
• I Maximiana Thaebanorum (the Thebans of Maximianus): comitatensis unit stationed near Thebes, Egypt, and probably fighting in the battle of Adrianople
• I Noricorum (of the Noricans): stationed in Noricum. The legion was probably founded by Diocletian to help defend the Danube.
• I Pontica: the legion was founded by Dioceltian to help defend Pontus Polemoniacus.{{Cite web|title=Legio I Pontica - Livius|url=https://www.livius.org/articles/legion/legio-i-pontica/|access-date=2020-08-06|website=www.livius.org}} The legion was stationed in Trapezus.
• Legio II
• II Armeniaca
• II Britannica: comitatensis under Magister Peditum
• II Flavia Constantia: comitatensis under the command of the Magister Peditum
• II Flavia Virtutis: comitatensis under the command of the Magister Peditum
• II Herculia (devoted to Hercules): levied by Diocletian, stationed in Scythia Minor
• II Isaura
• II Iulia Alpina: pseudocomitatensis under the command of the Magister Peditum, in Comes Illyricum command. It was probably founded by Crispus or Constans. Its objective was to defend Alpes Cottiae
• II Felix Valentis Thebaeorum: comitatensis
• Legio III
• III Diocletiana
• III Flavia Salutis The Legio III Flacia Salutis was a comitatensis legion of the Late Roman Empire. The legion was raised by either Constantius II or Diocletian. The legion was used to guard North Africa. The Legio III Flavia Salutis was under the command of the Magister Militum in the west.{{Cite book|last=DuBois|first=Michael|title=Auxillae|publisher=Lulu.com|year=2016|isbn=978-132-963-758-0}}{{Cite book|last=Lenski|first=Noel|title=The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006}}
• III Herculea: comitatensis under the command of the Comes Illyricum
• III Isaura
• III Iulia Alpina: comitatensis under the command of the Magister Peditum command in Italy
• Legio IV
• IV Italica
• IV Martia
• IV Parthica
• Legio V
• V Iovia (maybe the Jovians)
• V Parthica
• Legio VI
• VI Gemella
• VI Gallicana
• VI Herculia (maybe the Herculians)
• VI Hispana
• VI Parthica
• Legio XII
• XII Victrix

{{Portal|Ancient Rome}}

• List of Roman auxiliary regiments
• Roman army
• Auxilia
• Roman legion
• Structural history of the Roman military

{{Reflist}}

• Notitia Dignitatum reports the military units and their locations at the beginning of the 5th century.

{{refbegin|30em}}

• Oxford Classical Dictionary
• Keppie, Lawrence. The Making of the Roman Army, 1984 pp. 205–215
• Stephen Dando-Collins "Legions Of Rome"
• {{cite thesis |last=Gauthier |first=François |title=Financing war in the Roman republic: 201 BCE–14 CE |year=2015 |degree=PhD |institution=McGill University |url=https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/2f75rb627 |access-date=2023-07-01 }}
• {{cite book |last=Keaveney |first=Arthur |title=The army in the Roman revolution |year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-39486-4 }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Rafferty |first=David |year=2021 |title=Review of "L'armée imaginaire: les soldats prolétaires dans les légions romaines au dernier siècle de la République" |url=https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2021/2021.06.02/ |journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review |issn=1055-7660}}
• {{Cite book |last=Shochat |first=Yanir |title=Recruitment and the programme of Tiberius Gracchus |date=1980 |publisher=Latomus |isbn=978-2-87031-109-7}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Rich |first=J W |date=1983 |title=The supposed Roman manpower shortage of the later second century BC |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=287–331 |jstor=4435854 |issn=0018-2311}}
• {{Cite book |last=Cadiou |first=François |title=L'armée imaginaire: les soldats prolétaires dans les légions romaines au dernier siècle de la République |date=2018 |publisher=Les Belles Lettres |language=fr |isbn=978-2-251-44765-0 |series=Mondes anciens |location=Paris}}
• {{cite thesis |last=Evans |first=Richard John |date=1995 |title=Gaius Marius: a political biography |publisher=University of South Africa |url=http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/16766/thesis_evans_rj.pdf |access-date=2019-06-08 |degree=DLitt et Phil }}
• {{Cite book |last=Gruen |first=Erich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8a4wDwAAQBAJ |title=The last generation of the Roman republic |year=1995 |isbn=0-520-02238-6 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press}}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.legionx.pl Legio X] – Legio X Gemina (Equites) – "Viri Clarissimi"
• [https://www.livius.org/le-lh/legio/legions.htm Livius.org: List of Roman legions]
• [http://www.davros.org/romans/legions.html A catalogue of Roman legions]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080507205724/http://web.utk.edu/~cohprima/ Legio V Living History Group in Tennessee]
• [http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=977551&filename=Roman%20castra%20from%20Romania.kmz Roman legions from Dacia (KML file)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120084233/http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=977551&filename=Roman%20castra%20from%20Romania.kmz |date=2012-01-20 }}

{{Roman Legion}}

{{Ancient Rome topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Roman Legions}}

Category:Roman legionary fortresses