Legio tertia Italica (Third Italian
legion) was a Roman legionThe Roman legion is a term that can apply both as a translation of legio to the entire Roman army and also, more narrowly , to the heavy infantry that was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army in the period of the late Roman Republic and the...
levied by Marcus AureliusMarcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Lucius' death in 169...
around 165, for his campaign against the MarcomanniThe Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri, Suebi or Suevi.- Origin :Scholars believe their name derives from one of two possible sources: old Germanic forms of "march" and "men"; or the name of a Roman legate, Marcus Fabius Romanus, who deserted Drusus' legions during...
tribe. The cognomen Italica
suggests that recruits were originally from Italy. The legion was still active in Germania in the early 5th century (Notitia DignitatumThe Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial...
, dated ca. 420 AD for Western Roman Empire entries).
Together with legions II Italica
Legio secunda Italica , was a Roman legion levied by emperor Marcus Aurelius in 165 together with I Italica at a time when the Roman Empire was fighting both in Germania and in Parthia. There are still records of the II Italica in Noricum in the beginning of the 5th century...
and I Adiutrix
Legio prima Adiutrix , was a Roman legion formed in 68, possibly by Galba under orders of Nero. The last record mentioning the Adiutrix is in 344, when it was stationed at Brigetio , in the Roman province of Pannonia...
, III Italica
legion was in the Danube provinces from its beginning, fighting the Marcomanni invasion of the RaetiaRaetia was a province of the Roman Empire, bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, and on the south by Cisalpine Gaul...
and NoricumNoricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a fraction of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
provinces.
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Legio tertia Italica (Third Italian
legion) was a Roman legionThe Roman legion is a term that can apply both as a translation of legio to the entire Roman army and also, more narrowly , to the heavy infantry that was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army in the period of the late Roman Republic and the...
levied by Marcus AureliusMarcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Lucius' death in 169...
around 165, for his campaign against the MarcomanniThe Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri, Suebi or Suevi.- Origin :Scholars believe their name derives from one of two possible sources: old Germanic forms of "march" and "men"; or the name of a Roman legate, Marcus Fabius Romanus, who deserted Drusus' legions during...
tribe. The cognomen Italica
suggests that recruits were originally from Italy. The legion was still active in Germania in the early 5th century (Notitia DignitatumThe Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial...
, dated ca. 420 AD for Western Roman Empire entries).
Together with legions II Italica
Legio secunda Italica , was a Roman legion levied by emperor Marcus Aurelius in 165 together with I Italica at a time when the Roman Empire was fighting both in Germania and in Parthia. There are still records of the II Italica in Noricum in the beginning of the 5th century...
and I Adiutrix
Legio prima Adiutrix , was a Roman legion formed in 68, possibly by Galba under orders of Nero. The last record mentioning the Adiutrix is in 344, when it was stationed at Brigetio , in the Roman province of Pannonia...
, III Italica
legion was in the Danube provinces from its beginning, fighting the Marcomanni invasion of the RaetiaRaetia was a province of the Roman Empire, bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, and on the south by Cisalpine Gaul...
and NoricumNoricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a fraction of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
provinces. In 171 they built the camp Castra Regina, present
RegensburgRegensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, designed as a strongly defensive position like a
castleA castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress, in that it describes a residence of a monarch or...
.
In the civil war of 193, this legion supported
Septimius SeverusLucius Septimius Severus was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14 April, 193 until his death in 211. Severus was the first emperor of the troubled Severan dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of the Roman principate before the Crisis of the Third Century...
and helped him defeat his opponents first
PertinaxPublius Helvius Pertinax, commonly known as Pertinax , was a Roman emperor who briefly reigned from December 31 192 until his death on March 28 193. He was emperor for only 86 days. He is known as the first emperor of the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors...
and
Didius JulianusMarcus Didius Severus Julianus was briefly Roman Emperor from 28 March 193 to 1 June 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax. This led to the Roman Civil War of 193–197...
, then
Pescennius NigerGaius Pescennius Niger was a Roman usurper from 193 to 194 during the Year of the Five Emperors. Niger was born of an old Italian equestrian family....
and
Clodius AlbinusDecimus Clodius Septimius Albinus was a Roman usurper proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania upon the murder of Pertinax.-Life:...
. Their loyalty was extended to Severus' successor, emperor
CaracallaCaracalla , born Lucius Septimius Bassianus and later called Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus, was the eldest son of Septimius Severus and Roman Emperor from 211 to 217. He was one of the most nefarious of Roman emperors...
, for whom they fought in 213 a campaign against the
AlamanniThe Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Main river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211–17 and claimed thereby to be their...
.
Since the cognomen III Italica Gordiana
is recorded, vexellations (sub-units) the legion were involved in Emperor Gordian IIIMarcus Antonius Gordianus Pius , known in English as Gordian III, was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and his father was an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238. Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and younger sister of Emperor Gordian II...
's campaign against the Sassanid EmpireThe Sassanid Empire or Sasanian Empire, known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr, was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty who reigned from 224 to 651 CE...
in 243-244.
As part of the powerful DanubianThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
army, III Italica
took part in the frequent 3rd century internal power struggles. The legion fought for GallienusPublius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus ruled the Roman Empire as co-emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and then as the sole Roman Emperor from 260 to 268. He took control of the empire at a time when it was undergoing great crisis...
against his rival PostumusMarcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman emperor of Batavian origin. He usurped power from Gallienus in 260 and formed the so called Gallic Empire...
, so it was awarded with the VI Pia VI Fidelis
and VII Pia VII Fidelis (seven times faithful and loyal) cognomen. III Italica
main camp was still Regensburg, but they were included in the 273 campaign commanded by emperor AurelianLucius Domitius Aurelianus , known in English as Aurelian, Roman Emperor , was the second of several highly successful "soldier-emperors" who helped the Roman Empire regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth.During his reign, the Empire was...
against queen ZenobiaZenobia was a 3rd century Syrian queen of the Palmyrene Empire. After her father's death, before becoming the second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus...
.
Vexellations of the legion, a comitatensis unit, are mentioned in
Notitia DignitatumThe Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial...
as still being in Castra Regina and the Danubian provinces during the early 5th century.
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