Legio IV Scythica

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Legio IV Scythica

Legio quarta Scythica (4th Scythian Legion) was a Roman legion
Roman legion

The 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 Roman army in the period of the late Roman Republic and the Roman Empire....
levied by Mark Antony
Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Marc Antony, was a Roman Republic politician and General. He was an important supporter and the best friend of Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator, being Caesar's second cousin, once removed, by his mother Julia Antonia....
around 42 BC, for his campaign against the Parthian Empire
Parthian Empire

The Arsacid Empire , was a significant political and cultural power in the ancient Near East, and a counterweight to the Roman Empire in the region....
, hence its other cognomen
Cognomen

The cognomen was originally a middle name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary ....
, Parthica. The legion was still active in Syria
Syria (Roman province)

Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War....
in the early 5th century.

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Legio quarta Scythica (4th Scythian Legion) was a Roman legion
Roman legion

The 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 Roman army in the period of the late Roman Republic and the Roman Empire....
levied by Mark Antony
Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Marc Antony, was a Roman Republic politician and General. He was an important supporter and the best friend of Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator, being Caesar's second cousin, once removed, by his mother Julia Antonia....
around 42 BC, for his campaign against the Parthian Empire
Parthian Empire

The Arsacid Empire , was a significant political and cultural power in the ancient Near East, and a counterweight to the Roman Empire in the region....
, hence its other cognomen
Cognomen

The cognomen was originally a middle name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary ....
, Parthica. The legion was still active in Syria
Syria (Roman province)

Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War....
in the early 5th century. The legion's symbol was a capricorn
Capricorn

Capricorn may refer to:* Capricornus, one of the constellations of the zodiac* Capricorn , the sign represented by the above constellation* Capricorn , a manga series created by Johji Manabe...
.

Origin

In its first years, the whereabouts of IIII Scythica are uncertain, although it is probable that it took part in Antony's campaign against the Parthians. The name suggests that it fought against the Scythia
Scythia

The Scythians or Scyths were an Eastern Iranian languages of Equestrianism nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic steppe throughout Classical Antiquity....
ns. After the battle of Actium
Battle of Actium

The Battle of Actium was the final engagement in the Final War of the Roman Republic. It was fought between the forces of Augustus and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII....
and Antony's suicide, Octavian transferred IIII Scythica to the Danube
Danube

The 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 River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
province
Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italia ....
of Moesia
Moesia

Moesia was an ancient region and Roman province situated in the areas of modern Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania along the south bank of the Danube River....
. The legion is reported to have taken part in civilian tasks, such as the building and keeping of roads. In his youth, future emperor Vespasian
Vespasian

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 69 A.D. until his death in 79 A.D. Vespasian was the founder of the short lived Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 A.D....
served in this legion.

Campaigns in the east

King Vologases I of Parthia
Vologases I of Parthia

Vologases I of Parthia ruled the Parthia from about 51 to 78. Son of Vonones II of Parthia by a Greeks concubine, he succeeded his father in 51 AD....
invaded Armenia
Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
, a client kingdom of Rome, in 58. Nero
Nero

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and final Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty....
ordered Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was a Ancient Rome general....
, the new legatus of Cappadocia
Cappadocia

Cappadocia, Wikipedia:IPA for English /k?p?'do???/ , was an extensive inland district of Asia Minor . The name continued to be used in western sources and in the Christianity tradition throughout history and is still widely used as an international Tourism in Turkey concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders characterized by...
, to manage the matter. Corbulo brought IIII Scythica from Moesia, and with III Gallica
Legio III Gallica

Legio tertia Gallica was a Roman legion levied by Julius Caesar around 49 BC, for his Roman Republican civil wars against the conservative republicans led by Pompey....
and VI Ferrata
Legio VI Ferrata

Legio VI Ferrata , was a Roman Legion formed in 65 BC, and in existence up to at least 215 AD. It served under Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars , and in the various Roman civil wars of the Roman Republic in the years before and after Caesar's assassination ....
defeated the Parthians, restoring Tigranes
Tigranes

Tigranes was the name of a number of historical figures, primarily kings of Armenia.The earliest Tigranes is mentioned in the Cyropaedia and in Armenian historical sources....
on Armenian throne. In 62, IIII Scythica and XII Fulminata
Legio XII Fulminata

Legio duodecima Fulminata , also known as Paterna, Victrix, Antiqua, Certa Constans, and Galliena, was a Roman legion, levied by Julius Caesar in 58 BC and which accompanied him during the Gallic wars until 49 BC....
, commanded by the new legatus of Cappadocia, Lucius Caesennius Paetus
Lucius Caesennius Paetus

Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus was a Roman aristocrat, member of the Junius , who lived in the second half of the 1st century during the Roman Empire....
, were defeated by the Parthians at the Battle of Rhandeia and forced to surrender. The legions were covered with shame and removed from the war theatre to Zeugma
Zeugma (city)

Zeugma is an ancient city of Commagene; currently located in the Gaziantep Province of Turkey . It is a historical settlement which is considered among the four most important settlement areas under the reign of the kingdom of Commagene....
. This city would be the base camp of IIII Scythica for the next century.

In the Year of the Four Emperors
Year of the Four Emperors

The Year of the Four Emperors was a year in the history of the Roman Empire, AD 69, in which four emperors ruled in a remarkable succession. These four emperors were Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian....
(69), the legion, like the rest of the Eastern army, sided with Vespasian immediately. Despite the demonstrated loyalty, IIII Scythica was not involved in actual fighting because it was not considered a high quality legion. This has to do with another defeat years earlier in the Jewish rebellion. In the 2nd century, it participated in the suppression of another Jewish rebellion, this time with more success.

Since 2nd century

IIII Scythica participated in all campaigns of the 2nd century against the Parthian Empire. Between 181 and 183, the commander of the Eastern legions was Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus

Lucius Septimius Severus was a Roman Empire general, and Roman Emperor from April 14 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the Libyan part of Rome's historic Africa Province, making him the first emperor to be born in the Roman province of Africa Province....
, who become emperor relying on his legions power.

The legion disappears from the sources after 219, when their commander, Gellius Maximus
Gellius Maximus

Gellius Maximus was a Roman usurper against Roman Emperor Elagabalus.Gellius Maximus was the son of a physician and a member of the roman senate....
, rebelled against Emperor Elagabalus
Elagabalus

Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, was a Roman Emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from 218 to 222....
and proclaimed himself emperor, only to be defeated by Elagabalus. However, according to Notitia Dignitatum
Notitia Dignitatum

The Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Ancient Rome imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western Roman empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial level....
, in the early 5th century, IIII Scythica was still in Syria, camped in Sura.

See also

List of Roman legions
List of Roman legions

This is a list of Roman legions, including key facts about each legion,primarily focusing on Principate legions, for which there exists substantial literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence....

External links