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Legio XII Fulminata
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Legio duodecima Fulminata (12th Thunderbolt Legion), 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. The unit was still guarding the Euphrates River crossing near Melitene at the beginning of the 5th century. The legion's emblem was a thunderbolt (fulmen).
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Legio duodecima Fulminata (12th Thunderbolt Legion), 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. The unit was still guarding the Euphrates River crossing near Melitene at the beginning of the 5th century. The legion's emblem was a thunderbolt (fulmen). In later centuries it came to be called commonly, but incorrectly, the Legio Fulminatrix, the Thundering Legion.
Under Caesar
The Twelfth legion, as it is perhaps better known, fought in the Battle against the Nervians, and probably also in the Siege of Alesia. The Twelfth fought at the Battle of Pharsalus (48 BC), when Caesar defeated Pompey. After Caesar won the civil war, the legion was named Victrix, and enlisted in 43 BC by Lepidus and Mark Anthony. Mark Anthony led the Twelfth, renamed XII Antiqua ("of consolidated quality") during his campaign against the Parthian Empire.
During the latest part of Augustus' principality, XII Fulminata served in Syria, camping at Raphana.
Against the Parthians
In the East, King Vologeses I had invaded Armenia (58), a client kingdom of Rome. Emperor Nero ordered Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, the new legatus of Cappadocia, to manage the matter, and Corbulo brought the IIII Scythica from Moesia, and with III Gallica and VI Ferrata defeated the Parthians, restoring Tigranes to the Armenian throne. In 62, IIII Scythica and XII Fulminata, commanded by the new legatus of Cappadocia, Lucius Caesennius Paetus, were defeated by the Parthians and Armenians at battle of Rhandeia and forced to surrender. The legions were shamed. Removed from the war theatre, they did not participate in the successful campaign of Corbulo.
Great Jewish Revolt
In 66, after a Zealot revolt had destroyed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem, the XII Fulminata, with vexillationes of IIII Scythica and VI Ferrata, was sent to retaliate, but it was sent back by Gaius Cestius Gallus, legatus of Syria, when he saw that the legion was weak. On its way back, XII Fulminata was ambushed and defeated by Eleazar ben Simon at Beit-Horon, and lost its aquila. However, XII Fulminata fought well in the last part of the war, and supported its commander T. Flavius Vespasian in his successful bid for the imperial throne. At the end of the war, XII Fulminata and XVI Flavia Firma were sent to guard the Euphrates border, camping at Melitene.
Defending the Eastern frontier
In 75, XII Fulminata was in Caucasus, where Emperor Vespasian had sent the legion to support the allied kingdoms of Iberia and Albania. The legion was probably in Armenia during Trajan's campaign of 114, ended with the annexation of the kingdom.
In 134, the threat of the Alans was subdued by the governor of Cappadocia, Arrian, who defeated the invaders with the aid of XII Fulminata and XV Apollinaris.
The Twelfth probably fought in the Parthian campaign of Emperor Lucius Verus, in 162-166, if a mixed unit of XII and XV controlled for some time the newly conquered Armenian capital Artaxata. Emperor Marcus Aurelius commanded the XII Fulminata in his campaign against the Quadi, a people inhabiting an area now known as Moravia in modern day Czech Republic, and an episode of a miraculous rain saving a Twelfth subunit from defeat is reported by the sources. At this time, most of the Twelfth was composed chiefly of Christians. There was a belief that this had led to the emperor issuing a decree forbidding the persecution of the Christians, but this seems to have been based on a forgery.
In 175, the legion was in Melitene, when Avidius Cassius revolted; the Twelfth, having been loyal to the Emperor, obtained the cognomen Certa Constans, "surely constant".
After the death of Emperor Pertinax, 193, XII Fulminata supported the governor of Syria, Pescennius Niger, who was in the end defeated by Emperor Septimius Severus. When the Eastern frontier of the Empire was moved from the Euphrates to the Tigris, the Twelfth stayed in the reserve, possibly as a punishment for its support of Severus' rival.
The region around Melitene was one of the first in which Christian faith spread. Polyeuctes is a martyr under Valerian who was a soldier of the Twelfth.
The Sassanid Empire was a major threat to the Roman power in the East. King Shapur II conquered the base of the XV Apollinaris, Satala (256), and sacked Trapezus (258). Emperor Valerian moved against Shapur, but was defeated and captured. The defeat caused the partial collapse of the Empire, with the secessionistic Gallic Empire in the West and Palmyrene Empire in the East. It is known that the XII Fulminata was under the command of Odaenathus, ruler of the Palmyrene Empire, but also that Emperor Gallienus awarded the legion with the cognomen Galliena.
After these episodes, the records of the Fulminata are scarce. The Palmyrene Empire was reconquered by Aurelian; Emperor Diocletian defeated the Sassanids and moved the frontier to Northern Mesopotamia. The Twelfth, which probably took part to these campaigns, is recorded guarding the frontier of the Euphrates in Melitene, at the beginning of the 5th century (Notitia Dignitatum).
See also
Fulminata who became martyrs for their Christian faith in 320. List of Roman legions
Primary sources
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Secondary sources
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External links
- , Italian re-enactment group
- , French re-enactment group
- , Italian "Rome Total War" clan
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