Legio XXII Deiotariana

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Legio XXII Deiotariana

Legio vigesima secunda Deiotariana (22nd Deiotaran 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 approximately in 48 BC and possibly destroyed in the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132
132

Events...
–135
135

Events...
. Its 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 ....
comes from Deiotarus
Deiotarus

Deiotarus I of Galatia was a Chief Tetrarch of the Tolistobogii at Western Galatia, Asia Minor, and a King of Galatia at Anatolia, Asia Minor....
, a Celtic king, and its emblem is unknown, but could be a Galatian symbol.

Origin of the legion
The legion was levied by Deiotarus, king of the Celt
Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
ic tribe of the Tolistobogii, who lived in Galatia
Galatia

Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia, an ancient region of Asia Minor, was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC....
, modern Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
.

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Legio vigesima secunda Deiotariana (22nd Deiotaran 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 approximately in 48 BC and possibly destroyed in the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132
132

Events...
–135
135

Events...
. Its 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 ....
comes from Deiotarus
Deiotarus

Deiotarus I of Galatia was a Chief Tetrarch of the Tolistobogii at Western Galatia, Asia Minor, and a King of Galatia at Anatolia, Asia Minor....
, a Celtic king, and its emblem is unknown, but could be a Galatian symbol.

Legion history

Origin of the legion

The legion was levied by Deiotarus, king of the Celt
Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
ic tribe of the Tolistobogii, who lived in Galatia
Galatia

Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia, an ancient region of Asia Minor, was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC....
, modern Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
. Deiotarus become an ally of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
general Pompey
Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey /'p?mpi/, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir , was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman Republic....
in 63 BC, who named him king of all the Celtic tribes of Asia minor, which were collectively known as Galatians (hence the name Galatia for the region). Deiotarus levied an army and trained it with Roman help; the army, in 48 BC, was composed of 12,000 infantrymen and 2,000 horsemen. Cicero writes that the army was divided into to thirty cohortes, which were roughly equivalent to three Roman legions of the time. This army supported the Romans in their wars against king Mithridates VI of Pontus
Mithridates VI of Pontus

Mithradates VI , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; b. 134, d. 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus in northern Anatolia from about 119 to 63 BC....
, and contributed to Roman victory in the Third Mithridatic War
Third Mithridatic War

The Third Mithridatic War was the last and longest of three Mithridatic Wars fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic. The Romans won the war, and Mithridates committed suicide, ending the menace of Pontus and conquering the Kingdom of Armenian kingdom....
.

After a heavy defeat against king Pharnaces II of Pontus
Pharnaces II of Pontus

Pharnaces II was the son of the great Mithridates VI of Pontus, a famed enemy of the Roman Republic....
near Nicopolis
Nicopolis

Nicopolis or Actia Nicopolis was an ancient city of Epirus , founded 31 BC by Caesar Augustus in memory of his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt at Actium....
, the survivor soldiers of Deiotarius army formed a single legion, which marched besides Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
during his victorious campaign against Pontus
Pontus

Pontus or Pontos is a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in Antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Pontos Euxeinos , or simply Pontos....
, and fought with him in the battle of Zela
Battle of Zela

The Battle of Zela was a battle fought in 47 BC between Julius Caesar and Pharnaces II of Pontus....
(47 BC).

Early history (BC)

When the Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
integrated the Galatian kingdom, this legion, which had been trained by the Romans and had fought under Roman commanders, became part of the Roman army; since Caesar Augustus had already 21 legions
Legio XXI Rapax

Legio vigesima prima Rapax was a Roman legion levied in 31 BC by Augustus, probably from men previously enlisted in other legions. The XXI Rapax was destroyed in 92 by the Dacians and Sarmatians....
, the legion received the number XXII.

Augustus sent the Twenty-second to camp in Nicopolis
Nicopolis

Nicopolis or Actia Nicopolis was an ancient city of Epirus , founded 31 BC by Caesar Augustus in memory of his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt at Actium....
(next Alexandria
Alexandria

Alexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports....
, in Aegyptus) together with III Cyrenaica
Legio III Cyrenaica

Legio tertia Cyrenaica , a Roman province), was a Roman legion probably levied by Mark Antony around 36 BC, when he was governor of Cyrenaica....
. These two legions had the role of garrisoning the Egyptian province from threats both within and without, given the multi-ethnical nature of Alexandria.

In 26 BC, Aelius Gallus
Aelius Gallus

Gaius Aelius Gallus was a Ancient Rome prefect of ?gyptus from 26 - 24 BC. He is primarily known for a disastrous expedition he undertook to Arabia Felix under orders of Augustus....
, praefectus Aegypti (prefectus of Egypt), led a campaign against the Nubian kingdoms
Nubia

Nubia is a region in Southern Egypt along the Nile and in what is now northern Sudan. Most of Nubia is situated in Sudan with about a quarter of its territory in Egypt....
and another to find Arabia Felix (Yemen
Yemen

Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
). The campaign came quickly to a halt (25 BC) because of the heavy losses in the troops (Romans, Hebrews and Nabateans), due to hunger and epidemics.
The losses were not recovered, so in 23 BC the Nubians, led by queen Candace Amanirenas
Amanirenas

Amanirenas was a warrior-queen of Kush, who challenged the Romans who took over Egypt after the passing of Cleopatra. She reigned from about 40s BCE to 10s BCE....
, took the initiative and attacked the Romans moving towards Elephantine
Elephantine

Elephantine is an island in the Nile, located just downstream of the Cataracts of the Nile at at the southern border of Ancient Egypt. This region is referred to as Upper Egypt because the ancient Egyptians oriented themselves toward the direction from which the river flowed....
. The new prefectus of Egypt, Petronius, obtained reinforcements, and after blocking the Nubians, marched the Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
up to the Nubian capital of Napata
Napata

Napata was a city-state on the west bank of the Blue Nile River, some 400 km north of Khartoum, the present capital of Sudan. It was built around 1345 BC by the Nubians....
, which was sacked in 22 BC.
It is highly probable that XXII fought in these wars.
After this actions, the Nubian front remained calm for a long time, so the legions could be employed otherwise. The legionaries were used not only as soldiers, but also as workers, as some of them were sent to the granite mines of Mons Claudianus. Other legionaries were sent in the deepest south of the Egyptian province, and scratched their names of the stones of the Colossi of Memnon
Colossi of Memnon

The 'Colossi of Memnon' are two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. For the past 3400 years they have stood in the Thebes, Egypt necropolis, across the Nile from the modern city of Luxor....
.

Later history

Under 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....
, the Romans fought a campaign (55
55

Year 55 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar....
–63
63

Year 63 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar....
) 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....
, which had invaded the kingdom of Armenia
Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
, allied to the Romans. After gaining (60
60

Year 60 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar....
) and losing (62
62

Year 62 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar....
) Armenia, the Romans sent XV Apollinaris
Legio XV Apollinaris

Legio decima quinta Apollinaris was a Roman legion. It was recruited by Augustus in 41/40 BC. The emblem of this legion was probably a picture of Apollo, or of one of his holy animals....
from Pannonia
Pannonia

Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
to Cn. Domitius Corbulo
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was a Ancient Rome general....
, legatus of 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....
. Corbulo, with the legions XV Apollinaris, 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....
, V Macedonica
Legio V Macedonica

Legio quinta Macedonica was a Roman legion. It was probably originally levied by consul Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus and Augustus in 43 BC, and it existed in Moesia at least until 5th century....
, X Fretensis
Legio X Fretensis

Legio decima Fretensis of the sea strait") was a Roman legion levied by Augustus in 41/40 BC to fight during the period of Roman Civil War that started the dissolution of the Roman Republic....
and XXII, entered (63
63

Year 63 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar....
) into the territories of 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....
, who returned the Armenian kingdom to Tiridates.

In 66
66

Year 66 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar....
, Zealot Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s killed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
. After the ignominious defeat of the legatus of Syria (66
66

Year 66 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar....
), T. Flavius Vespasianus
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....
entered in Iudaea in 67
67

Year 67 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar....
with the legions V Macedonica, X Fretensis, XV Apollinaris, one vexillatio
Vexillatio

A vexillatio was a detachment of a Roman legion formed as a temporary task force created by the Military history of ancient Rome of the Principate....
of 1,000 legionars of the XXII, and 15,000 soldiers from the Eastern allies, and started the siege of Jerusalem
Siege of Jerusalem (70)

The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD was a decisive event in the First Jewish-Roman War. It was followed by the Masada#History in 73 AD. The Roman Empire army, led by the future Emperor Titus, with Tiberius Julius Alexander as his second-in-command, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem, which had been occupied by its Jewish defend...
(69
69

Year 69 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar....
), which would be completed by his son T. Flavius Vespasianus
Titus

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Titus , was a Roman Emperor who briefly reigned from 79 until his death in 81. Titus was the second emperor of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 and 96, encompassing the reigns of Titus's father Vespasian , Titus himself and his younger brother Domitian ....
(better known as Titus) in 70
70

Year 70 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar....
. In fact in 69, 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....
", Flavius Vespasianus senior returned to Italy to conquer the imperial throne after Galba
Galba

Servius Sulpicius Galba , also called Servius Sulpicius Galba Caesar Augustus, was Roman Emperor from June 8, 68 until his death. He was the first emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors....
rebellion and Nero's death. The Twenty-second sided with Flavius Vespasianus, who eventually became emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
.

Under Trajan
Trajan

Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperors who reigned from 98 until his death in 117. Born Marcus Ulpius Traianus into a nonpatrician family in the Hispania Baetica province , Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian, serving as a general in the Roman army along the Limes G...
, XXII is officially known as Deiotariana, even if this was its unofficial name since Claudian times.

The last record of XXII Deiotariana is from 119
119

Events...
. In 145
145

Events...
, when a list of all existing legions was made, XXII Deiotariana was not listed. It is possible XXII Deiotariana was wiped out by the Jewish rebellion of Simon bar Kochba.

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....