Legio XXII Primigenia

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Legio XXII Primigenia

Legio vigesima secunda Primigenia (22nd Firstborn Legion), dedicated to the goddess Fortuna
Fortuna

Fortuna can mean:*Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck Geographical*19 Fortuna, an asteroid*Fortuna, California, a town located on the north coast of California...
(a.k.a. Primigenia) 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 Roman 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....
Caligula
Caligula

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , more commonly known by his nickname Caligula , was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41....
in 39, for his campaigns in Germania
Germania

Germania was the Latin language exonym for a geographical area of land on the east bank of the River Rhine , which included regions of Sarmatia as well as an area under Ancient Rome control on the west bank of the Rhine....
.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Legio XXII Primigenia'

Start a new discussion about 'Legio XXII Primigenia'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Legio vigesima secunda Primigenia (22nd Firstborn Legion), dedicated to the goddess Fortuna
Fortuna

Fortuna can mean:*Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck Geographical*19 Fortuna, an asteroid*Fortuna, California, a town located on the north coast of California...
(a.k.a. Primigenia) 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 Roman 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....
Caligula
Caligula

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , more commonly known by his nickname Caligula , was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41....
in 39, for his campaigns in Germania
Germania

Germania was the Latin language exonym for a geographical area of land on the east bank of the River Rhine , which included regions of Sarmatia as well as an area under Ancient Rome control on the west bank of the Rhine....
. There are still records of the XXII Primigenia in Mogontiacum (modern Mainz
Mainz

Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the Germany States of Germany of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was a politically important seat of the Prince-elector of Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman Empire fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine River and formed part of the northernmost frontier of th...
) from the end of 3rd century. The legion's symbols were 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...
and the demigod Hercules
Hercules

Hercules is the Ancient Rome name for the mythical Ancient Greece hero Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italian shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength....
.

XXII Primigenia was first stationed in Mogontiacum in the Roman 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 Germania Superior
Germania Superior

Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a Roman province of the Roman Empire. It comprised the area of western Switzerland, the French Jura mountains and Alsace regions and south-western Germany....
, guarding the Rhine
Rhine

File:Swiss Grand Canyon.jpgThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
border as part of the limes
Limes

A limes was a border defense or delimiting system of Ancient Rome. It marked the Borders of the Roman Empire.The Latin language noun limes had a number of different meanings: a path or balk delimiting Field , a boundary line or marker, any road or path, any channel, such as a stream channel, or any distinction or difference....
. Along with the rest of the Germanic army, the legion supported Vitellius
Vitellius

Aulus Vitellius Germanicus, born Aulus Vitellius and commonly known as Vitellius , was a Roman Emperors who reigned from 16 April 69 to 22 December of the same year....
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). During the Batavian rebellion
Batavian rebellion

The Revolt of the Batavi took place in the Roman province of Germania Inferior between 69 and 70 AD. It was an uprising against Roman rule by the Batavi and other tribes in the province and in Gaul....
, XXII Primigenia, commanded by Gaius Dillius Vocula
Gaius Dillius Vocula

Gaius Dillius Vocula was a Ancient Rome commander of the Legio XXII Primigenia during the Batavian rebellion. Defending Xanten, he was murdered by rebellious Roman troops....
, was the only Germanic legion that survived attacks of the rebels and stayed in its camp, defending Moguntiacum. They remained in Moguntiacum until at least the 3rd century. Later Emperor Hadrian
Hadrian

Publius Aelius Hadrianus , as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after his apotheosis, known as Hadrian in English language, was Roman Emperor of Roman Empire from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoicism and Epicureanism philosopher....
was tribunus militum of the XXIIth in 97-98.

The Rhine settlement was their main camp, but vexillationes of the legion participated in the building of the Antonine wall
Antonine Wall

The Antonine Wall also known as the Severan Wall, is a rock and sod fortification, built by the Roman Empire across what is now the central belt of Scotland and is also known as the Clyde-Forth frontier line....
in Scotland (2nd century) and in the campaigns against the Sassanid Empire
Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name of the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire. It was one of the two main powers in Western Asia for a period of more than 400 years....
(around 235).

They were still in Moguntiacum during the attack of the tribe of the Alamanni
Alamanni

The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic languagess located around the upper Main river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211?17 and claimed thereby to be their defeater....
in 235, and were responsible for the lynching of emperor Alexander Severus
Alexander Severus

Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander, commonly called Alexander Severus, was the last Roman Emperors of the Severan dynasty, having succeeded, as heir apparent, his despised cousin, the eighteen year old Elagabalus who had been murdered along with his mother by his own guards—and as a mark of contempt, had their remains cast into...
, when he tried to negotiate with the enemy, and the subsequent election of Maximinus Thrax
Maximinus Thrax

Gaius Iulius Verus Maximinus , also known as Maximinus Thrax and Maximinus I, was a Roman Emperor .Maximinus is described by several ancient sources as the first barbarian who wore the imperial purple and the first emperor never to set foot in Rome....
as new emperor.

In 268, Primigenia probably fought under Gallienus
Gallienus

Publius 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....
at the Battle of Naissus
Battle of Naissus

The Battle of Naissus was the defeat of a Goths coalition by the Roman Empire under Emperor Gallienus near Naissus . The events around the invasion and the battle are an important part of the history of the Crisis of the Third Century....
, winning a victory over the Goths
Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
. The following year, Laelianus
Laelianus

Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus was a Roman usurper against Postumus, the emperor of the Gallic Empire.OriginsLittle is known about Laelianus....
, the commander of the 22nd, became emperor of the Gallic Empire
Gallic Empire

The Gallic Empire is the modern name for the independent realm that existed from 260 to 273, during the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century....
.

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....
and 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....

, Ohio (USA) re-enactement group