Legio X Equestris

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Legio X Equestris

Legio X Equestris (Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
: "Tenth legion 'mounted'" - Equestris was the legion's name, not a type of unit) 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 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....
. Legio X was the "most famous legion of its day", in part due to the fact that it took the leading role in most of Caesar's Gallic battles. Its soldiers were discharged in 45 BC. Its remnants were reconstituted, fought for 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....
and Octavian, disbanded, and later merged into X Gemina
Legio X Gemina

Legio decima Gemina , was one of the four legions used by Julius Caesar in 58 BC, for his invasion of Gaul. There are still records of the X Gemina in Vienna in the beginning of the 5th century....
.

History
Founding
The Tenth was founded in Spain by Gaius Julius Caesar in 61 BC.

Discussion

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Legio X Equestris (Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
: "Tenth legion 'mounted'" - Equestris was the legion's name, not a type of unit) 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 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....
. Legio X was the "most famous legion of its day", in part due to the fact that it took the leading role in most of Caesar's Gallic battles. Its soldiers were discharged in 45 BC. Its remnants were reconstituted, fought for 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....
and Octavian, disbanded, and later merged into X Gemina
Legio X Gemina

Legio decima Gemina , was one of the four legions used by Julius Caesar in 58 BC, for his invasion of Gaul. There are still records of the X Gemina in Vienna in the beginning of the 5th century....
.

History

Founding

The Tenth was founded in Spain by Gaius Julius Caesar in 61 BC. It joined the Pompey-raised 8th and 9th legions serving at the time under Caesar and soon began campaigning with them. It chose the bull as its emblem, because of the month the Tenth was mustered. For its first action, Caesar would send them to western Spain to help subdue hostile tribes.

Gallic Wars

The Tenth played a crucial part in the Gallic Wars
Gallic Wars

The Gallic Wars were a series of military campaigns waged by the Roman Republic proconsul Julius Caesar against several Gaul, lasting from 58 BC to 51 BC....
, fighting under Caesar in virtually every battle.

There is a possibility that the Tenth already gained its name Equestris during the Gallic War, when Caesar mounted the Tenth temporarily so that he could have his favored troops as a bodyguard, yet still conform to an agreement made between him and the German leader Ariovistus
Ariovistus

Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. He and his followers took part in a war in Gaul, assisting the Arverni and Sequani to defeat their rivals the Aedui, and settled in large numbers in conquered Gallic territory in the Alsace region, but were defeated in the Battl...
. One of the soldiers jokingly said that Caesar was better than his word: he had promised to make them footguards, but now they appeared as knights.

Legio X saved the day in the Battle against the Nervians in 57 BC. Together with the IXth
Legio IX Hispana

Legio nona Hispana , sometimes known as Legio IX Hispana was a Roman legion. The legion's symbol is unknown, likely a Taurus , as other legions created by Caesar....
, the Xth defeated the Atrebates
Atrebates

The Atrebates were a Belgae tribe of Gaul and Great Britain before the Roman conquests. According to Alexander MacBain, the name Attrebates is related to the Irish language aitreibh, ?building,? Old Irish aittreb, ?building,? and Welsh language adref, ?homewards,? going on to state that the Celtic languages root treb cor...
, moved against the Belgians on the other side of the river and captured the enemy camp. From that position, the Tenth could see how desperate the situation was for the XII Victrix
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....
as well as the VII
Legio VII Claudia

[Image:Antoninianus-Gallienus-l7claudia-RIC 0348-j-v.jpg|thumb|300px|Gallienus coin, celebrating LEG VII CLA VI P VI F Legio septima Claudia was a Roman legion....
. So, it quickly charged downhill, crossed the river, and attacked the Nervii
Nervii

The Nervii were one of the most powerful Belgae tribes, living in the northeastern hinterlands of Gaul they were known to trek long distances to engage in various wars and functions....
from the rear, trapping them so that there was little hope of survival.

End of the legion
In 45 BC the legion was disbanded, and the veterans obtained lands in Narbonne
Narbonne

Narbonne is a commune in France in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon r?gion in France. It lies from Paris in the Aude d?partement in France, of which it is a sous-pr?fecture....
, southern Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
.

During the civil war
Liberators' civil war

The Liberators' civil war was started by the Second Triumvirate to avenge Julius Caesar's murder. The war was fought between the forces of Mark Antony and Augustus against the forces of Caesar's assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 BC....
that followed Caesar's assassination, the Legio X was reconstituted by Lepidus (winter 44/43), and fought for the triumvirs until the final Battle of Philippi
Battle of Philippi

The Battle of Philippi was the final battle in the Liberators' civil war between the forces of Mark Antony and Augustus against the forces of Julius Caesar's assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 BC, at Philippi in Macedonia ....
. The veterans obtained lands near Cremona
Cremona

Cremona is a city in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left shore of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments....
, and an inscription reports that the name of the legion at the time was Veneria, "devoted to Venus
Venus (mythology)

Venus was a major Roman mythology goddess principally associated with love, beauty and sexual reproduction, the equivalent of the Greek mythology Aphrodite....
", the mythical mother of gens Julia.

The Tenth later followed 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....
in Armenia
Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
, during his Parthia
Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, after which the Arsacid Empire is then also known as the 'Parthian Empire'....
n campaign. During Antony's civil war, the legion fought for Mark Antony until the defeat in 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....
, after which the legion moved into Octavian's army. The veterans settled in Patras
Patras

Patras is Greece's third largest urban centre and the capital of the prefecture of Achaea, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens....
. When the legion rebelled under Augustus, it was disbanded, stripped of its Equestris title, and, being populated with soldiers from other legions, renamed X Gemina
Legio X Gemina

Legio decima Gemina , was one of the four legions used by Julius Caesar in 58 BC, for his invasion of Gaul. There are still records of the X Gemina in Vienna in the beginning of the 5th 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....

Primary sources

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....
, De Bello Gallico

Secondary sources

Dando-Collins, Stephen (2002). Caesar's Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar's Elite 10th Legion and the Armies of Rome. Wiley
Keppie, Lawrence, The Making of the Roman Army. From Republic to Empire, University of Oklaoma Press, 1984, pp. 132-149.
Lendering, Jona
Jona Lendering

Jona Lendering is a Netherlands historian and the author of books on Ancient history, History of the Netherlands and modern management. He studied history at Leiden University and Mediterranean culture at the Vrije Universiteit....
,