Legio XII Fulminata
Legio XII Fulminata ("Thunderbolt Twelfth Legion"), also known as Paterna, Victrix, Antiqua, Certa Constans, and Galliena, was a
The legion's emblem was a thunderbolt (on a shield fulmen).[1] In later centuries it came to be called commonly, but incorrectly, the Legio Fulminatrix, the Thundering Legion.
History
Under the Republic
The Twelfth legion, as it is perhaps better known, fought in the
During the latest part of
Under the Empire
Against the Parthians
From his eastern
First Jewish–Roman War
In 66, after a
Defending the Eastern frontier
In 75 AD, the XII Fulminata was in the Caucasus, where Emperor Vespasian had sent the legion to support the allied kingdoms of Iberia and Albania. An inscription presumably from this period has been found in modern-day Azerbaijan which reads:
IMP DOMITIANO CAESARE AVG GERMANIC, LVCIVS IVLIVS MAXIMVS CENTVRIO LEG XII FVL (To
Some historians argue that the settlement of
The legion was probably in Armenia during Trajan's campaign of 114 AD, that ended with the annexation of the Kingdom of Armenia.
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 in modern-day Slovakia, and an episode of a miraculous rain and lightning saving a Twelfth subunit from defeat is reported by the sources.[8] At this time, most of the Twelfth was composed chiefly of Christians.[9] 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.[10]
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
The region around Melitene was one of the first in which Christian faith spread.
The
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).
Attested members
Name | Rank | Time frame | Province | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
Calavius Sabinus | legatus legionis
|
62 | Armenia | Annales , XV.7
|
Publius Tullius Varro | legatus legionis | between 120 and 125 | Cappadocia | CIL XI, 3364 |
Quintus Caecilius Marcellus Dentilianus[11] | legatus legionis | c. 141-c. 144 | Cappadocia | CIL VIII, 14291 |
Marcus Domitius Valerianus[12] | legatus legionis | ? 227-? 229 | ||
Sextus Julius Possessorus | primus pilus | last quarter 1st century | Cappadocia | CIL II, 1180 |
Gaius Caristanius Fronto Casesianus Julius | tribunus angusticlavius | before 40 | Syria
|
AE 1914, 260 = ILS 9503; AE 2001, 1918 |
Tiberius Claudius Helvius Secundus[13] | tribunus angusticlavius | before 98 | Cappadocia | AE 1925, 44 |
Tiberius Claudius Speratus[14] | tribunus angusticlavius | before 115 | Cappadocia | |
Gaius Aelius P.f. Domitianus Gauro | tribunus angusticlavius | between 175 and 180 | AE 1888, 125 = ILS 2748 | |
Gaius Julius Pudens | tribunus angusticlavius | after 175 | CIL III, 6758 = ILS 2760 | |
Quintus Marcius Dioga[15] | tribunus angusticlavius | last quarter 2nd century | CIL XIV, 4468 = ILS 9501; AE 1946, 95 | |
Lucius Neratius Marcellus | tribunus laticlavius | before 73 | Syria | CIL IX, 2456 = ILS 1032 |
Gaius Minicius Fundanus[16] | tribunus laticlavius | before 95 | Cappadocia | ILJug-03, 1627 |
Gaius Caristanius Julianus | tribunus laticlavius | before 100 | Cappadocia | AE 1932, 87 |
Quintus Voconius Saxa Fidus | tribunus laticlavius | between 115 and 118 | Cappadocia | IGRR III.763 = ILS 8828 |
Gaius Julius Scapula[17] | tribunus laticlavius | 140s | Cappadocia | IG II/III 2.4212 |
Aulus Julius Pompilius Piso | tribunus laticlavius | c. 160 | CIL VIII, 2745 | |
Lucius Allus Volusianus[18] | tribunus laticlavius | after 175 | AE 1972, 179 | |
Marcus Aelius Aurelius Theo | tribunus laticlavius | first half 3rd century | CIL XI, 376 = ILS 1192 |
In popular culture
In
In Mikhail Bulgakov's book The Master and Margarita, Pontius Pilate mentions the Legion during his meeting with Caiaphas. He threatens using the Legion in bloody pacification of possible future Jewish rebellion, along with auxiliary Arab cavalry.
The fiction book Rome: The Eagle of the Twelfth by M.C. Scott is based on the legion during the Jewish rebellion.
See also
- Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, a group of Roman soldiers from the Legio XII Fulminata, whom Basil of Caesarea portrayed as Christian martyrs.[19]
- List of Roman legions
Notes
- ^ H.M.D. Parker, The Roman Legions (1957), p. 269
- ^ Parker, Roman Legions, p. 138
- ^ Parker, Roman Legions, pp. 138f
- OCLC 961065049.
- )
- ^ Ашурбейли Сара. История города Баку: период средневековья. Баку, Азернешр, 1992; page 31
- ^ "History of the City of Baku. Part I." Window to Baku website (last accessed 20 March 2021)
- ^ The episode reported by Cassius Dio refers of the presence of an Egyptian mage, Harnuphis, who evoked Mercury, obtaining the rain shower. The Christian writer Tertullian, on the other hand, claims that the miracle of the rain was the result of the prayers of the soldiers, who were Christians. See Cassius Dio, Roman History, lxxii.8–10 [1] Archived 2014-02-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lives of the Saints edited by Rev. Hugo H. Hoever p. 25
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ Géza Alföldy, Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter der Antoninen (Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 1977), p. 301
- ^ Paul M. M. Leunissen, Konsuln und Konsulare in der Zeit von Commodus bis Severus Alexander (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1989), p. 342
- ^ Evgeni I. Paunov & Margaret M. Roxan, "The Earliest Extant Diploma of Thrace, A.D. 114 (= RMD I 14)", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 119 (1997), p. 276
- ^ John H. Kent, Corinth: vol. VIII part 3: The Inscriptions (1926-1950) (Princeton: American School at Athens, 1966), pp. 63f
- ^ Michel Christol, "Un fidèle de Caracalla: Q. Marcius Dioga", Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz, 2 (1991), pp. 165-188
- ^ Bernard Rémy, Les carrières sénatoriales dans les provinces romaines d'Anatolie au Haut-Empire (31 av. J.-C. - 284 ap. J.-C.) (Istanbul: Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 1989), pp. 264f
- ^ Rémy, Les carrières sénatoriales, p. 269
- ^ Rémy, Les carrières sénatoriales, p. 271
- ^ Homilies xix in Patrologia Graeca, XXXI, 507 sqq.
References
External links
- LEGIO XII FVLMINATA, Italian re-enactment group
- Legio XII Fulminata Cohors I, French re-enactment group
- Church History of Eusebius, Book V, chap V, Online copy of (an English translation of) Church History by Eusebius of Caesarea, where Eusebius describes the legion's miracle of rain event.