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Authors: Stephen Dando-Collins
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the new 5th Legion.
It would seem that the numbering sequence identified by Keppie was retained in the imperial era, for in AD 68, when Galba, governor of Nearer Spain, raised a new legion in his province to support his tilt at Nero’s throne, he called it the 7th Legion, even though a 7th Legion, the 7th Claudia, already existed. No good reason for his choosing of the number 7 has been advanced by ancient or modern authors. Under the Keppie formula, it would have been perfectly logical to allocate the number 7 to a legion raised in Nearer Spain, the province traditionally involved with the 7th Legion and possibly by AD 68 still an ongoing recruiting ground for the existing 7th Claudia.
There is one more intriguing linking aspect that also lends credence to Keppie’s theory that the 5th to 10th legions were traditionally stationed in Spain in the late republican era—the bull emblem. Ever since the nineteenth century, authors have declared that every legion raised by Julius Caesar used a bull emblem. This is not correct. Caesar himself never used the bull as an emblem, and only a fraction of the legions associated with him did so.
Only a 3rd, as well as the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th legions used the bull emblem, and all were stationed in Spain in the republican era. While the 5th Alaudae Legion took Caesar’s elephant symbol following the 46 BC Battle of Thapsus—this was for defeating King Juba’s elephants—an imperial 5th Legion, the Macedonica, would use the bull emblem. It is probable that the 5th Alaudae had used the bull symbol prior to Thapsus. Conversely, no legion with a number above 10 is ever known to have used the bull as its emblem. And Caesar raised many legions with numbers above 10.
Finally, another interesting fact could be seen as one more brick in the foundation supporting the Keppie formula. After the Cantabrian War had been concluded in 19 BC , and the large number of legions involved in that conflict had been withdrawn from Spain for service in other provinces, the only legions stationed permanently in Spain for the next 300 years of the imperial era were a 4th, a 6th, a 7th, and finally, a 10th. No legion with a number above 10 was ever stationed there. This may be purely coincidence, but if it is, it is a fantastic one. It is more likely that the 5 to 10 Spanish policy identified by Keppie continued to be deliberately adhered to for hundreds of years under the emperors.
III. THE LEGION CAMP
Augustus required that permanent winter camps be established for every legion in the province in which they were based, with a maximum of two legions per camp. The legions traditionally went into camp when the campaigning season officially ended on October 19 with a ceremony at Rome’s Temple of Mars. Originally built of timber, the winter camps became permanent bases built in stone. Spreading over many acres, they included troop quarters, a headquarters complex, bathhouses, granaries and a hospital. Typically, in the permanent camp of the 2nd Augusta Legion at Exeter, each barrack building accommodated a century of eighty men, with a bunk-room for each of the century’s ten squads, a room each for the centurion and the optio, and a large mess and equipment storage room.
When on the march, legions built a fortified marching camp at the end of every day, marching in the morning and digging and building in the afternoon. These overnightcamps, while only temporary, were expected to provide “all the strength and conveniences of a fortified city.” [Vege., II] Camp construction was carried out by the legionaries, who were as handy with a dolabra (pick) and shovel for creating camps and siege works as they were with a javelin and sword. “Domitius Corbulo used to say that the dolabra was the weapon with which to beat the enemy,” wrote Corbulo’s fellow first-century general, Frontinus. [Front., Strat ., IV, VII , 2]
When it moved on, the legion literally broke camp, burning what it could not
It would seem that the numbering sequence identified by Keppie was retained in the imperial era, for in AD 68, when Galba, governor of Nearer Spain, raised a new legion in his province to support his tilt at Nero’s throne, he called it the 7th Legion, even though a 7th Legion, the 7th Claudia, already existed. No good reason for his choosing of the number 7 has been advanced by ancient or modern authors. Under the Keppie formula, it would have been perfectly logical to allocate the number 7 to a legion raised in Nearer Spain, the province traditionally involved with the 7th Legion and possibly by AD 68 still an ongoing recruiting ground for the existing 7th Claudia.
There is one more intriguing linking aspect that also lends credence to Keppie’s theory that the 5th to 10th legions were traditionally stationed in Spain in the late republican era—the bull emblem. Ever since the nineteenth century, authors have declared that every legion raised by Julius Caesar used a bull emblem. This is not correct. Caesar himself never used the bull as an emblem, and only a fraction of the legions associated with him did so.
Only a 3rd, as well as the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th legions used the bull emblem, and all were stationed in Spain in the republican era. While the 5th Alaudae Legion took Caesar’s elephant symbol following the 46 BC Battle of Thapsus—this was for defeating King Juba’s elephants—an imperial 5th Legion, the Macedonica, would use the bull emblem. It is probable that the 5th Alaudae had used the bull symbol prior to Thapsus. Conversely, no legion with a number above 10 is ever known to have used the bull as its emblem. And Caesar raised many legions with numbers above 10.
Finally, another interesting fact could be seen as one more brick in the foundation supporting the Keppie formula. After the Cantabrian War had been concluded in 19 BC , and the large number of legions involved in that conflict had been withdrawn from Spain for service in other provinces, the only legions stationed permanently in Spain for the next 300 years of the imperial era were a 4th, a 6th, a 7th, and finally, a 10th. No legion with a number above 10 was ever stationed there. This may be purely coincidence, but if it is, it is a fantastic one. It is more likely that the 5 to 10 Spanish policy identified by Keppie continued to be deliberately adhered to for hundreds of years under the emperors.
III. THE LEGION CAMP
Augustus required that permanent winter camps be established for every legion in the province in which they were based, with a maximum of two legions per camp. The legions traditionally went into camp when the campaigning season officially ended on October 19 with a ceremony at Rome’s Temple of Mars. Originally built of timber, the winter camps became permanent bases built in stone. Spreading over many acres, they included troop quarters, a headquarters complex, bathhouses, granaries and a hospital. Typically, in the permanent camp of the 2nd Augusta Legion at Exeter, each barrack building accommodated a century of eighty men, with a bunk-room for each of the century’s ten squads, a room each for the centurion and the optio, and a large mess and equipment storage room.
When on the march, legions built a fortified marching camp at the end of every day, marching in the morning and digging and building in the afternoon. These overnightcamps, while only temporary, were expected to provide “all the strength and conveniences of a fortified city.” [Vege., II] Camp construction was carried out by the legionaries, who were as handy with a dolabra (pick) and shovel for creating camps and siege works as they were with a javelin and sword. “Domitius Corbulo used to say that the dolabra was the weapon with which to beat the enemy,” wrote Corbulo’s fellow first-century general, Frontinus. [Front., Strat ., IV, VII , 2]
When it moved on, the legion literally broke camp, burning what it could not
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