Legio I Italica
Legio I Italica ("the Italian legion") was a
Roman legion levied by emperor
Nero on
September 22,
66 (the date is attested by an inscription). There are still records of the I
Italica in the
Danube border in the beginning of the
5th century. The emblem of the legion was a
boar.
Emperor Nero levied the First legion, with the name
phalanx Alexandri Magni, for a campaign in
Armenia,
ad portas Caspias - to the pass of
Chawar. The sources mention the peculiar fact that the original
legionaries were
Italics all over six feet tall. Since
Iudaea started a revolt, the Armenian campaign never took place. Also
Gaul broke out in revolt, early in
68, and I
Italica was redirected there, just to see the end of the revolt, led by
C. Iulius Vindex. In the
Year of the Four Emperors (
69), after the death of Nero, the legion received the name I
Italica, and fought for
Vitellius at the second
Battle of Bedriacum, where the Vitellians were defeated by forces supporting
Vespasian. The new emperor sent I
Italica to the province of
Moesia in
70. They encamped at Novae (modern
Sishtov), and remained there for centuries.
During the
Dacian wars of
Trajan, the legion was responsible for bridge construction in the
Danube. Building activities seem an expertise of the legion. Around
140 a
centurion from I
Italica is responsible for the construction of a section of the
Antonine wall.
During the reign of
Marcus Aurelius, I
Italica was surely involved in the wars against the Germanic tribes that threatened to cross the Danube. After a long war, the Romans had conquered a lot of territory on the right side of the Danube, and Marcus Aurelius had the intention to form a new province under governor
Aulus Julius Pompilius Piso, commander of I
Italica and
IV Flavia Felix, but the revolt of
Avidius Cassius in the East prevented the formation of the new province.
In 193, the Governor of
Pannonia Superior,
Septimus Severus claimed the purple, and moved to
Italia. I
Italica supported Severus, but did not move to Italy. The legion fought against Severus' rival,
Pescennius Niger, besieging Byzantium together with
XI Claudia, fighting at Issus. The First possibly took part to the
Parthian campiaign of Severus (198).
Under
Caracalla, gain, in the
3rd century the legion took part in the construction of the
Limes Transalutanus, a defensive wall along the Danube, which began near Novae. Under
Alexander Severus, some
vexillationes of the I
Italica moved to
Salonae, guarding the Dalmatian coast.
*
List of Roman legions*
livius.org account of Legio I Italica*
Legio I Italica - reenactment group
