Everything about Legio Xxii Deiotariana totally explained
Legio XXII Deiotariana (
légio vigésima secúnda) was a
Roman legion, levied approximately in
48 BC and destroyed in the
Bar Kokhba revolt of
132–
135. Its
cognomen comes from
Deiotarus, a Celtic king, and its emblem is unknown, but could be a Galatian symbol.
Legion history
Origin of the legion
The legion was levied by Deiotarus, king of the
Celtic tribe of the
Tolistobogii, who lived in
Galatia, modern
Turkey. Deiotarus become an ally of the
Roman Republic general
Pompey in
63 BC, who named him king of all the Celtic tribes of Turkey, which were collectively known as
Galatians (hence the name Galatia for the region). Deiotarus levied an army and trained it with Roman help; the army, in
48 BC, was composed of 12,000 infantrymen and 2,000 horsemen. Cicero writes that the army was divided into to thirty cohortes, which were roughly equivalent to three Roman legions of the time. This army supported the Romans in their wars against king
Mithridates VI of Pontus, and contributed to Roman victory in the
Third Mithridatic War.
After a heavy defeat against king
Pharnaces II of Pontus near
Nicopolis, the survivor soldiers of Deiotarius army formed a single legion, which marched besides
Julius Caesar during his victorious campaign against
Pontus, and fought with him in the
battle of Zela (
47 BC).
Early history (BC)
When the
Roman Empire integrated the Galatian kingdom, this legion, which had been trained by the Romans and had fought under Roman commanders, became part of the Roman army; since
Caesar Augustus had already
21 legions, the legion received the number XXII.
Augustus sent the Twenty-second to camp in
Nicopolis (next
Alexandria, in
Aegyptus) together with
III Cyrenaica. These two legions had the role of garrisoning the Egyptian province from threats both within and without, given the multi-ethnical nature of Alexandria.
In
26 BC,
Aelius Gallus,
praefectus Aegypti (prefectus of Egypt), led a campaign against the
Nubian kingdoms and another to find
Arabia Felix (
Yemen). The campaign came quickly to a halt (
25 BC) because of the heavy losses in the troops (Romans, Hebrews and Nabateans), due to hunger and epidemics.
The losses were not recovered, so in
23 BC the Nubians, led by queen
Candace Amanirenas, took the initiative and attacked the Romans moving towards
Elephantine. The new prefectus of Egypt,
Petronius, obtained reinforcements, and after blocking the Nubians, marched the
Nile up to the Nubian capital of
Napata, which was sacked in
22 BC.
It is highly probable that XXII fought in these wars.
After this actions, the Nubian front remained calm for a long time, so the legions could be employed otherwise. The legionaries were used not only as soldiers, but also as workers, as some of them were sent to the granite mines of
Mons Claudianus. Other legionaries were sent in the deepest south of the Egyptian province, and scratched their names of the stones of the
Colossi of Memnon.
Later history
Under
Nero, the Romans fought a campaign (
55–
63) against the
Parthian Empire, which had invaded the kingdom of
Armenia, allied to the Romans. After gaining (
60) and losing (
62) Armenia, the Romans sent
XV Apollinaris from
Pannonia to
Cn. Domitius Corbulo,
legatus of
Syria. Corbulo, with the legions XV
Apollinaris,
III Gallica,
V Macedonica,
X Fretensis and XXII, entered (
63) into the territories of
Vologases I of Parthia, who returned the Armenian kingdom to
Tiridates.
In
66,
Zealot Jews killed the Roman garrison in
Jerusalem. After the ignominious defeat of the legatus of Syria (
66),
T. Flavius Vespasianus entered in
Iudaea in
67 with the legions V
Macedonica, X
Fretensis, XV
Apollinaris, one
vexillatio of 1,000 legionars of the XXII, and 15,000 soldiers from the Eastern allies, and started the
siege of Jerusalem (
69), which would be completed by his son
T. Flavius Vespasianus (better known as Titus) in
70. In fact in 69, the "
year of the four emperors", Flavius Vespasianus senior returned to Italy to conquer the imperial throne after
Galba rebellion and Nero's desth. The Twenty-second sided with Flavius Vespasianus, who eventually became
emperor.
Under
Trajan, XXII is officially known as
Deiotariana, even if this was its unofficial name since Claudian times.
The last record of XXII
Deiotariana is from
119. In
145, when a list of all existing legions was made, XXII
Deiotariana wasn't listed. It is believed that XXII
Deiotariana was wiped out by the Jewish rebellion of
Simon bar Kochba (
132–
135).
Further Information
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