The Legio IV Italica ("Italian Fourth Legion") was a
legion
Legion may refer to:
Military
* Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army
* Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army
* Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...
of the
Imperial Roman army
The Imperial Roman army was the military land force of the Roman Empire from about 30 BC to 476 AD, and the final incarnation in the long history of the Roman army. This period is sometimes split into the Principate (30 BC – 284 AD) and the Do ...
raised in AD 231 by emperor
Alexander Severus
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself was ...
. The legion remained in existence as late as AD 400.
History
The legion was raised during the reign of
Alexander Severus
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself was ...
in 231, with Italian and
Pannonian
Pannonia may refer to:
In geography:
* Basin of Pannonia, a geomorphological region (plain) in Central Europe
* Sea of Pannonia, an ancient (former) sea in Central Europe
* Steppe of Pannonia, a grassland ecosystem in the Pannonian Plain
In h ...
soldiers, and perhaps took soon part in the expedition against the
Sassanids
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...
in 231–231.
Its first commander was an
Equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
''
praefectus legionis
''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) but ...
''
Maximinus Thrax
Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus "Thrax" ("the Thracian"; – 238) was Roman emperor from 235 to 238.
His father was an accountant in the governor's office and sprang from ancestors who were Carpi (a Dacian tribe), a people whom Diocletian ...
, the former common soldier and future emperor; reflecting the growing trend of appointed equestrian ''legati'' in place of
senatorial
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...
ones.
The legion participated in all of Maximinus' campaigns in the Danubian area in 235–238. Under
Gordian III
Gordian III ( la, Marcus Antonius Gordianus; 20 January 225 – February 244) was Roman emperor from 238 to 244. At the age of 13, he became the youngest sole emperor up to that point (until Valentinian II in 375). Gordian was the son of Anton ...
, it returned to the eastern frontier in 242–244 to fight the Sassanids under the prefect Serapamo, with its base set perhaps in the province of
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
. Nischer speculates it may have later been based in the Gaul under
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
.
The ''
Notitia dignitatum
The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents of ...
'' attests the unit as a pseudo-
comitatenses
The comitatenses and later the palatini were the units of the field armies of the late Roman Empire. They were the soldiers that replaced the legionaries, who had formed the backbone of the Roman military since the Marian reforms.
Organization ...
legion under the
magister militum per Orientem
Magister is Latin for "master" or "teacher". It may refer to:
Positions and titles
* Magister degree, an academic degree
* Magister equitum, or Master of the Horse
* Magister militum, a master of the soldiers
* Magister officiorum (''master of of ...
. It perhaps survived until the reformation of
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
in 545.
[Diehl, p. 146; Runciman, p. 125; Gonzales, p. 166.]
See also
*
List of Roman legions
This is a list of Roman legions, including key facts about each legion, primarily focusing on the Principate (early Empire, 27 BC – 284 AD) legions, for which there exists substantial literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence.
When Au ...
References
Sources
Primary sources
*
Herodian
Herodian or Herodianus ( el, Ἡρωδιανός) of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death o ...
, ''Storia dell'Impero dopo Marco Aurelio'', VI.
*''
Historia Augusta
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...
'', "The Two Maximini". Note that the Historia Augusta is a late-4th-century hoax.
*
Notitia dignitatum
The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents of ...
, ''Orientis''.
Secondary sources
*C. Diehl, ''Justinienne et la civilisation byzantine au VI siecle'', vol.I, New York 1901.
*
*J. Kromayer e G. Veith, ''Heerwessen und kriegfuhrung die griechen und romer'', Munich, 1928.
*E. Luttwak, ''La grande strategia dell'impero romano'', Milan, 1976.
*J. C. Mann, ''A note on the legion IV Italica'', ZPE 126, Bonn.
*E. C. Nischer, The army reforms of Dioclatian and Constantine and their modifications up to the time of the Notitia Dignitatum'', Journal of Roman Studies n.13, Londra 1923.
*H. M. D. Parker, "The legions of Diocletian and Constantine", in'' Journal of Roman Studies'' 23, 1933, London.
* Ritterling, Emil
*S. Runciman, ''La civilizacion bizantina'', Madrid 1942.
{{Roman Legion
Roman legions, 04 Italica
231 establishments
Military units and formations established in the 3rd century