what happened to the roman 9th legion

if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historyhit_com-medrectangle-3-0')};Following the end of Caesar’s Gallic Wars and 9 years of fighting, the Ninth Legion was formidable: its soldiers battle-hardened, its loyalty to Caesar paramount. It will have been viewed as an unnecessary statement of fixed frontier, and by default abandoned lands beyond, an area which only recently saw the dramatic demise of a third of Britain’s elite garrison by those on whom in many Romans minds insufficient revenge had been exacted. Despite being devastated at the hands of Boudicca, the Romans subsequently quashed the revolt and brought the Ninth Legion back up to strength with reinforcements from the continent. The question of what happened to the Ninth Legion is one of the great mysteries of history. First as already discussed stamped building products manufactured by legionary craftsmen are best dateable at the Carlisle and Nijmegan forts construction around about 70 AD. It has been suggested that on the way he took the highly unusual step of taking the Ninth Legion with him effectively stripping manpower from his current province’s garrison. At a time of potential reorganization the locations are telling, York and Chester hold the majority of the legionary garrison of Britannia clearly showing that the north is the area of strategic interest or, of concern to Rome. Under the command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the Ninth marched into modern-day Scotland and helped consolidate Roman rule as far as the river Forth. Well, actually it is not at all. Yet this did not signal the end for the Ninth. The novel’s popularity, however, seems to have pricked the bubble of academic superiority of certain academics since the 1970s. “The Parthian and the Marcommani campaigns of Marcus Aurelias”. There is no evidence of the Ninth Legion, or elements of it being in Arabia at this late date, only Carus with his suggested link at some point in his career with the Ninth. The once most accepted position was that the Legion was transferred out of Britain between 108 CE and 165 CE. All rights reserved. Any surviving members of the Ninth will most likely be those posted out from the main unit or left in garrison duty in York and who missed the action which saw the demise of the legion. Rather it amounts to a handful of disjointed, weak, and speculative suggestions that amount to a far from convincing case. Others claim that the peoples of what is now modern Scotland were simply incapable of inflicting defeat upon a disciplined well trained Roman legion. Elizabeth Freeman: The Enslaved Woman Who Sued For Her Freedom and Won, Married Love: The Controversial Legacy of Marie Stopes. Our last literary mention of the Legiondates to 82 AD, amid Agricola’s campaign in Scotland, when it is severely mauled by a Caledonian force. In 122 AD, after visiting and addressing problems in other provinces Hadrian crosses to Britain. Legio III Gallica or simply the Third Gallica Legion was founded by Gaius Julius … Historic attractions, places to visit and events. These relate to a Tribune and a Prefect of the Ninth and are trumpeted to suggest a continued and high-level formal existence of the legion or elements of it on the continent during the reign of Hadrian. A commemorative plaque shows the 9th, in garrison, at Eboracum, as late as AD, 108. Generations of children, therefore, were introduced to Roman Britain through the book, particularly where the book in many cases was required reading in the English curriculum. Rob Weinberg asks the big questions about this notorious figure to Professor Peter Heather of Kings College London. When the new Emperor Claudius took control of Rome in 41 AD, the IX (9 th) Legion (also identified as Legio VIIII) was one of the oldest in the imperial army. Many Romans it must be remembered will have served out their military service in southern Scotland, and while the ebb and flow of Roman forces actually holding an area under military control was fairly common in fluid circumstances across the empire where a major river did not create a defined line of demarcation, the abject abandonment of recently held provinces behind a grandiose barrier of monumental design will have been resented by many. Under the normal circumstances of the Roman treatment of d… Or on the reverse were Aviragus and his successors those most dangerous of men, the former Roman ally and auxiliary like Arminius, men who best knew the Romans and how to beat them? Before we look at the evidence for loss in Scotland – and primary evidence at that – we will look at the reasons why these attempts to remove the scene of the legion’s loss in Scotland have been made. These tiles were originally used as ballast in the trading ships of the era as they sailed across to Scotland. I think you are wrong about constantine making the army of rome bigger,i think he made the infantry smaller and he made cavarly more of a focus. The creation of the wall with the many alterations during its building caused by constructional detail or operational requirements lasted until the Emperor’s death some 16 years later, and it is probable that elements remained incomplete at that time. According to our sources, the siege was long and the fighting fierce. Yet although best remembered for its puzzling disappearance, the history of the Ninth prior to its vanishing is equally fascinating.if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historyhit_com-box-3-0')}; In 89 BC, during a war between the Romans and many of their allied-Italian states, a Roman army besieged the Italian stronghold of Asculum in southern Italy. There is also a host of references to warfare and various actions in the North but the most telling relates to the period we are looking at: This gem of a reliable primary source is generally ignored by those academics mentioned at the top of this article desperate to dismiss the loss of the Ninth in Scotland. The possible two or three remaining cohorts from the Ninth can be expected to be among this force and it may have campaigned in southern Scotland. 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