Legio IV Italica
The Legio IV Italica ("Italian Fourth Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army raised in AD 231 by emperor Alexander Severus. The legion remained in existence as late as AD 400.
History
[edit]The legion was raised during the reign of Alexander Severus in 231, with Italian and Pannonian soldiers, and perhaps took soon part in the expedition against the Sassanids in 231–231.[1]
Its first commander was an Equestrian praefectus legionis Maximinus Thrax, the former common soldier and future emperor; reflecting the growing trend of appointed equestrian legati in place of senatorial ones.[2]
The legion participated in all of Maximinus' campaigns in the Danubian area in 235–238.[3] Under Gordian III, it returned to the eastern frontier in 242–244 to fight the Sassanids under the prefect Serapamo,[4] with its base set perhaps in the province of Mesopotamia.[5][dubious – discuss] Nischer speculates it may have later been based in the Gaul under Diocletian.[6]
The Notitia dignitatum attests the unit as a pseudo-comitatenses legion under the magister militum per Orientem. It perhaps survived until the reformation of Justinian in 545.[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Herodian, VI, 3.1; Parker, 176.
- ^ Herodian, VI, 8.2–3; Historia Augusta, "The Two Maximini", 5.5; Gonzales, vol.I, p. 165.
- ^ Gonzales, p.166
- ^ Historia Augusta, "The Three Gordians", 25.2; Ritterling, c.1326; Gonzales, p.166.
- ^ Luttwak, p. 231–232; Gonzales, p. 166.
- ^ J.Kromayer e G.Veith, p.483, map 54, illustration 147; Nischer, p. 22.
- ^ Diehl, p. 146; Runciman, p. 125; Gonzales, p. 166.
Sources
[edit]Primary sources
[edit]- Herodian, Storia dell'Impero dopo Marco Aurelio, VI.
- Historia Augusta, "The Two Maximini". Note that the Historia Augusta is a late-4th-century hoax.
- Notitia dignitatum, Orientis.
Secondary sources
[edit]- C. Diehl, Justinienne et la civilisation Byzantine au VI siecle, vol.I, New York 1901.
- Gonzalez, Julio Rodriguez (2003). Historia de las legiones Romanas (in Spanish). Madrid.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - 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, [1]
- S. Runciman, La civilizacion bizantina, Madrid 1942.
