12-06-2016, 01:11 AM
The long-serving Egyptian legion XXII Deiotariana was last attested in a papyrus dated to AD 119, when it was based at Nikopolis next to Alexandria along with III Cyrenaica. Along with the more famous IX Hispana it disappeared at some time during the following half-century. What did happen to Deiotarus' legion? The theories can be summed up as "Alexandria, Judaea, or Elegeia?"
Now, the early Hadrianic time saw a game of musical chairs in the East, several legions changing bases in the aftermath of Trajan's Parthian war. I think Radu Urloiu was the last one to tackle the subject of their dislocation in AD 119 in "Legio XVI Flavia Firma from Its Creation to the Early Years of Hadrian" (Cogito, Multidisciplinary Research Journal 3 (2010): 71–81). Urloiu came up with the following:
Cappadocia XII Fulminata (Melitene), XV Apollinaris (Satala)
Syria III Gallica (Raphaneae), IV Scythica (Zeugma), XVI Flavia Firma (Samosata)
Iudaea II Traiana Fortis (Caparcotna), X Fretensis (Hierosolyma)
Arabia VI Ferrata (Bostra)
Aegyptus III Cyrenaica and XXII Deiotariana (Nikopolis).
What did happen in the East in the following 40+ years? To get the North sorted: Syria certainly kept those three excepting the period when III Gallica was taken by legate Marcellus into Judaea to deal with the Bar Kokhba revolt, Cappadocia might've received another legion at some period during the reign of Antoninus Pius, because Sedatius Severianus is presumed to have lost one at Elegeia, and XII and XV continued to exist. It appears that Arrian had only two legions in AD 135 when checking the Alani; Pius or perhaps Hadrian could've reinforced Cappadocia with another legion.
The problems with the theory are manifold: no known base, no known evidence at all. Did Cappadocia receive legates with greater seniority on supposedly becoming a three-legion province? Doesn't look like it, it sure was no Syria or Britannia. Indeed, how about XII or XV getting destroyed at Elegeia and then reformed by the Augusti? For what it's worth, Severianus could've led a legion-sized group of vexillations from his two legions into the jaws of Parthians.
Now, the South. "The conclusion of our study is there are enough convincing proves for the presence of the legio VI Ferrata in Arabia to say at least for the early years of Hadrian’s reign," writes Urloiu. The epigraphic evidence is, as always, not fully clear, but if we assume that III Cyrenaica already was garrisoning Arabia, there's no place for VI Ferrata anywhere; I guess Urloiu is right.
VI Ferrata must've replaced II Traiana in Judaea during the second round of musical chairs associated with the Parthian border crisis of AD 123. Mor in his recent book "The Second Jewish Revolt: The Bar Kokhba War, 132-136 C.E." writes that "according to the movements of the legions in the region during the years 117–135, only Legio VI Ferrata could have replaced Legio II Traiana in Judaea in 123 CE"; as an aside, it's a good thing Werner Eck has not to my knowledgeaddressed the question directly, or Mor would've come up with another legion swap!
Anyway, Nathan Ross noted yesterday that Mor "isn't too convinced about the legion's involvement in that war." What can I add? Clearly, there is absolutely no direct evidence that XXII Deiotariana fought and died in the Bar Kokhba War, yet its demise in Judaea appears to me the the most logical end, especially in comparison with that proposed by Mor in 1986 in "Two Legions-The Same Fate? (The Disappearance of the Legion IX Hispana and XXII Deiotariana)" (ZPE):
The fact that after 119 there is no evidence for the presence of the legion in Egypt or in any other province, hints that it was destroyed before the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. Between the years 119-132, however, there were no large scale military events outside Egypt which could account for the destruction of a legion. Only internal problems, like the riots in Alexandria in the years 121/122, may provide the key to this unsolved mystery.
The legion destroyed in a urban riot is I think, an unheard-of event, especially with Hadrian soon reducing the garrison of Egypt to a single one immediately thereafter and even taking a vexillatio out of it during the Parthian crisis of AD 123, whichever legion it was, likely III Cyrenaica still. Even if we are to suppose that Egyptians, or at least the most martially inclined ones, receive some fighting experience and hoarded weapons during the Jewish Diaspora war in the late Trajanic period, but massacring a whole legion in a urban tumultus? Doesn't seem likely, especially given that the riot was supposedly calmed by a single admonitory letter penned by disgruntled Hadrian.
Judaea circa 132-133 remains the best possibility (or the worst, if you're a legionary of the Twenty-second!), given the general scarcity of sources on the Second Revolt; pity we had no Second Josephus. We can speculate that the destruction of XXII Deiotariana was the event which prompted Hadrian to call on Julius Severus' services, but let's not be too Dando-Collinsey! :-)
Now, the early Hadrianic time saw a game of musical chairs in the East, several legions changing bases in the aftermath of Trajan's Parthian war. I think Radu Urloiu was the last one to tackle the subject of their dislocation in AD 119 in "Legio XVI Flavia Firma from Its Creation to the Early Years of Hadrian" (Cogito, Multidisciplinary Research Journal 3 (2010): 71–81). Urloiu came up with the following:
Cappadocia XII Fulminata (Melitene), XV Apollinaris (Satala)
Syria III Gallica (Raphaneae), IV Scythica (Zeugma), XVI Flavia Firma (Samosata)
Iudaea II Traiana Fortis (Caparcotna), X Fretensis (Hierosolyma)
Arabia VI Ferrata (Bostra)
Aegyptus III Cyrenaica and XXII Deiotariana (Nikopolis).
What did happen in the East in the following 40+ years? To get the North sorted: Syria certainly kept those three excepting the period when III Gallica was taken by legate Marcellus into Judaea to deal with the Bar Kokhba revolt, Cappadocia might've received another legion at some period during the reign of Antoninus Pius, because Sedatius Severianus is presumed to have lost one at Elegeia, and XII and XV continued to exist. It appears that Arrian had only two legions in AD 135 when checking the Alani; Pius or perhaps Hadrian could've reinforced Cappadocia with another legion.
The problems with the theory are manifold: no known base, no known evidence at all. Did Cappadocia receive legates with greater seniority on supposedly becoming a three-legion province? Doesn't look like it, it sure was no Syria or Britannia. Indeed, how about XII or XV getting destroyed at Elegeia and then reformed by the Augusti? For what it's worth, Severianus could've led a legion-sized group of vexillations from his two legions into the jaws of Parthians.
Now, the South. "The conclusion of our study is there are enough convincing proves for the presence of the legio VI Ferrata in Arabia to say at least for the early years of Hadrian’s reign," writes Urloiu. The epigraphic evidence is, as always, not fully clear, but if we assume that III Cyrenaica already was garrisoning Arabia, there's no place for VI Ferrata anywhere; I guess Urloiu is right.
VI Ferrata must've replaced II Traiana in Judaea during the second round of musical chairs associated with the Parthian border crisis of AD 123. Mor in his recent book "The Second Jewish Revolt: The Bar Kokhba War, 132-136 C.E." writes that "according to the movements of the legions in the region during the years 117–135, only Legio VI Ferrata could have replaced Legio II Traiana in Judaea in 123 CE"; as an aside, it's a good thing Werner Eck has not to my knowledgeaddressed the question directly, or Mor would've come up with another legion swap!
Anyway, Nathan Ross noted yesterday that Mor "isn't too convinced about the legion's involvement in that war." What can I add? Clearly, there is absolutely no direct evidence that XXII Deiotariana fought and died in the Bar Kokhba War, yet its demise in Judaea appears to me the the most logical end, especially in comparison with that proposed by Mor in 1986 in "Two Legions-The Same Fate? (The Disappearance of the Legion IX Hispana and XXII Deiotariana)" (ZPE):The fact that after 119 there is no evidence for the presence of the legion in Egypt or in any other province, hints that it was destroyed before the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. Between the years 119-132, however, there were no large scale military events outside Egypt which could account for the destruction of a legion. Only internal problems, like the riots in Alexandria in the years 121/122, may provide the key to this unsolved mystery.
The legion destroyed in a urban riot is I think, an unheard-of event, especially with Hadrian soon reducing the garrison of Egypt to a single one immediately thereafter and even taking a vexillatio out of it during the Parthian crisis of AD 123, whichever legion it was, likely III Cyrenaica still. Even if we are to suppose that Egyptians, or at least the most martially inclined ones, receive some fighting experience and hoarded weapons during the Jewish Diaspora war in the late Trajanic period, but massacring a whole legion in a urban tumultus? Doesn't seem likely, especially given that the riot was supposedly calmed by a single admonitory letter penned by disgruntled Hadrian.
Judaea circa 132-133 remains the best possibility (or the worst, if you're a legionary of the Twenty-second!), given the general scarcity of sources on the Second Revolt; pity we had no Second Josephus. We can speculate that the destruction of XXII Deiotariana was the event which prompted Hadrian to call on Julius Severus' services, but let's not be too Dando-Collinsey! :-)
Sergey
