07-23-2008, 09:02 PM
Quote:Well, you can split hairs about which tenth, but I believe Caesar only had one Tenth, which had an equitatus nickname, and more than likely was the same tenth which became the Gemina......?Yes, that's Caesar's legion. It was disbanded, but many soldiers joined the army again when war broke out against Brutus and Cassius. They took up their old number: a refunded Legio X Equestris. After the battle of Philippi, it became part of the army of Marc Antony.
When war broke out between Octavian and Sextus Pompeius, Octavian also recruited soldiers of the old Tenth. They became Legio X Fretensis.
After the battle of Actium, Octavian took over Marc Antony's Tenth, to which was added another unit. Hence, X Gemina.
Something similar happened to the legions III (Cyrenaica and Gallica), IIII (Macedonica and Scythica), V (Alaudae and Macedonica), VI (Ferrata and Victrix), VII (Claudia and Gemina). After Actium, the Roman legions numbered I to XXII, with III, IIII, V, VI, VII and X being double; together 28 legions. XVII, XIIX, and XIX went lost in the Teutoburg Forest. When Augustus died, the Empire had 25 legions.
Quote:Which Tenth? Caesar could have brought one of his "Spanish" legions, no question there, he served as a commander in Spain before he went to Gaul.I think he could not. The Spanish legions had, in 59, probably numbers V and VI; VII, VIII, VIIII, and X were in Cisalpine Gaul (Caesar's core army); XI and XII in Illyricum, and so on, from west to east, numbers I to IIII in Italy proper. It is is impossible that soldiers from Spain ended up in Cisalpine Gaul. The only tombstone of a legionary of X Equestris that is from the age of the Civil Wars (it is mentioned by Ritterling), is a man from the Tribus Stellatina, i.e., the plains of the Po, near modern Bologna.
