symbol of XIX legio of Varo

[munazio planco]

avete omnes


Somebody have information about the simbol that could be of the XIX legion of Varo?

some information,historical riferiment....who know someting?


thank you in advance

[Uwe Bahr]

Salve PierPaolo,

I am afraid there is no information up to now. Legiones XVII, XIIX and XIX are the only imperial ones whose symbols or names we don't know. After the Varian defeat they were not re-installed by Augustus.

What I never found information about, is why don't we know them?

1. Did they fall under Damnatio Memoriae and their names were completely eraded and forgotten
or
2. is it pure coincidence that we don't know them because they could not be referred to after 9 AD and reports before their defeat are lost or not found up to now?
or
3. has the system with symbols and names, as we know it, been introduced at any time after 9 AD? I personally don't believe that, nicknames and numbers of legions are known from earlier republican times (Caesar's famous X. Legion "Equestris" or the so called Legio "Martia", that had been destroyed with their burning ships when crossing the Adriatic Sea in the Civil War with Pompeius).

Greets - Uwe

[munazio planco]

ave

very complet explenation,thank you very much for your analization of this problem.

[Decebalus]

There are some epigraphic records about Legio XIX but sadly no mention of name and no depiction of a symbol is preserved.
But being raised by Octavian during the civil war, it is possible that the capricorn (the birth sign of Octavian) might have been an emblem of this Legion and also XVII and XVIII.

Greets,

Andreas Gagelmann