Roman Legions

[Bryan]

What were the names of the legions raised by Augustus after the Varian Disaster, in 9 AD? Cassius Dio reports that Augustus conducted mass conscriptions to replace the losses.

Help me out, please!

[Timus]

According to Livius.org, none : http://www.livius.org/misc/legion/legion-chronological/
Calligula seem to have eventually raised two extra legions in 39 AD though.

That mass conscription might have something to do with some of those Cohors voluntariorum that appeared during Augustus' reign.

[Frank]

Augustus tried to raise new legions after the Varian Desaster. But the romans were not willing to volunteer. People were just too scared. Augustus tried to increase pressure and introduced new laws to enforce the romans to volunteer. They still refused, even after Augustus executed some people accordingly.

At the end he had to take what he could get. But these guys did not fullfill the requirements for a roman legionairy. So he had to raise a lot of roman auxiliary cohorts, called cohortes voluntariorum or if really free born romans ingenuorum.

Actually when the rest of the Rhine Legions faced their new comrades, they called them the worst scum, who ever has worn a gladius.

So the 3 lost legions were never replaced. The 3 numbers were never used again. Later the romans increased the numbers of legions again. But this was long after Augustus.

[Bryan]

What source says this? Cassius Dio says that citizens were recruited, to include veterans, though not without difficulty. Were these formed into cohorts as well?

[Frank]

What source says this?

Unfortunately, I do not remember the ancient sources in the footnotes. I have read this in several publications of military historians, when they analyzed the origin of roman auxiliary cohorts, or discuss the differences between voluntariorum, ingenuorum and civis romanorum.

[Nathan Ross]

There's an interesting discussion here, with references:

Cohortes Civium Romanorum

It seems there were a large number of cohorts raised at or around this time - perhaps as many as 33, which would fill the gap in the line, so to speak, left by the loss of three legions.

The cohortes voluntariorum appear to have been raised from freedmen, the cohortes ingenuorum from free citizens (presumably including the veterans mentioned by Dio; see the reference to the attested dilectus ingenuorum). I don't know of any evidence to suggest that either sort were regarded as being of especially poor quality.

[ParthianBow]

We also know that the men conscripted were sent to serve in the legions that guarded the Rhine - because they are mentioned a number of times as being responsible for the rebellion in autumn AD 14, after Augustus' death. The legions that rebelled on the Rhine were: I Germanica, V Alaudae, XX (name escapes me) and XXI Rapax.

[Renatus]

XX (name escapes me)

The Twentieth Legion later acquired the titles Valeria Victrix but this may not have been until after the Boudican revolt. Early tombstones, such as that of M. Favonius Facilis at Colchester, only give the number.