Legio IX Hispana\'s new vexillum

[Marcus Mummius]

Hi, Jef,
There was a recent thread here(in the last month) that gave a list of legions and their protectors/gods. Some had the same as others while most had only one. I wrote all of them down on paper to take home with me as well as the literary source. I'll check when I get home to see if I can find it. It gets frustrating sometimes when I can't find a thread later to share with someone. I wish I had a system of cataloging the standouts.
I think that the bull was representative of Caesar's 6th legion.

It really depends on what source (modern) you read. I think Junkelmann in 'Die legionen Augustus' metions the bull for Legio XI. No sources given by him though...

I've read that the bull was used for every legion that was first founded by Gaius Julius Caesar.
If it wasn't unique for the legion this would make it a pretty silly thing to depict on the vexillum IMHO.

Vale,

[Matt Lukes]

That's a beautiful embroidery job for sure!

Great work!

A question: would a vexillum have had the centuria name and number on it?

Vale,

Couldn't say if the Vexillum would- if a 'Vexillation' of a legio were actually given their own Vexillum to carry, it's not unreasonable, but then I don't know if a Vexillation was ever just a centuria. Centuria did mark the hell out of things when they built them, so it was certainly considered a matter of pride to which one belonged to and what it did. The only thing is that centuria didn't use numbers nor was the abbreviation 'CEN' ever used so far as I've seen- it's always either just the symbol for centurio, a '>' (sometimes more curved looking like a reversed 'C') and then some abbreviations (praenomen nomen cognomen, some or all) of the centurio, or sometimes the cohors and number preceeding the '> names' like this on two building stones (among hundreds from Britain):

COHVIIII
MAR RVF

(9th cohort, century of Markus Rufus [built this]

or

>SAVITIR
(century of Savius Tiro [built this])

From the MASSIVE text Roman Inscriptions of Britain, in which there are dozens if not hundreds of such inscription examples. The centuria loved putting their name on things :lol:

Equipment markings also show that centuria were always indicated by the '>' and centurio's name, not a number- that was only the cohors.

Not to detract from your Vex guys of course- I only mention all this for clarification purposes

[Hibernicus]

Thanks Matt

Some many years ago I inquired about unit abbreviations, learned about the shorthand in text for Centuria. The PhD who had an answer for me gave me a list of formal abbreviations which included CEN for centuria.

I was opposed to naming our first Centuria after myself. Same way I do not like to kit out as a Centurio unless we have substantial numbers at an event or are doing a demonstration at say, the Dallas Museum of Art, and that's usually at their request. I resisted getting a hamata and all the attendant Centurio kit until a few years ago. In Leg IX HSPA rank is earned and even though chapter regions are lsited as Centuria the chapter has to attain a proscribed size before it earns an Optio and then a Centurio. Everyone is Legio IX is a common miles gregarius. No one is THE aquilifer or THE vexilarius. Those jobs change and are often used to reward a member, recognition for a good deed, which means that at an event such as So Cal's Old Ft MacArthur Days several different guys might get to be the Signifer during the parades.

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

Some many years ago I inquired about unit abbreviations, learned about the shorthand in text for Centuria. The PhD who had an answer for me gave me a list of formal abbreviations which included CEN for centuria.

Indeed, although the symbols >, 7, and inverted C seem to be most common, CEN (and CENT) for centuria is attested as well. E.g., Knud Paasch Almar, Inscriptiones Latinae, page 447.