All through the historical past of the Roman Empire, numerous legions have been raised and disbanded, however one legion endured the whole lot, remaining in service to the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, marching on into the Center Ages – The Legio V Macedonica.
The Legio V Macedonica was levied someday round 43 BC through the late Republic Period, presumably beneath Gaius Octavius (the longer term Emperor Augustus). On the time, two legions, the V Gallica and the V Urbana are recorded in early textual content, one or each of which, stands out as the precursor to the Legio V Macedonica.
When Augustus turned sole ruler in 31 BC following the Warfare of Actium, he disbanded round half of the legions, consolidating the remaining legions right into a standing navy power that turned the core of the early Imperial military of the Principate.
The Legio V Macedonica was dispatched to Macedonia in 30 BC, from the place it doubtless earned the title of “Macedonian”. The legion remained there till AD 6, when it was despatched to protect Oescus on the Danube River in Roman Moesia (a area between the Decrease Danube and the Balkan Mountains).
Oescus started as an vital navy base as a part of the Danubian Limes. The legion maintained its Legionary Fortress there to guard the frontier, with some Vexillationes campaigning in Nero’s Parthian Warfare in AD 58–63 in Armenia, and Alexandria in Egypt.
With the outbreak of the First Jewish Warfare in AD 66 (additionally known as the Nice Revolt), Nero despatched the overall, Titus Flavius Vespasianus (future Emperor Vespasian), to crush the rebel. Vespasian’s forces consisted of the Legio X Fretensis, and the Legio V Macedonica. He was later joined by his son Titus, who command the Legio XV Apollinaris and the armies of a number of native allies.
In the course of the marketing campaign, the Legio V Macedonica distinguished themselves in Galilee through the liberation of the town of Sepphoris, and on the storming of the principle shrine of the Samaritans at Mount Gerizim.
The majority of Roman forces then reached Jerusalem in AD 70, putting the town beneath siege for 4 months. After a number of battles, all the metropolis and the Second Temple was destroyed, with modern historian, Titus Flavius Josephus, stating: “Jerusalem … was so totally razed to the bottom by people who demolished it to its foundations, that nothing was left that would ever persuade guests that it had as soon as been a spot of habitation.”
After the proclamation of Vespasian as Emperor and the top of the struggle beneath his son, the legion returned to its dwelling base again in Oescus in AD 71.
There it remained till the Dacians attacked the province of Moesia, with the Legio V Macedonica being despatched to marketing campaign towards the Dacians within the Battle of Tappae. The legion continued to marketing campaign through the reign of Emperor Trajan towards the Dacians between AD 101 to 106, however following the conclusion of the struggle, the legion was transferred to the north-east of Moesia to Troezmis, one other Roman legionary fortress located on Limes Moesiae frontier system that protected the border from assaults by the Roxolani tribes.
Throughout Hadrian’s reign, the legion was despatched to crush the Bar Kokhba revolt in AD 132 to 136, a marketing campaign the Roman’s known as the “Jewish Expedition”. The Roman power consisted of six full legions, together with the Legio V Macedonica, along with auxiliaries and parts from as much as six extra legions.
The Bar Kokhba revolt resulted within the in depth depopulation of numerous Judean communities. In response to the Roman historian and senator, Cassius Dio, 580,000 Jews perished within the struggle, and plenty of extra died of starvation and illness.
By the latter a part of the twond century AD, the borders of the Roman Empire have been beneath risk when the Germanic Marcomanni entered right into a confederation with the Quadi, Vandals, and Sarmatians.
In response to the Roman historian, Eutropius, the forces of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (which included the Legio V Macedonica), battled towards the Marcomannic confederation for 3 years, which lasted till Aurelius’s demise in AD 180. The Marcomannic Wars had little success, however ensured the Danube remained the frontier of the empire till the autumn of the Western Roman Empire.
Aurelius’s successor, Emperor Commodus, awarded the Legio V Macedonica the title Pia Constans (“Devoted and dependable”) or Pia Fidelis (“Devoted and dependable”), in AD 185 or 187, after crushing a mercenary military employed by rebellious gold mine employees within the province of Dacia.
For many of the 3rd century AD, the legion was primarily based at Potaissa, having fought a number of wars towards the Dacian Carp tribe, the place the Emperor Valerian, additionally awarded the legion the title of Pia III Fidelis III (“Thrice Pious and dependable).
Additional titles have been bestowed by Emperor Gallienus, who gave the legion the title, VII Pia VII Fidelis, with the 4th, fifth and sixth titles awarded in all probability when the legion was used as a cell cavalry unit towards the usurpers, Ingenuus and Regalianus.
In AD 274, the Legio V Macedonica was transferred again to Oescus and constructed a second Legionary fortress known as Oescus II. The cavalry models have been indifferent from the legion and despatched to marketing campaign in Mesopotamia towards the Sassanid Empire in AD 296.
The legion at Oescus was transformed right into a comitatensis unit, a discipline military of the Late Roman Empire, the place it remained to protect the frontier because the Western Roman Empire collapsed earlier than them.
In AD 411, an invading power of Huns overrun Oescus and destroyed the town. The Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I, rebuilt the town and re-established the Danube defence system, however this was deserted through the late 6th century following an invasion by the Avars.
The latter years of the legion is talked about within the Notitia Dignitatum, a doc of the late Roman Empire, detailing the executive organisation of the Western and the Japanese Roman Empire.
The Notitia Dignitatum paperwork the Legio V Macedonica (the indifferent calvary models) having detachments within the Oriental Subject Military and in Egypt, the place it remained earlier than becoming a member of the Byzantine military.
The final remnants of the Legio V Macedonica Legio is talked about in inscriptions that present a date of AD 635 or 636. The inscriptions describe the legion fortifying the defences of Heliopolis, a Roman metropolis in Lebanon that fell to the invading forces of the Rashidun Caliphate.
What occurred to the Legio V Macedonica is unknown. We are able to solely assume that the remaining detachments have been defeated through the Arab invasions of the Levant and Egypt, nevertheless, what’s putting is the enduring legacy of one of many final legions from the Roman Empire.
The Legio V Macedonica was the longest-lived Roman Legion recognized to historical past, spanning round 680 years from 43 BC to round AD 636; all the historical past of the Roman Empire within the Classical Period, by means of to the Center Ages.
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