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Legio VI Hispana

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Legio sexta Hispana ("Spanish Sixth Legion") may have been a legion of the Imperial Roman army. Only a few records attesting a "VI Hispana" were known in 2015. Seyrig (1923) argued that this unit was created in AD 68 and disappeared before 197.[1] Another theory is that VI Hispana was created after 197 and was destroyed in the turmoil of the Empire's Third Century Crisis.

The scarcity and ambiguity of records of "VI Hispana" has led some scholars to doubt that this legion ever existed and that the inscriptions attesting it were erroneous references to the legions VII Gemina or IX Hispana[2]

Sources

The extant records attesting a "Legio VI Hispana" are as follows:

  1. AE (2003) 1014 and 7 other similar inscriptions from Corinth honouring Tiberius Claudius Dinippus, who is described as a military tribune of "VI Hispana" (also called "VI Hispanensis" in 3 of the inscr.). KEY TEXT: "LEG VI HISP". Date: reign of Nero (AD 54-68)[3]
  2. CIL III 8069: Tile-stamps from Szent Mihaly (Hungary). KEY TEXT: "LEG VI HIS". Date uncertain.[4]
  3. CIL V 4381: (from Brescia, It.): KEY TEXT: "[LE]G HI/////". Date ca. AD 100[5]
  4. Inscriptiones Aquileiae I.310. From Aquileia in northeastern Italy. Votive altar. The text reads: "[Dedicated] to the invincible god Mithras. Lucius Septimius Cassianus, standard-bearer of the legion IIIIII Hispana, acting in the lustrum of chief centurion Publius Porcius Faustus, freely fulfilled his vow to the well-deserving [god]." Date: AD 244-8.[6]


Theories

Theodor Mommsen, the 19th century German classicist, argued that the "IIIIII Hispana" of the Cassianus inscription was a misspelling of IX Hispana. This legion was sometimes written "VIIII Hispana". The mason may have mistakenly engraved "II" instead of "V".[7] But there was (in 2015) no other evidence of the existence of IX Hispana later than 120. Sauveur argued (in 1918) that the tile-stamps of VI Hispana were in reality a mistake for VII Gemina, which from AD 70 till the 4th century was the sole imperial legion permanently based in Spain.[8] Sauveur also attributed the Brescia inscription to the VI Victrix, which was in Spain for about a century (29 BC - AD 70), and may have acquired the "Hispana" title from this time. But there is no supporting evidence that VI Victrix was ever known by this name.[9]

According to Seyrig, the evidence is sufficient to prove that VI Hispana existed. Seyrig argues that VI Hispana was levied in Spain by the general Servius Sulpicius Galba in AD 68 to participate in his coup d'etat against the emperor Nero. Seyrig cites Suetonius that Galba "raised from the people of his province (Hispania Tarraconensis) legions and auxiliary regiments additional to his existing forces of one legion [VI Victrix] and two auxiliary alae of cavalry and three cohorts".[10] One legion that Galba certainly created was the VII Gemina, but Suetonius implies at least two were levied. Seyrig suggests that VI Hispana (or at least a detachment of it) was deployed in Dacia sometime in the period 70-150. Finally, Seyrig argues, VI Hispana disappeared in the late 2nd century, before 197.[11]

However, Seyrig's theory relied on dating of the source inscriptions which are not favoured today. Seyrig dates the Dinippus inscription to ca. 150, much later than the period 54-68. Also Seyrig considers the Cassianus inscription to date from before 197. This is unlikely, as Cassianus' first names, Lucius Septimius, show that he acquired Roman citizenship under the emperor Septimius Severus (or one of his successors) i.e. in 193 at the earliest. But the Cassianus inscription has been dated to the reihm of Philip the Arab (r. 244-9) on stylistic and content grounds.

If this was a real formation, it must have been founded under the Severan dynasty (193-235), most likely in the reign of its founder, emperor Septimius Severus (AD 193-211), who considerably expanded the Roman military and founded three other legions, the I, II and III Parthica. The lack of other evidence is suspicious, but not necessarily fatal to its veracity, as the 3rd century saw a huge diminution in the frequency of inscriptions compared to the two preceding centuries. It has been suggested that the legion was destroyed during the Empire's Third Century Crisis, possibly at the Battle of Abrittus (251), where an entire Roman army was annihilated. If so, the legion's existence may have lasted only a few decades, explaining the lack of more evidence. The epithet "Hispana" probably indicates that the legion's initial recruits were Spaniards.

A second theory is that "VI Hispana" referred to in the inscription was in reality the legion VI Victrix, whose long-term base during the 3rd century was at Eboracum in Britannia (York, England). Because of its service in Spain for about a century (29 BC - AD 70), this legion is documented with the cognomen ("surname") Hispaniensis.

Citations

  1. ^ Seyrig (1923) 488-96
  2. ^ Seyrig (1923) 488
  3. ^ Epigraphic Database Heidelberg
  4. ^ Seyrig (1923) 488
  5. ^ Seyrig (1923) 490
  6. ^ EAGLE (Electonic Archive of Greek and Latin Epigraphy)
  7. ^ Seyrig (1923) 488
  8. ^ Seyrig (1923) 489
  9. ^ Seyrig (1923) 489
  10. ^ Suetonius Galba X
  11. ^ Seyrig (1923) 496

References

Ancient

Modern

  • Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL)
  • Annee Epigraphique (AE)
  • Seyrig, Henri (1923): Legio VI Hispana in Bulletin de Correspobdance Hellenique (Volume 47) pp 488-97


Sources


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