Legio XXII Deiotariana

Legio XXII "Deiotariana" ("légio vigésima secúnda") was a Roman legion, levied approximately in 48 BC and destroyed in the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–135. Its cognomen comes from Deiotarus, a Celtic king, and its emblem is unknown, but could be a Galatian symbol.

Legion history

Origin of the legion

The legion was levied by Deiotarus, king of the Celtic tribe of the "Tolistobogii", who lived in Galatia, modern Turkey. Deiotarus become an ally of the Roman Republic general Pompey in 63 BC, who named him king of all the Celtic tribes of Turkey, which were collectively known as "Galatians" (hence the name Galatia for the region). Deiotarus levied an army and trained it with Roman help; the army, in 48 BC, was composed of 12,000 infantrymen and 2,000 horsemen. Cicero writes that the army was divided into to thirty cohortes, which were roughly equivalent to three Roman legions of the time. This army supported the Romans in their wars against king Mithridates VI of Pontus, and contributed to Roman victory in the Third Mithridatic War.

After a heavy defeat against king Pharnaces II of Pontus near Nicopolis, the survivor soldiers of Deiotarius army formed a single legion, which marched besides Julius Caesar during his victorious campaign against Pontus, and fought with him in the battle of Zela (47 BC).

Early history (BC)

When the Roman Empire integrated the Galatian kingdom, this legion, which had been trained by the Romans and had fought under Roman commanders, became part of the Roman army; since Caesar Augustus had already 21 legions, the legion received the number XXII.

Augustus sent the Twenty-second to camp in Nicopolis (next Alexandria, in Aegyptus) together with III "Cyrenaica". These two legions had the role of garrisoning the Egyptian province from threats both within and without, given the multi-ethnical nature of Alexandria.

In 26 BC, Aelius Gallus, "praefectus Aegypti" (prefectus of Egypt), led a campaign against the Nubian kingdoms and another to find "Arabia Felix" (Yemen). The campaign came quickly to a halt (25 BC) because of the heavy losses in the troops (Romans, Hebrews and Nabateans), due to hunger and epidemics.
The losses were not recovered, so in 23 BC the Nubians, led by queen Candace Amanirenas, took the initiative and attacked the Romans moving towards Elephantine. The new prefectus of Egypt, Petronius, obtained reinforcements, and after blocking the Nubians, marched the Nile up to the Nubian capital of Napata, which was sacked in 22 BC.
It is highly probable that XXII fought in these wars.
After this actions, the Nubian front remained calm for a long time, so the legions could be employed otherwise. The legionaries were used not only as soldiers, but also as workers, as some of them were sent to the granite mines of "Mons Claudianus". Other legionaries were sent in the deepest south of the Egyptian province, and scratched their names of the stones of the "Colossi of Memnon".

Later history

Under Nero, the Romans fought a campaign (55–63) against the Parthian Empire, which had invaded the kingdom of Armenia, allied to the Romans. After gaining (60) and losing (62) Armenia, the Romans sent XV "Apollinaris" from Pannonia to Cn. Domitius Corbulo, "legatus" of Syria. Corbulo, with the legions XV "Apollinaris", III "Gallica", V "Macedonica", X "Fretensis" and XXII, entered (63) into the territories of Vologases I of Parthia, who returned the Armenian kingdom to Tiridates.

In 66, Zealot Jews killed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. After the ignominious defeat of the legatus of Syria (66), T. Flavius Vespasianus entered in Iudaea in 67 with the legions V "Macedonica", X "Fretensis", XV "Apollinaris", one vexillatio of 1,000 legionars of the XXII, and 15,000 soldiers from the Eastern allies, and started the siege of Jerusalem (69), which would be completed by his son T. Flavius Vespasianus (better known as Titus) in 70. In fact in 69, the "year of the four emperors", Flavius Vespasianus senior returned to Italy to conquer the imperial throne after Galba rebellion and Nero's death. The Twenty-second sided with Flavius Vespasianus, who eventually became emperor.

Under Trajan, XXII is officially known as "Deiotariana", even if this was its unofficial name since Claudian times.

The last record of XXII "Deiotariana" is from 119. In 145, when a list of all existing legions was made, XXII "Deiotariana" was not listed. It is possible XXII "Deiotariana" was wiped out by the Jewish rebellion of Simon bar Kochba.

See also

* List of Roman legions
* [http://www.livius.org/le-lh/legio/xxii_deiotariana.html livius.org account]