Legio VI Victrix

Legio VI "Victrix" (Victorious) was a Roman legion founded by Octavian in 41 BC. It was the twin legion of VI "Ferrata" and perhaps held veterans of that legion, and some soldiers kept to the traditions of the Caesarian legion.

The legion saw its first action in Perugia in 41 BC. It also served against the Sextus Pompeius, who occupied Sicily and made threats to discontinue sending grain to Rome. In 31 BC the legion fought in the Battle of Actium against Mark Antony. The next year it was stationed in Hispania Tarraconensis, where it helped in Augustus' major war against the Cantabrians, which lasted from 25-13 BC.

The legion stayed in Spain for nearly a century and received the surname "Hispaniensis". Soldiers of this unit and X "Gemina" numbered among the first settlers of Zaragoza. The cognomen "Victrix" dates back to the reign of Nero. But Nero was unpopular in the area, and when the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, Servius Sulpicius Galba, said he wished to overthrow Nero, the legion supported him and he was proclaimed Emperor in the VI "Victrix" legionary camp. Galba created VII "Gemina" and marched on Rome, where Nero killed himself.

VI "Victrix" in Britain

In 119, Hadrian relocated the legion to northern Britannia, to assist the already present legions in quelling the resistance there. "Victrix" was key in securing victory, and would eventually replace the diminished IX "Hispania". In 122 the legion started work on Hadrian's Wall which would sustain the peace for two decades.

Twenty years later, they helped construct the Antonine Wall, but it was largely abandoned by 164.

In 185, the British legions mutinied and put forward a commander of their own, named Priscus, to replace the unpopular Emperor Commodus, but the former declined. The mutiny was suppressed by Pertinax, who would later become emperor himself after Commodus was murdered. During this period, Roman cavalry general Lucius Artorius Castus served with "Victrix" (but he seems to have remained loyal).

See also

* List of Roman legions
* Roman legion

External links

* [http://www.livius.org/le-lh/legio/vi_victrix.html livius.org account]
* [http://www.legionsix.org/ Legion Six Victorious, Los Angeles Roman reenactment society]
* [http://www.roemercohorte.de/ LEG VI VIC COH VI ASTVR, German re-enactment society]
* [http://www.theantonineguard.org.uk/ The Antonine Guard, Scottish re-enactment society]