How Roman Legions Built Their Identities | The Power of a Legion's Name and Number

The name and number of a Roman legion was far more than just a naming convention. It was a unique identity which provided its soldiers with a sense of pride, community, and brotherhood. The unique history and culture of every legion was passed down from veteran to recruit for centuries, such that every soldier knew his legion's origin, victories, and significance in forming the Roman Empire, and also felt connected to all of its soldiers before and after. A legion's symbol, standards, and prized golden eagle were worshipped as sacred objects, for which its soldiers willingly gave up their lives to protect. Some families record several generations of their men serving within the same legion, while other legions, when pitted against each other in civil wars, could carry personal, competitive grudges long after the conflict has ended. Like the soldiers of the 14th Legion, who engaged in street fights with soldiers from the Batavian cohorts, after recently fighting on opposing sides and then being stationed in the same city. Even after being punished and sent away to Britain, the 14th supposedly set fire to the city in defiance of the new emperor. But while Roman soldiers would kill to protect their legion's name and number, let's take a look at how they got them in the first place. Anyone who knows anything about Roman military history would have noticed that some legions carry the same number, and while most of their names were geographic locations, others were something else entirely. So what was the system or logic, if any at all, behind the creation of a legion's identity? One thing that many Roman soldiers lacked was the financial literacy to properly manage their money, as many of them were known to take on debts to acquire luxuries and live way above their means. 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So click the link in the description to try Rocket Money for free, or unlock more features with premium. The numbering of legions dates to the earliest days of the Roman Republic, when its legions were not yet permanent professional units. At this time, Rome could only raise four legions in times of war, which would simply be numbered one to four in order of their recruitment. After the end of their service, they would be disbanded and a new set of four legions would be raised. So the first legion of the First Samnite War, for example, was not the same as the first legion of the second, in that they didn't share the same unit identity or sense of community. The two consuls of Rome, which were yearly re-elected, would each personally command two of these legions in times of war. And as the Roman Republic expanded, it began to raise far more legions at a time, but followed the same chronological numbering after the first four, which by tradition were always reserved for the consuls. All legions numbered five and higher are suspected by some scholars to have followed a system of deployment. Namely, they were positioned in sequential order from west to east in a clockwise manner. So lower-numbered legions served in Spain, higher ones served in Cisalpine Gaul, and the highest numbers were sent to the east, with an inscription mentioning an 18th legion in Cilicia. Sadly, we don't have enough sources to prove this system of deployment for certain, but it seems to have been the case for all legions we know of, from at least the 2nd century BC, as noted by Livy, all the way to the time of Julius Caesar in the mid-1st century BC. Interestingly, during the entire Republican period, the number of a legion was not at all permanent, and could actually change depending on how many legions there were at any time. For example, if the 7th and 8th legions in Hispania were disbanded, the numbers of the upper legions would be changed to take their place. So the 10th legion of any given year might not be the same 10th legion of the next. As you can tell, this makes the task of tracking any individual Republican legion nearly impossible, and there were no ties between soldiers and their legion's number or identity. But this didn't mean that a legion's number was not important at all. In fact, the presence of a number was proof that the legion was a iusta legio, a legally sanctioned legion. This was a very important distinction during times of war, when the Romans could sometimes raise legions from non-Roman citizens or sailors, like the Alidae, Pontica, and Gamela legions. These were all denied an official number, which they could only earn after being legally sanctioned and granted Roman citizenship, as the Alidae did when it received the number 5. So the number of a legion was also a representation of the social status of its soldiers, as proper and legal Roman citizens. During the Republican period, serving under a number was all that mattered, and not what that number actually was, which was far less important and could change at any time. But this would all change during the time of Julius Caesar, who initially also seemed to have followed this numbering system when he raised his favorite 10th legion in Hispania. And then an 11th and 12th in Cisalbaigol, going all the way until the 15th. The chaos really began during the outbreak of the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey in 49 BC, with both sides rushing to raise as many legions as they could. By the end of the war, Caesar would command legions numbering all the way up to 47, which were now scattered all over the map. So if there was a clockwise system the Romans tried to follow, it was definitely broken by Caesar's Civil War. The same goes for the practice of renumbering legions, as after disbanding his most experienced legions numbered 6 through 14, their numbers seem to not have been taken up by any other legion for a couple of years, which is supported by a lack of inscriptions and tombstones. Only after Caesar's assassination would these legion numbers be reinstated again, and most importantly, their numbers would be partly filled by the many old veterans who willingly chose to reenlist into the army, and were likely given the chance to serve under the same legion numbers as they did before. In fact, this seems to be one of the first instances of the presence of an attachment between legion numbers and its soldiers. Supporting this is the fact that the 10th legion even retained its old title of Equestris, a nickname given to it by Caesar as an inside joke, which would have only been known to its previous veterans. This was all likely done to carry on the sense of pride, loyalty, and nostalgia that soldiers felt for their old legions, given their legendary significance in Caesar's Gallic and Civil Wars. But the real trend of preserving a name and number only became standard after the civil wars of Octavian and Marcanthony, both of whom split the existing legions among themselves and raised their own legions to fill in the gaps of missing numbers. But after Augustus inevitably won the civil war, he found himself commanding over 60 legions, many of which were duplicates. In a famous move, he disbanded most of them and reorganized the Roman army into a truly professional force of 28 standing legions, made up of loyal, career-driven soldiers. And at any time, there would now always be a corps of soon-to-retire veterans in every legion to pass down their experience, pride, and legion's history. The republican clockwise system was no longer upheld, and the 1st to 4th legions received no special treatment. Most of the legions were now uniquely numbered from 1 to 22, but for some unknown reason, the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 10th legions had duplicates. It really seems like Augustus tried his best to get rid of the duplicates, as he either disbanded or merged most of them. For example, it's very likely that the two 13th and 14th legions were merged into one, and the three 10th legions were merged into two. But it might be possible that because the remaining duplicate legions had a lot of respected veterans and also happened to be in good numbers, merging them would not be possible. So it might be that Augustus allowed them to keep their numbers in an attempt to both win back their loyalty while also keeping the legions that he raised. But sadly, we can't be sure. Regardless, by keeping the legions, Augustus likely set a precedent for future emperors that having duplicate legions was not an issue and that there was no strict chronological numbering system in place. In the future, Nero raised another 1st legion, Marcus Aurelius raised a 2nd and 3rd, and Trajan raised a 30th legion out of nowhere, perhaps just because he could. But Augustus did set the tone to never again raise a 17th, 18th, and 19th legion, after the three of them were completely wiped out in the Teutoborg forest. This would be a trend that every emperor after him would uphold, and there would never again be a legion that carried these unlucky numbers. Following Augustus' reforms, the legions started to diverge into individual entities that would over time adapt unique martial cultures and a sense of community, which also would depend on where and for how long a legion was stationed. The 3rd Gallica legion, for example, was stationed in the east for so long that it adapted the local practice of saluting the sun when it rose up every morning. This remarkably even ended up winning them an entire civil war, when the enemy legions that they were fighting through the night saw them do this and retreated in a panic, incorrectly assuming that the 3rd legion was saluting reinforcements arriving in the distance. Now let's talk about the system and meaning behind a legion's name, which every imperial legion would develop with time. The most popular names were those of a geographical region or ethnicity, which either signified where the legion was raised, as with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Italica legions, where a legion served extensively, like the 9th Hispana and 1st Germanica, or where the legion distinguished itself or won a battle, like the 3rd Parthica and 4th Scythica. Whether it was intentional or not, this regional naming system had a demoralizing effect on Rome's enemies, as they portrayed the vastness of the Roman sphere of influence and victories over many different people. Just imagine facing several legions who all held victories in different parts of the known world. The second most common types of names were those of gods or people, which was done for the purpose of propaganda. The 7th and 11th legions were both titled Claudia Pius Fidelis. Claudius is loyal and faithful, for their unwavering loyalty to Emperor Claudius during a revolt in 42 AD. Likewise, the 2nd, 3rd, and 8th Augusta, the 4th Flavia, and the 30th Ulpia were named in honor of their creators, Augustus, Vespasian, and Trajan, while the 15th Apollinaris and 1st Minervia were named in honor of the gods Apollo and Minerva. The next category of titles are perhaps the most unique and recognizable, and seem to portray a distinct feature of the legion's origin or history. These included the 5th Allidae, or Larks, the 6th Ferrata, Ironclad, the 6th Victrix, Victorious, the 12th Fulminata, Lightningbolt Carriers, and the 15th and 22nd Permigenia, the Firstborn, among others. Unfortunately, we can only speculate about the origins of these more interesting names, although the Larks are almost certainly named for the distinct lark feathers worn on the helmets of its first recruits, who were non-citizen Gauls, and the Lightningbolt Carriers probably got their name during the Marcomannic Wars, when the 12th Legion was surrounded and cut off from their water supply, and only survived because lightning broke through the heavens and it started to rain heavily, as if by a divine favor. Although some believe that this might not be the origin of the name, because there seems to be evidence of Fulminata already being used about a hundred years prior to this event. The final type of title was perhaps the one that made most sense. All legions titled Gemina or Gemela, meaning twins, were once created by merging two or more units together. This was the case for the 10th, 13th, and 14th Gemina legions. After a legion earned its title, it was still possible to build on it. The 30th Ulpia would earn the added title Victrix after the Dacian Wars, and the 14th Gemina was added the title Martia Victrix, after defeating Boudicca's rebellion in Britain. As you can tell by now, the naming and numbering of Roman legions followed a fairly vague set of rules, with each emperor likely doing as he saw fit. But regardless of their names and numbers, the standing imperial legions grew into strong social identities, and were the pride of its veterans, who without exception listed their legion's name and number on their tombstones. Many veterans even encouraged their sons and grandsons to serve in the same legion as them, as they were able to pull some strings through their connections and friendships in the legion to secure them a good career. And bumping into someone who served in the same legion as you would be like meeting someone who went to the same university or college today. If only you spent 25 years risking your life for it, it would be an instant start to a friendship with many nostalgic tales of the good old days in the legion. We have far more videos on the Roman army covering their training, officer hierarchy, wages and hobbies, so make sure to check out our channel and watch them. I would like to thank our generous Patreons for making this video possible. We would really appreciate it if you considered joining them to help us make more videos for your enjoyment. Thanks for watching and I hope to see you in the next one!