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Legio XV Apollinaris (Apollinaris means devoted to Apollo) was a Roman legion. It was recruited by Octavian in 41/40 BC. The emblem of this legion was probably a picture of Apollo, or of one of his holy animals.
The XV Apollinaris is sometimes confused with two other legions named the XVth: An earlier unit which was commanded by Julius Caesar at met its end in North Africa in 49 BC, and a later XVth that was present at the Battle of Philippi on the side of the Second Triumvirate and then sent east.
History
The genuine XV Apollinaris was raised in order to end the occupation of Sicily by Sextus Pompeius, who was threatening Rome's grain supply. After the Battle of Actium, the legion was sent to garrison Illyricum, where it probably remained until 6 BC, though it might have seen action in the Cantabrian Wars.
In 6 BC, the Apollinaris legion was part of the huge campaign by Emperor Tiberius against the Marcomanni that was obstructed by a revolt in Pannonia. The XVth saw a good deal of fighting in the suppression of the revolt. By AD 9 the legion was headquartered in Pannonia, in the town of Carnuntum.
There the unit stayed until sent to Syria and possibly Armenia by Nero in 61 or 62, these territories newly conquered from the Parthians. After the conclusion of the war with Parthia, the legion was sent to Alexandria but soon found itself engaged in the fierce fighting of the First Jewish Revolt, capturing the towns of Jotapata and Gamla. It was the XVth that captured the Jewish general later to become famous as the historian Josephus. During this period the legion was commanded by Titus, who would later become Emperor.
After the suppression of the revolt, the legion returned to Carnuntum and rebuilt its fortress. Elements of the XVth fought in the Dacian Wars although the main body of the legion remained in Pannonia.
In 115, war with Parthia broke out again and the legion was sent to the front, reinforced with elements of the XXX Ulpia Victrix. The legion fought in Mesopotamia, which was conquered by the Romans. After the conflict was over the unit stayed in the east with a new headquarters at Satala in northeastern Cappadocia, with elements stationed at Trapezus on the Black Sea and at Ancyra, modern-day Ankara. From this base the XVth helped repulse an invasion of Alans in 134.
By 162, Rome and Parthia were at war once more; the campaign, led by Emperor Lucius Verus was successful, and the legion occupied the Armenian capital Artaxata. In 175, the general Avidius Cassius rebelled against Emperor Marcus Aurelius, but the XVth remained loyal and earned the additional title Pia Fidelis.
The history of the legion after this point involves more conjecture. As a unit stationed in the Middle East, it is almost certain to have taken part in later campaigns against Parthia, including the sack of its capital Ctesiphon by the Romans in 197, and in wars against the new Sassanid power that arose in Persia thereafter, though there is no direct record of this. At the beginning of the 5th century, the legion reappears in history: it is still quartered at Satala and Ancyra, though having lost its post at Trapezus somewhere along the way, and is under the command of the Dux Armeniae.
An inscription possibly relating to this legion was found in a cave in eastern Uzbekistan, perhaps carved by soldiers captured by the Parthians and dispatched to their eastern frontier as border guards.
See also
- List of Roman legions
- Roman soldiers in the East
- Notitia Dignitatum, the document stating XV Apollinaris in 5th century
References
"Legio XV Apollinaris"