| Unit Name: | Legio IX Hispana |
| Dates: | Before 58 BC to sometime in the AD 2nd century |
| Country: | Roman Republic and Roman Empire |
| Type: | Roman legion (Marian) |
| Role: | Infantry assault |
| Garrison: | Hispania Tarraconensis 41– ? Pannonia AD 9–43 Eboracum (Britannia) 71– ? Noviomagus (Germania Inferior) –130 |
| Nickname: | The Lost Legion |
| Mascot: | Bull |
Legio IX Hispana ("9th Spanish Legion"),[1] also written as Legio VIIII Hispana,[2] was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that existed from the 1st century BC until at least AD 120. The legion fought in various provinces of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. The nickname "Hispana" was gained when it was stationed in Hispania under Augustus. It was stationed in Britain following the Roman invasion in AD 43. The legion disappears from surviving Roman records after and there is no extant account of what happened to it.
The unknown fate of the legion has been the subject of considerable research and speculation. One theory (per historian Theodor Mommsen) was that the legion was wiped out in action in northern Britain soon after AD 108, the date of the latest datable inscription of the Ninth found in Britain, perhaps during a rising of northern tribes against Roman rule. This view was popularised by the 1954 novel The Eagle of the Ninth in which the legion is said to have marched into Caledonia (modern-day Scotland), after which it was "never heard of again".
This theory fell out of favour among modern scholars as successive inscriptions of IX Hispana were found in the site of the legionary base at Nijmegen (Netherlands), suggesting the Ninth may have been based there from, later than the legion's supposed annihilation in Britain. The Nijmegen evidence has led to suggestions that IX Hispana was destroyed in later conflicts of the 2nd century. Suggestions include the Bar Kokhba revolt (AD 132–135) or Marcus Aurelius's war against Parthia (AD 161–166) in Armenia. However, some scholars[3] have ascribed the Nijmegen evidence to a mere detachment of IX Hispana, not the whole legion.
In any event, it is clear that the IX Hispana did not exist during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus (r. AD 193–211), as it is not included in two identical but independent lists of the 33 legions existing in this period.
The origin of the legion is uncertain, but a 9th legion seems to have participated in the siege of Asculum during the Social War in 90 BC.[4]
When Julius Caesar became governor of Cisalpine Gaul in 58 BC, he inherited four legions, numbered VII, VIII, IX, X, that were already based there. The Ninth (IX) may have been quartered in Aquileia "to guard against attacks from the Illyrians".[4] Caesar created two more legions (XI and XII), using all six for his attack on the Helvetii initiating the Gallic wars.
The Caesarian Ninth Legion fought in the battles of Dyrrhachium and Pharsalus (48 BC) and in the African campaign of 46 BC. After his final victory, Caesar disbanded the legion and settled the veterans in the area of Picenum.[5]
Following Caesar's assassination, Caesar's ally Ventidius Bassus made attempts to recreate the 7th, 8th, and 9th legions, but "it is not clear that any of these survived even to the time of Philippi".[4] Octavian later recalled the veterans of the Ninth to fight against the rebellion of Sextus Pompeius in Sicily. After defeating Sextus, they were sent to the province of Macedonia. The Ninth remained with Octavian in his war of 31 BC against Mark Antony and fought by his side in the Battle of Actium.
See also: Imperial Roman army.
With Octavian, whom the Senate later titled Augustus, established as sole ruler of the Roman world, the legion was sent to Hispania to take part in the large-scale campaign against the Cantabrians (25–19 BC). The nickname Hispana ("stationed in Hispania") is first found during the reign of Augustus and probably originated at that time.
After this, the legion was probably part of the imperial army in the Rhine borderlands that was campaigning against the Germanic tribes. Following the abandonment of the eastern Rhine area (after the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9), the Ninth was relocated in Pannonia.
In AD 43, the legion most likely participated in the Roman invasion of Britain led by the emperor Claudius and general Aulus Plautius, because they soon appear amongst the provincial garrison. In AD 50, the Ninth was one of two legions that defeated the forces of Caratacus at Caer Caradoc. Around the same year, the legion constructed a fort, Lindum Colonia, now Lincoln. Under the command of Caesius Nasica they put down the first revolt of Venutius, king of the Brigantes tribe, between 52 and 57.
The Ninth suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Camulodunum under Quintus Petillius Cerialis in the rebellion of Boudica (61), when most of the foot-soldiers were killed in a disastrous attempt to relieve the besieged city of Camulodunum (Colchester). Only the cavalry escaped. The legion was later reinforced with legionaries from the Germania provinces. When Cerialis returned as governor of Britain ten years later, he took command of the Ninth once more in a successful campaign against the Brigantes in 71–72, to subdue north-central Britain. Around this time they constructed a new fortress at York (Eboracum), as shown by finds of tile-stamps from the site.[6]
The Ninth participated in Agricola's invasion of Caledonia (modern Scotland) in 82–83. According to Tacitus, the legion narrowly escaped destruction when the Caledonians beyond the Forth launched a surprise attack at night on their fort. The Caledonians "burst upon them as they were terrified in their sleep". In desperate hand-to-hand fighting the Caledonians entered the camp, but Agricola was able to send cavalry to relieve the legion. Seeing the relief force, "the men of the Ninth Legion recovered their spirit, and sure of their safety, fought for glory", pushing back the Caledonians.[7] The legion also participated in the decisive Battle of Mons Graupius.
The last attested activity of the Ninth in Britain is during the rebuilding in stone of the legionary fortress at York (Eboracum) in 108. This is recorded in an inscribed stone tablet discovered in 1864, now displayed in the Yorkshire Museum in York.
Several inscriptions attesting IX Hispana have been found in the site of the legionary fortress on the lower Rhine river at Noviomagus Batavorum (Nijmegen, Netherlands). These include some tile-stamps (dated 104–120); and a silver-plated bronze pendant, found in the 1990s, that was part of a phalera (military medal), with "LEG HISP IX" inscribed on the reverse.[8] In addition, an altar to Apollo, dating from this period, was found at nearby Aquae Granni (Aachen, Germany), erected in fulfillment of a vow, by Lucius Latinius Macer, who describes himself as primus pilus (chief centurion) and as praefectus castrorum ("prefect of the camp", i.e. third-in-command) of IX Hispana.[9] (it was commonplace for chief centurions, on completion of their single-year term of office, to be promoted to praefectus castrorum).
The archaeological evidence thus appears to indicate that elements of IX Hispana were present at Noviomagus sometime after AD 104 (when the previous incumbent legion, X Gemina, was transferred to the Danube) and that IX was probably replaced by a detachment of legion XXX Ulpia Victrix not long after AD 120.[10] Less clear is whether the whole IX legion was at Nijmegen or simply a detachment. The evidence for the presence of senior officers such as Macer convinced several scholars that the Ninth Legion as a whole was based there between 121 and 130. It may have been both: first a detachment, later followed by the rest of the legion: a vexillatio Britannica ("British detachment") is also attested at Nijmegen in this period.[10] However, it is unclear whether this detachment was drawn from the IX Hispana (and its attached auxiliary regiments) alone, or from a mix of various British-based units.
The Nijmegen finds, dating to c. 120, were (as of 2015) the latest records of Legion IX found. The Ninth was apparently no longer in existence after 197. Two lists of the legions survive from this era, one inscribed on a column found in Rome (CIL VI 3492) and the other a list of legions in existence "today" provided by the contemporary Greco-Roman historian Dio Cassius, writing c. 210–232 (Roman History LV.23–24). Both these lists date from after 197, as both include the 3 Parthica legions founded by Septimius Severus in that year. Both lists provide an identical list of 33 legions. Neither includes a "IX Hispana". It thus appears that IX Hispana disappeared sometime in the period 120–197.
The traditional theory is that the Ninth was destroyed in a war on Britain's northern frontier against the indigenous Celtic tribes. According to the eminent 19th-century German classicist Theodor Mommsen, "under Hadrian there was a terrible catastrophe here, apparently an attack on the fortress of Eboracum [York] and the annihilation of the legion stationed there, the very same Ninth that had fought so unluckily in the Boudican revolt." He suggested that a revolt of the Brigantes soon after 108 was the most likely explanation. Mommsen cited as evidence the Roman historian Marcus Cornelius Fronto, writing in the AD 160s, who told the emperor Marcus Aurelius: "Indeed, when your grandfather Hadrian held imperial power, what great numbers of soldiers were killed by the Jews, what great numbers by the Britons".[11] The emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138) visited Britain in person around AD 122, when he launched the construction of Hadrian's Wall because, according to one Roman source, "the Britons could not be kept under Roman control".[12] It is plausible that Hadrian was responding to a military disaster.[13] However, there is no archaeological evidence of it around 120.
Mommsen's thesis was published long before the first traces of IX Hispana were found at Nijmegen. As a result of these, and of inscriptions proving that two senior officers, who were deputy commanders of the Ninth in c. 120, lived on for several decades to lead distinguished public careers, led to the Mommsen theory falling out of favour with many scholars. These now suggest later conflicts in other theatres as possible scenes of IX Hispana's demise:
Several scholars continue to argue that destruction in Britain is the most likely scenario for the Ninth's disappearance. Russell argues that "by far the most plausible answer to the question 'what happened to the Ninth' is that they fought and died in Britain, disappearing in the late 110s or early 120s when the province was in disarray".[15] [16] Such scholars criticise the assumptions of those who extrapolate from inscription evidence, arguing that it is easy to confuse evidence about different persons with the same name. It is highly unlikely that if the legion continued in existence up to the Armenian war of 161, no records at all later than c. 120 would be known. Keppie says that "no inscriptions recording the building activities of the legion or the lives and careers of its members have come from the East", suggesting that if the legion did leave Britain, it ceased to exist very soon afterwards. Russell argues that "there is no evidence that the Ninth were ever taken out of Britain." He has claimed that the tile stamps found at Nijmegen cannot be dated to the period after 120, but "all seem to date to the AD 80s, when detachments of the Ninth were indeed on the Rhine fighting Germanic tribes."[15] Keppie also says that the tiles cannot be securely dated, but suggests that they date from c. 105 during a temporary absence of the legion from Britain.[17] However, Keppie does not support the theory that the legion met its end in Britain. He suggests that the legion may have been withdrawn from York around 117 to take part in the war in Parthia at the end of Trajan's reign. Keppie suggests that it was the legion's absence elsewhere that encouraged a native uprising, obliging Hadrian to send the Legio VI Victrix to Britain.[17]
The fate of the Ninth remains the subject of vigorous debate among scholars. Frere noted that "further evidence is needed before more can be said".[18]
| Name | Rank | Time frame | Province | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio | legatus legionis | c. 22 | Africa | = ILS 940 | |
| Caesius Nasica[19] | legatus legionis | c. 50 | Britannia | Tacitus, Annales, XII.40 | |
| Quintus Petillius Cerialis | legatus legionis | 59–61 | Britannia | Tacitus, Agricola 7, 8, 17; Annales XIV.32 | |
| Gaius Caristanius Fronto | legatus legionis | c. 76–79 | Britannia | ILS 9485 | |
| Lucius Aninius Sextius Florentinus | legatus legionis | 118–120 | Britannia | ||
| Lucius Duccius Rufinus | standard-bearer | ? | Britannia | Tombstone, | |
| Titus | tribunus laticlavius | c. 60 | Britannia | Suetonius, Divus Titus 4.1 | |
| Lucius Roscius Aelianus Maecius Celer | tribunus laticlavius | 83 | Britannia | ||
| Lucius Burbuleius Optatus Ligarianus | tribunus laticlavius | c. 115 | Germania Inferior | ||
| Lucius Aemilius Carus | tribunus laticlavius | c. 122 | Germania Inferior | = ILS 1077 | |
| Lucius Novius Crispinus Martialis Saturninus | tribunus laticlavius | c. 125 | Britannia | ||
| Quintus Camurius Numisius Junior | tribunus laticlavius | c. 145 | Britannia |
The Ninth Legion's mysterious disappearance has made it a popular subject for historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.