Legio XII Fulminata ("Thunderbolt Twelfth Legion"), also known as Paterna, Victrix, Antiqua, Certa Constans, and Galliena, was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was originally levied by Julius Caesar in 58 BC, and the legion accompanied him during the Gallic Wars until 49 BC. The unit was still guarding the Euphrates River crossing near Melitene at the beginning of the 5th century.
The legion's emblem was a thunderbolt (on a shield fulmen).[1] In later centuries it came to be called commonly, but incorrectly, the Legio Fulminatrix, the Thundering Legion.
The Twelfth legion, as it is perhaps better known, fought in the Battle against the Nervians, and probably also in the Siege of Alesia. The Twelfth fought at the Battle of Pharsalus (48 BC), when Caesar defeated Pompey. After Caesar won the civil war, the legion was named Victrix, and enlisted in 43 BC by Lepidus and Mark Antony. Mark Antony led the Twelfth, renamed XII Antiqua during his campaign against the Parthian Empire.
During the latest part of Augustus' principality, XII Fulminata served in Syria, camping at Raphana.
From his eastern Parthian Empire in present-day Iran and Iraq, King Vologeses I in 58 AD invaded Armenia, a client kingdom of Rome. Emperor Nero ordered Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, the new Legate of Cappadocia, to manage the matter. Corbulo ordered Legion IV Scythica from Moesia, and along with the III Gallica and VI Ferrata defeated the Parthians, restoring Tigranes VI to the Armenian throne. In 62 AD, the XII Fulminata joined the IV Scythica, now commanded by the new Legate of Cappadocia, Lucius Caesennius Paetus. Both legions were defeated by the Parthians and Armenians at the battle of Rhandeia; after surrendering, the legions were shamed and removed from this theater of war.
See main article: First Jewish–Roman War. In 66, after a Zealot revolt had destroyed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem, the XII Fulminata, with vexillationes of IV Scythica and VI Ferrata, were sent to restore Roman authority. However, after a defeat where the legion lost its aquila, Gaius Cestius Gallus, legate of Syria, ordered the survivors to return to Syria.[2] On its way back, XII Fulminata was ambushed and defeated by Eleazar ben Simon in the Battle of Beth Horon. However, XII Fulminata fought well in the last part of the war, and supported its commander T. Flavius Vespasian in his successful bid for the imperial throne. At the end of the war, XII Fulminata and XVI Flavia Firma were sent to guard the Euphrates border, camping at Melitene.[3]
See also: Romans in Caucasian Albania.
In 75 AD, the XII Fulminata was in the Caucasus, where Emperor Vespasian had sent the legion to support the allied kingdoms of Iberia and Albania. An inscription presumably from this period has been found in modern-day Azerbaijan which reads:
Some historians argue that the settlement of Ramana near Baku was possibly founded by the Roman troops of Lucius Julius Maximus from Legio XII Fulminata in circa 84-96 AD and derives its name from the Latin Romana.[4] [5] Facts that strengthen this hypothesis include: a military-topographical map of the Caucasus published in 1903 by Russian administrators, which refers to the town as "Romana"; various Roman artifacts found in Absheron region; and records that old(er) inhabitants referred to their town as Romani. The legion was probably in Armenia during Trajan's campaign of 114 AD, that ended with the annexation of the Kingdom of Armenia.
In 134, the threat of the Alans was subdued by the governor of Cappadocia, Arrian, who defeated the invaders with the aid of XII Fulminata and XV Apollinaris.The Twelfth probably fought in the Parthian campaign of Emperor Lucius Verus, in 162–166, if a mixed unit of XII and XV controlled for some time the newly conquered Armenian capital Artaxata. Emperor Marcus Aurelius commanded the XII Fulminata in his campaign against the Quadi, a people inhabiting an area in modern-day Slovakia, and an episode of a miraculous rain and lightning saving a Twelfth subunit from defeat is reported by the sources.[6] At this time, most of the Twelfth was composed chiefly of Christians.[7] There was a belief that this had led to the emperor issuing a decree forbidding the persecution of the Christians, but this seems to have been based on a forgery.
In 175, the legion was in Melitene, when Avidius Cassius revolted; the Twelfth, having been loyal to the Emperor, obtained the cognomen Certa Constans, "surely constant".
After the death of Emperor Pertinax, 193, XII Fulminata supported the governor of Syria, Pescennius Niger, who was in the end defeated by Emperor Septimius Severus. When the Eastern frontier of the Empire was moved from the Euphrates to the Tigris, the Twelfth stayed in the reserve, possibly as a punishment for its support of Severus' rival.
The region around Melitene was one of the first in which Christian faith spread. Polyeuctes is a martyr under Valerian who was a soldier of the Twelfth.
The Sassanid Empire was a major threat to the Roman power in the East. King Shapur I conquered the base of the XV Apollinaris, Satala (256), and sacked Trapezus (258). Emperor Valerian moved against Shapur, but was defeated and captured. The defeat caused the partial collapse of the Empire, with the secessionistic Gallic Empire in the West and Palmyrene Empire in the East. It is known that the XII Fulminata was under the command of Odaenathus, ruler of the Palmyrene Empire, but also that Emperor Gallienus awarded the legion with the cognomen Galliena.
After these episodes, the records of the Fulminata are scarce. The Palmyrene Empire was reconquered by Aurelian; Emperor Diocletian defeated the Sassanids and moved the frontier to Northern Mesopotamia. The Twelfth, which probably took part to these campaigns, is recorded guarding the frontier of the Euphrates in Melitene, at the beginning of the 5th century (Notitia Dignitatum).
| Name | Rank | Time frame | Province | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calavius Sabinus | legatus legionis | 62 | Armenia | Tacitus, Annales, XV.7 | |
| Publius Tullius Varro | legatus legionis | between 120 and 125 | Cappadocia | ||
| Quintus Caecilius Marcellus Dentilianus[8] | legatus legionis | c. 141-c. 144 | Cappadocia | ||
| Marcus Domitius Valerianus[9] | legatus legionis | ? 227-? 229 | |||
| Sextus Julius Possessorus | primus pilus | last quarter 1st century | Cappadocia | ||
| Gaius Caristanius Fronto Casesianus Julius | tribunus angusticlavius | before 40 | Syria | = ILS 9503; | |
| Tiberius Claudius Helvius Secundus[10] | tribunus angusticlavius | before 98 | Cappadocia | ||
| Tiberius Claudius Speratus[11] | tribunus angusticlavius | before 115 | Cappadocia | ||
| Gaius Aelius P.f. Domitianus Gauro | tribunus angusticlavius | between 175 and 180 | = ILS 2748 | ||
| Gaius Julius Pudens | tribunus angusticlavius | after 175 | = ILS 2760 | ||
| Quintus Marcius Dioga[12] | tribunus angusticlavius | last quarter 2nd century | = ILS 9501; | ||
| Lucius Neratius Marcellus | tribunus laticlavius | before 73 | Syria | = ILS 1032 | |
| Gaius Minicius Fundanus[13] | tribunus laticlavius | before 95 | Cappadocia | ILJug-03, 1627 | |
| Gaius Caristanius Julianus | tribunus laticlavius | before 100 | Cappadocia | ||
| Quintus Voconius Saxa Fidus | tribunus laticlavius | between 115 and 118 | Cappadocia | IGRR III.763 = ILS 8828 | |
| Gaius Julius Scapula[14] | tribunus laticlavius | 140s | Cappadocia | IG II/III 2.4212 | |
| Aulus Julius Pompilius Piso | tribunus laticlavius | c. 160 | |||
| Lucius Allus Volusianus[15] | tribunus laticlavius | after 175 | |||
| Marcus Aelius Aurelius Theo | tribunus laticlavius | first half 3rd century | = ILS 1192 |
In Rick Riordan's book The Son of Neptune, the Twelfth Legion went to America after the fall of Rome, following the Roman gods, and set up Camp Jupiter in California as a base for Roman demigods.
In Mikhail Bulgakov's book The Master and Margarita, Pontius Pilate mentions the Legion during his meeting with Caiaphas. He threatens using the Legion in bloody pacification of possible future Jewish rebellion, along with auxiliary Arab cavalry.
The fiction book Rome: The Eagle of the Twelfth by M.C. Scott is based on the legion during the Jewish rebellion.