A BRIEF HISTORY OF LEGIO XXII
Legio XXII and its twin Legio XV Primigenia were founded by the emperor Caligula probably in AD 39 to augment his needed forces for campaigns in Germania.
After the fruitless campaigning ended, the emperor returned to Rome only to see the Rhineland become the scene of horrific fighting. In it, the governor of Germania Inferior (northern Germany), Aulus Gabinius Secundus, overcame the German tribe, the Chauci and recovered one of the eagle standards (the emblem of a legion and closely guarded) that had remained in the hands of the Germans after the battle in the Teutoburg forest. At the same time, Galba (the future emperor) overcame another German tribe, the Chatti, who lived near Mongontiacum (modern Mainz, Germany). XXII Primigenia more than likely was involved in both campaigns, which are dated to the winter of 40/41.
On returning from the Lower Rhine area in 43, XXII Primigenia was stationed at Mainz in Germania Superior, where it was to share the fortress with Legio IIII, which arrived from Hispania.
In the year of the four emperors, the armies of Germania Inferior and Superior acclaimed their own commander, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor, and marched on Rome (January 69). They were successful, and Vitellius started his reign as the new emperor. A subunit, consisting of soldiers of XXII Primigenia and IIII Macedonica, took part in this campaign, and the eagle standard of the XXII was shown when Vitellius entered the capital.
Titus Flavius Vespasianus, using the army of the Danube also was proclaimed emperor and in the subsequent civil war, fought Vitellius and the XXII Primigenia near Cremona in northern Italy. Vespasian was victorious in an all day fight and much of the Rhineland army was either destroyed or cashiered. However, XXII Primigenia was greatly respected by Vespasian and sent to the Danube to refit.
Meanwhile, in Germania Inferior, a disaster was in the making. The Batavians felt offended because (among other reasons) Galba had dismissed his Batavian bodyguard, and revolted. A Roman expeditionary force, consisting of the subunits of V Alaudae and XV Primigenia, were defeated near Nijmegen, and in the winter of 69/70, the remains of these two units found themselves besieged at Xanten.
XXII Primigenia, commanded at the time by Dillus Vocula, was sent out to rescue them, together with I Germanica and XVI Gallica. However, before they could intervene, the V Alaudae and XVth Primigenia at Xanten were forced to surrender in March 70 where they were massacred. Not much later, I Germanica and XVI Gallica surrendered as well. XXII Primigenia, now on its own now, remained steadfast and defended Mainz and while the fortress was eventually captured, XXII Primigenia withdrew in good order.
After the civil war and the end of the Batavian revolt (in the autumn of 70), the legion was briefly sent to Vindobona (Vienna) to refit, but was finally settled at Xanten.
When in AD 89 the governor of Germania Superior, Lucius Antonius Saturninus, tried to overthrow the emperor Domitian, the army of Germania Inferior (Legio I Minerva, Legio VI Victrix, Legio X Gemina, and XXII Primigenia) hurried to the south, to Mainz, and defeated the rebel. Every legion was awarded the title Pia Fidelis Domitiana ('faithful and loyal to Domitian'). When Domitian was assassinated in 96, the last element of this honorific title was dropped. XXII Primigenia then returned to Mainz, where it was to stay for more than two centuries.
Subunits of XXII were sometimes sent to other provinces. For example:
When I Minervia, normally staying in Bonn, had moved to the Lower Danube to take part in Trajan’s Dacian war (101-106), soldiers of XXII Primigenia garrisoned Bonn.
XXII Primigenia helped construct Hadrian's wall (119) and the Antonine wall (139-142).
Other subunits of the legion took part in the war against the Mauri during the reign of Antoninus Pius, in the Parthian War of Lucius Verus, and Marcus Aurelius’ wars against the Marcomanni.
Like the other units of the Rhine army, XXII Primigenia took no part in the civil war after the death of the emperor Pertinax. It was also not present when Septimius Severus marched on Rome (193), fought against his eastern rival Pescennius Niger (194) or invaded Parthia. However, when Severus launched a war against his western rival Clodius Albinus, the Rhine army was under attack, and XXII Primigenia defended Trier. Probably, it also played a role in the decisive battle at Lyons (France). A subunit may have joined Severus' later expedition to Scotland.
From the legion's victory title Antoniniana, it can be deduced that soldiers of the XXII Primigenia took part in Caracalla's successful Germanic campaign (213). As a preparation to this war, they rebuilt the Rhine bridge at Mainz. (Other units in this war were Legio VIII Augusta from Strasbourg and Legio III Italica from Regensburg.)In 233, the emperor Severus Alexander used subunits of XXII Primigenia in his war against the Persian Sassanids. For this campaign XXII Primigenia was awarded with the title Alexandriana. However, with the Rhineland legions diminished, a coalition of Germanic warriors (the Alamanni) attacked the Roman possessions in Baden-Württemberg. In 235, the Roman retaliated where XXII Primigenia was one of the active units.
However, when Severus Alexander and his mother Julia Mamaea started negotiations with the Germanic tribesmen to buy them off, the soldiers of XXII Primigenia were outraged and lynched the emperor. The new emperor, Maximinus Thrax, brought the war to a good end.
During the conflict between the emperor Gallienus (260-268) and his rival Postumus of the Gallic Empire, the legion supported Gallienus, for which it was rewarded with surnames Pia VI Fidelis VI ('six times faithful and loyal') and Pia VII Fidelis VII. An inscription from Perinthus, on the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara, suggests that a subunit was active in one of Gallienus' campaigns against the Visigoths.
After the death of Gallienus, XXII Primigenia and the city of Mainz were briefly independent under the legion’s commander Laelianus. Possibly, he added a new legion, Legio VI Gallicana to his army. In 269, Postumus subdued this city-state and added Mainz to the Gallic Empire, although he was killed when he tried to prevent his soldiers from sacking the town.
The legion survived the crisis of 274, when the emperor Aurelian reunited the Roman Empire by destroying the breakaway Gallic provinces and unleashed an invasion of Franks and Alamanni. We know that XXII Primigenia still existed at the beginning of the fourth century, but after the reign of Constantine (306-337), it disappears from all known records.
Among its officers were the future emperors Hadrian, Didius Julianus, and Laelianus (97-98, 170-171 and 268-269). The emblems of XXII were the demigod Hercules and the Capricorn. Hercules was ignored in the third century. The Capricorn may have been chosen because it could be represented with the same symbols as the goddess Fortuna.
Several roof tiles also show a lion with an amphora and something that resembles a snake. This may be a representation of a myth or a fable, not a military emblem.
