Legio VI Victrix
Legio VI Victrix (Victorious) was a
Roman legion founded by
Octavian in
41 BC. It was the twin legion of
VI Ferrata and perhaps held veterans of that legion, and some soldiers kept to the traditions of the Caesarian legion.
The legion saw its first action in
Perugia in 41 BC. It also served against the
Sextus Pompeius, who occupied Sicily and made threats to discontinue sending grain to
Rome. In
31 BC the legion fought in the
Battle of Actium against
Marc Antony. The next year it was stationed in
Hispania Tarraconensis, where it helped in Augustus' major
war against the Cantabrians, which lasted from
25-
13 BC.
The legion stayed in Spain for nearly a century and received the surname
Hispaniensis. Soldiers of this unit and
X Gemina numbered among the first settlers of
Zaragoza. The
cognomen Victrix dates back to the reign of
Nero. But Nero was unpopular in the area, and when the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis,
Servius Sulpicius Galba, said he wished to overthrow Nero, the legion supported him and he was proclaimed Emperor in the VI
Victrix legionary camp. Galba created
VII Gemina and marched on Rome, where Nero killed himself.
In
119,
Hadrian relocated the legion to northern
Britannia, to assist the already present legions in quelling the resistance there.
Victrix was key in securing victory, and would eventually replace the diminished
IX Hispania. In
122 the legion started work on
Hadrian's Wall which would sustain the peace for two decades.
Twenty years later, they helped construct the
Antonine Wall, but it was largely abandoned by
164.
In
185, the British legions mutinied and put forward a commander of their own, named Priscus, to replace the unpopular emperor
Commodus, but the former declined. The mutiny was suppressed by
Pertinax, who would later become emperor himself after Commodus was murdered. During this period, Roman cavalry general
Lucius Artorius Castus served with
Victrix (but he seems to have remained loyal).
*
List of Roman legions*
Roman legion*
livius.org account*
Legion Six Victorious, Los Angeles Roman reenactment society*
LEG VI VIC COH VI ASTVR, German re-enactment society*
The Antonine Guard, Scottish re-enactment society
