Legio IV Flavia Felix ("Lucky Flavian Fourth Legion"), was a
legion of the
Imperial Roman army founded in AD 70 by the emperor
Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Emp ...
(r. 69–79) from the
cadre
Cadre may refer to:
*Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff
*Cadre (politics)
In political contexts a cadre (, , ) consists of a person recognized as a capable militant within a political ...
of the disbanded
Legio IV ''Macedonica''. The legion was active in
Moesia Superior
Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...
in the first half of the 5th century. The legion symbol was a
lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adu ...
.
History
During the
Batavian rebellion, the IV ''Macedonica'' fought for Vespasian, but the
emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...
distrusted his men, probably because they had supported
Vitellius two years before. Therefore IV ''Macedonica'' was disbanded, and a new Fourth legion, called ''Flavian Felix'' was levied by the emperor, who gave the legio his
nomen, ''
Flavia''. Since the symbol of the legion is a lion, it was probably levied in July/August 70.
IV ''Flavia Felix'' was camped in ''
Burnum'',
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...
(modern
Kistanje), where it replaced
XI ''Claudia''. After the Dacian invasion of 86,
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...
moved the legion to Moesia Superior, in ''
Singidunum'' (modern
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...
,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...
), although there is some evidence of the presence of this legion, of one of its ''
vexillationes'' in ''
Viminacium'' (near modern-day
Kostolac, Serbia), base of
VII ''Claudia''.
In 89 the Fourth participated to the retaliation invasion of
Dacia
Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It ...
(see
Domitian's Dacian War). It also participated in the
Dacian Wars of
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
, being victorious at the
Second Battle of Tapae. The legion also participated at the final and decisive battle against the Dacians, conquering their capital,
Sarmisegetusa.
Monuments of IV Flavia Felix have been found at
Aquincum (Budapest). This suggests that a subunit replaced II Adiutrix during its absence during the wars of Lucius Verus against the Parthian empire (162-166).
In the
Marcomannic Wars (166–180), the fourth fought on the Danube against the Germanic tribes.
After the death of
Pertinax
Publius Helvius Pertinax (; 1 August 126 – 28 March 193) was Roman emperor for the first three months of 193. He succeeded Commodus to become the first emperor during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors.
Born the son of a freed slav ...
, the IV ''Flavia Felix'' supported
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...
against usurpers
Pescennius Niger and
Clodius Albinus
Decimus Clodius Albinus ( 150 – 19 February 197) was a Roman imperial pretender between 193 and 197. He was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) after the murd ...
.
The legion may have fought in one of the
several wars against the
Sassanids, but stayed in Moesia Superior until the first half of the 5th century.
Attested members
In popular culture
This Roman Legion was featured in the beginning of the movie ''
Gladiator
A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
'' where
Maximus Decimus Meridius
''Gladiator'' is a 2000 epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson. The film was co-produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures. DreamWorks Pict ...
was the Legion general, leading the campaign in Germania against the
Marcomanni
The Marcomanni were a Germanic people
*
*
*
that established a powerful kingdom north of the Danube, somewhere near modern Bohemia, during the peak of power of the nearby Roman Empire. According to Tacitus and Strabo, they were Suebian.
O ...
.
See also
*
List of Roman legions
This is a list of Roman legions, including key facts about each legion, primarily focusing on the Principate (early Empire, 27 BC – 284 AD) legions, for which there exists substantial literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence.
When Au ...
*
Roman legion
The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period o ...
*
Legio IIII ''Macedonica''
References
External links
livius.org account of Legio IIII Flavia FelixReenactment Legion based in Southern Ontario, Canada portraying IIII Flavia Felix{{Roman Legion}
04 Flavia Felix
5th-century disestablishments in the Roman Empire
Military units and formations established in the 1st century
70s establishments in the Roman Empire
70s establishments
70 establishments