__NOTOC__ Legio VII Gemina (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "The Twins' Seventh Legion") was a

legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Aviazione Legionaria, Italian air force during the Spanish Civil War * A legion is the regional unit of the Italian carabinieri * Spanish Legion, ...

of the

Imperial Roman army The Imperial Roman Army was the military land force of the Roman Empire from 27 BC to 476 AD, and the final incarnation in the long history of the Roman army. This period is sometimes split into the Principate (27 BC – 284 AD) and the Dominate ...

. It was raised in AD 68 in

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

by the general

Galba Galba ( ; born Servius Sulpicius Galba; 24 December 3 BC – 15 January AD 69) was Roman emperor, ruling for 7 months from 8 June AD 68 to 15 January 69. He was the first emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors and assumed the throne follow ...

to take part in his rebellion against the emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

. "Gemina" means the legion was dedicated to the legendary twin founders of Rome,

Romulus Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...

and Remus, who were suckled by a she-wolf. The legion was deployed in the city called ''Legio'' (modern-day

León, Spain León (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the province of León, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. It has a population of 124,303 (2019), ...

) in AD 74 and remained in Hispania to the end of the 4th century.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

calls the legion "Galbiana", to distinguish it from the senior Legio VII ''Claudia'', but this appellation is not found on any inscriptions. It appears to have received the appellation of "Gemina" on account of its amalgamation by

Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...

with one of the German legions, not improbably the Legio I ''Germanica''. Between 86 and 89 the Legion was commanded by the future emperor and native of the region

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

. After serving in

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

and in the civil wars, it was settled by Vespasian in Hispania Tarraconensis, to supply the place of the Legio VI ''Victrix'' and Legio X ''Gemina'', two of the three legions ordinarily stationed in the province, but which had been withdrawn to

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

. The

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary (, "Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is an , a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly in part from a survey carried out under Augustus, it describes t ...

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

, the Notitia Imperii, as well as a few inscriptions all state that its regular winter quarters, under later emperors, were at Leon, but there are numerous inscriptions to prove that a strong detachment of it was stationed at Tarraco (modern

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

), the chief city of the province. The following are a selection, in order of time: :In the inscriptions the legion has the surnames of "P. F. ANTONINIANA", "P. F. ALEXANDRIANA", and "P. F. SEVERIANA ALEXANDRIANA"; and its name occurs in a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

inscription as , while another mentions a . There is an inscription in which is found a "Tribunus Militum LEG. VII. GEMINAE FELICIS IN GERMANIA", from a comparison of which with two inscriptions found in Germany, it has been inferred that the legion was employed on an expedition into Germany under

Alexander Severus Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – March 235), also known as Alexander Severus, was Roman emperor from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. Alexander took power in 222, when he succeeded his slain co ...

, and that this circumstance gave rise to the erroneous designation of in the text of Ptolemy.Booking, ''N. D.'' pt. ii. pp. 1026, ''seq.''; Marquardt's ''Becker, Röm. Alterthum'', vol. iii. pt. 2, p. 354;

Grotefend Georg Friedrich Grotefend (9 June 1775 – 15 December 1853) was a German epigraphist and philologist. He is known mostly for his contributions toward the decipherment of cuneiform. Georg Friedrich Grotefend had a son, named Carl Ludwig Grot ...

, in Pauly's Realencyklopädie, ''s. v.'' Legio. The legion had units stationed at their extended fortified camps: *

Tarraco Tarraco is the ancient name of the current city of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain). It was the oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula. It became the capital of Hispania Tarraconensis following the latter's creation during the Roman Empire ...

, modern day

, under the direct command of the governor of the

Tarraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia, was t ...

province. *

Emerita Augusta Augusta Emerita, also called Emerita Augusta, was a Roman '' colonia'' founded in 25 BC in present day Mérida, Spain. The city was founded by Roman Emperor Augustus to resettle Emeriti soldiers from the veteran legions of the Cantabrian Wars ...

, today Mérida, under the direct orders of the governor of the Lusitanian province. *

Asturica Augusta Asturica Augusta was a Ancient Rome, Roman city corresponding to the Spanish city of Astorga, Spain, Astorga, in the province of León, Spain, León. Founded around 14 B.C. as a camp of the Legio X Gemina, at the beginning of the first century it ...

, today Astorga, near the gold mines to supervise and escort its imperial trains. *Somewhere unknown in the north of Portugal near their gold mines. *''Tritium Magallum'' (Tricio in Rioja). *''Lucus Augusti'' (

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

). *''Segisama'' (Sasamon

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

) to control the main Roman ''Via'' of access to

Aquitania Gallia Aquitania (, ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France and the comarca of Val d'Aran in northeast Spain, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquit ...

. Also under the legion were five auxiliary units, a cavalry wing, two cohorts of ''equitatae'' and two of ''peditatae:'' *II Wing, Flavia Hispanorum civium romanorum, cantoned in ''Petavonium'' (near Zamora). *Cohors I ''Celtiberorum'' Equitata civium romanorum, cantoned within ''Municipium Flaviae Brigantia'' (near

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

). *Cohors I ''Galica'' Equitata civium romanorum, cantoned at ''Pisoraca'', (Herrera de Pisuerga,

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half of ...

). *Cohors II ''Galica'', cantoned in the unknown locality of "ad cohortem Galicam" (suspected to be in Portugal). *Cohors III Lucensium, cantoned near ''Lucus Augustium'' (

). During the majority of its existence, the number of effectives under the military commander of the VII were usually around the 7,712 between auxiliaries and regulars, not counting local levies and other reinforcements sent from Rome for temporary services. The station of this legion in the

Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon and the later Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities inclu ...

Roman province grew into an important city, León, that after the invasions of 409 AD in Iberia became part of the Suevic Kingdom, which resisted the attacks of the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

until 586, when it was taken by

Leovigild Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or ''Leovigildo'' ( Spanish and Portuguese), ( 519 – 586) was a Visigothic king of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to 586. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a law allowing equal rights between t ...

. It was one of the few cities which the Visigoths allowed to retain their fortifications. The

Roman bridge The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and k ...

over the Tâmega River in Chaves,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, then

Aquae Flaviae Aquae Flaviae (or ''Aquæ Flaviæ'') is the ancient Ancient Rome, Roman city and Aquae Flaviae (titular see), former bishopric (now a Latin Catholic titular see) of Chaves, Portugal, Chaves, a Concelho, municipality in the Portugal, Portuguese Vil ...

, was built by the stationed legionaries of the Legio VII ''Gemina'' at the time of

Known members of the legion

References

External links

livius.org account
{{Roman Legion} 07 Gemina 68 establishments 07 Gemina Military units and formations established in the 1st century 60s establishments in the Roman Empire 60s establishments

Known members of the legion

See also

References

External links