05-23-2009, 12:42 PM
So I've been trying to research legions that were active during the reign of Caesar (Julius) and Octavian (Augustus). The XIII or 13th seems to have been fairly active in the battles during that time period but there's not much information about the legion itself. What I mean is, it was just "XIII".
What was needed for a legion to attain a "surname" or cognomen? I know that later on it was given the name, "XIII Gemina". But did it ever hold any other name like "Gallica"? Maybe they didn't have much of an impact then. Did they ever pick up the name Augusta when re-constructed by the Emperor or just Gemina (the twin legion) during that period?
The XIII like many other legions suffer from a lot of blank holes and "implied" or suspected involvements in battles. Does anyone have any detailed information on the legion other than what you might find on say Wikipedia or http://www.livius.org ?
Thanks guys! I'm trying to focus my efforts on a few legions with the hopes of being able to become fairly familiar with their activities (for possible projects in the future).
If this units history was discussed before, I'd love a link. I searched for it and found it mentioned only twice (two threads) on the forums. Four if you include two of mine. There's what appears to be an Austrian reenactment unit that depicts the XIII but alas, I can't understand a word they're saying on their site.
What was needed for a legion to attain a "surname" or cognomen? I know that later on it was given the name, "XIII Gemina". But did it ever hold any other name like "Gallica"? Maybe they didn't have much of an impact then. Did they ever pick up the name Augusta when re-constructed by the Emperor or just Gemina (the twin legion) during that period?
The XIII like many other legions suffer from a lot of blank holes and "implied" or suspected involvements in battles. Does anyone have any detailed information on the legion other than what you might find on say Wikipedia or http://www.livius.org ?
Thanks guys! I'm trying to focus my efforts on a few legions with the hopes of being able to become fairly familiar with their activities (for possible projects in the future).
If this units history was discussed before, I'd love a link. I searched for it and found it mentioned only twice (two threads) on the forums. Four if you include two of mine. There's what appears to be an Austrian reenactment unit that depicts the XIII but alas, I can't understand a word they're saying on their site.
"It is the brave man\'s part to live with glory, or with glory die."
- Nomen: (T.J. Young)
- Nomen: (T.J. Young)