Legion banner symbol

[Woadwarrior]

i read sumwhere (here?) that every legion of rome was given a symbol, a sacred object
i kno there was an eagle
but what were the other symbols?
how many were there?

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Francis,
I assume we're talking post-Marius here?
Yes, the eagle was the most revered legionary symbol. The other important imperial-era one was the Imago, an image of the ruling emperor borne by the imaginifer. Every century, moreover, had their own signum, standard, carried by the signifer.

[Woadwarrior]

yes post marius
imperial times actually
did they all use different ones
and i thought they were only animals

[Praefectusclassis]

Oh, I thought you were thinking of the legionary standards, sorry. Do you mean animals like Pegasus and the Capricorn that are often used on those standards? Those did differ per legion, it seems.

[Carus Andiae]

To take Jasper's examples, the Capricorn and Pegasus both seem to have been associated with Legio II Augusta, the former because it was the birth sign of Augustus, after whom the legion was named, and the latter? Who knows. There has been some suggestion that it is associated with the legion's operations on the Rhine in the first couple of decades of the 1st century AD.

But they were not necessarily unique to that legion, though - the Capricorn turns up elsewhere; Legio XXX used it, as did Legio XIV, for example, and they (XIV) also used the Eagle as a symbol for the legion (as II Augusta used the Pegasus), not just as the Aquila standard. The Praetorian Guard seem to have adopted the Scorpion.

As with so many aspects of the Roman Army, however, the precise significance isn't clear.