Legio IV Scythica ("Scythian Fourth Legion"), also written as Legio IIII Scythica , was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in c. 42 BC by the Roman general Mark Antony , for his campaign against the Parthian Empire , hence its other cognomen , Parthica . The legion was still active in the Roman province of Syria in the early 5th century.
17-507: Quintus Veranius (died AD 57) was a distinguished Roman general around the mid-first century CE. He was III vir monetalis , tribune of Legio IV Scythica and quaestor under Tiberius . He was appointed tribune of the plebs in 41 and praetor in 42. In 43, the Emperor Claudius constituted the new province of Lycia , and appointed Veranius as its governor. He governed the province until 48, and during this period put down
34-703: A Diadochus (successor) to Alexander the Great and Macedonian founder of the Seleucid Kingdom , on the site where he had the first bridge over the Euphrates built. In 64 BC, the Roman Republic gained control of the city. Zeugma was of great importance to the Roman Empire as it was located at a strategically important place. Up to 70,000 people lived in the city, and it became a center for
51-799: The Danube . This makes it very likely the Legion defeated one of the Scythian tribes in a battle. After the Battle of Actium (31 BC) and Mark Antony's suicide, Octavian transferred the Legio IV Scythica to the Roman province of Moesia , in the Danube area. The legion is reported to have taken part in civilian tasks, such as the building and keeping of roads . In his youth, future Roman Emperor Vespasian served in this legion. The legion's base
68-779: The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 AD). In 70 AD, the legion was used to stop a pogrom against the Jewish population of Antioch . The legion would also build a canal in Seleucia Pieria . The IV Scythica took part in the Parthian campaign of Trajan , As well as the war against the Parthians (161–166 AD). Between 181 and 183 AD, Septimius Severus acted as the commander of the Eastern legions, and he later relied on
85-666: The Ottoman Turkish village of Belkis was built near the ruins. Initially the site was excavated sporadically, but in 2000, was flooded during construction of the Birecik Dam . With only a fraction of the site excavated, archaeologists feared that many mosaics would be permanently lost. After reading about it in The New York Times , and with only few months left, American philanthropist David W. Packard donated USD 5 million to fund an emergency excavation of
102-573: The Roman Agora, two sanctuaries, the stadium, the theatre, two bathhouses, the Roman legionary base, administrative structures of the Roman legion, the majority of the residential quarters, Hellenistic and Roman city walls, and the East, South and West necropoles." Three large glass mosaics were discovered at Zeugma in 2014, including one depicting the nine Muses . The Zeugma Mosaic Museum attracted
119-549: The Roman general Mark Antony after 42 BC. It is unknown where the legion was first stationed, although Syria is a possibility. If that is the case, the legion most likely took part in Mark Antony's campaign against the Parthians . The name Scythica implies that it fought the Scythians . The Scythians were a group of nomadic tribes located near a Roman city named Olbia . The Scythians also occasionally tried to cross
136-698: The archaeological site, allowing archaeologists to preserve the mosaics that would otherwise be inundated by the dam. The mosaics that were excavated were initially stored at the Gaziantep Museum , and are nowadays displayed at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum . Zeugma has been on the UNESCO World Heritage Site tentative list since 2012. Extant archaeological remains at the site include "the Hellenistic Agora,
153-589: The military and commerce for the ancient Romans . In 253 AD, it was destroyed by the Sassanids , but was later rebuilt. In late antiquity , Zeugma was a diocese of the early Roman church , but the place seems to have been abandoned in the 7th century due to Sassanid Persian and then Arab raids by the Umayyad Caliphate . Arabs lived there temporarily in the Middle Ages . By the 17th century
170-627: The new legate of Cappadocia , to manage the matter. Corbulo brought the Legio IIII Scythica from Moesia, and with the legions III Gallica and VI Ferrata they defeated the Parthians, restoring Tigranes VI to the Armenian throne. In 62 AD, IIII Scythica and XII Fulminata , commanded by the new legate of Cappadocia, Lucius Caesennius Paetus , were defeated by the Parthians at the Battle of Rhandeia and forced to surrender. The legions were covered with shame and withdrawn from
187-555: The power of said legions to become the next Roman Emperor. The legion's former commander, now Emperor, Semptimus Severus would lead another campaign against the Parthians. This campaign also used the IV Scythica . The legion was most likely involved in the eastern campaign of Caracalla in 219 AD. The legion disappeared from Roman historiographical sources after 219 AD, when their commander, Gellius Maximus , rebelled against Emperor Elagabalus and proclaimed himself Emperor, but
SECTION 10
#1732771765885204-510: The rebellion of Cilicia Trachea . He served as consul in 49, and was elevated to patrician status by Claudius, who also appointed him as an augur . Veranius became governor of Britain in 57, replacing Aulus Didius Gallus . He reversed Didius's policy of maintaining existing borders and began military operations against the troublesome Silures in what is now Wales , but died within a year. In his will he flattered Nero and claimed that, had he had another two years, he would have conquered
221-546: The war theatre to Zeugma . This city would be the base camp of IIII Scythica for the next century. In the Year of the Four Emperors , in 69 AD, the IV Scythica , alongside the rest of the Eastern legions, sided with Vespasian immediately. Despite the demonstrated loyalty, IV Scythica was not involved in actual fighting because it was not considered a high-quality legion. This was a consequence of an earlier defeat in
238-408: The whole of the island. He was replaced by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus , and the speed with which Suetonius took Wales suggests that Veranius had already done much of the work. Onasander , a Greek philosopher, dedicated his Strategikos , a treatise on generalship, to Veranius, at some point between his consulship (49) and death (57/58). Legio IV Scythica The Legio IV Scythica was founded by
255-442: Was an ancient Hellenistic era Greek and then Roman city of Commagene ; located in modern Gaziantep Province , Turkey . It was named for the bridge of boats , or zeugma , that crossed the Euphrates at that location. Zeugma Mosaic Museum contains mosaics from the site, and is one of the largest mosaic museums in the world. Zeugma was founded in the early 3rd century BC as the city of Seleucia by Seleucus I Nicator ,
272-746: Was defeated. However, according to Notitia Dignitatum (XXXIII), in the early 3rd century, the IV Scythica was still active in Roman Syria, camped in Orese . It is possible this legion participated in the campaigns of Severus Alexander and Odaenathus against the Sassanids. The legion's symbol was a capricorn . The legion appeared in Harry Sidebottom 's series of historical novels Warrior of Rome . Zeugma, Commagene Zeugma ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ζεῦγμα ; Syriac : ܙܘܓܡܐ )
289-573: Was probably at Viminacium . Between 6 and 9 AD, the IV Scythica took part in Tiberius ' wars against the Illyrians and Pannonians . The legion also constructed roads and other works of engineering in the Danube area. King Vologases I of Parthia invaded Armenia , a client kingdom of Rome, in 58 AD, beginning the war against the Parthians (58–63 AD). Nero ordered Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo ,
#884115