Named legion for Cornelii

Chose what u think suits better...

It has to be an african Legion , those tree are attested to have been dispatched in Africa...

Legio XXII Deiotariana

Nile Delta
Origin of the legion

The legion was levied by Deiotarus, king of the Celtic tribe of the Tolistobogii, who lived in Galatia, modern Turkey. Deiotarus become an ally of the Roman Republic general Pompey in 63 BC, who named him king of all the Celtic tribes of Turkey, which were collectively known as Galatians (hence the name Galatia for the region). Deiotarus levied an army and trained it with Roman help; the army, in 48 BC, was composed of 12,000 infantrymen and 2,000 horsemen. Cicero writes that the army was divided into to thirty cohortes, which were roughly equivalent to three Roman legions of the time. This army supported the Romans in their wars against king Mithridates VI of Pontus, and contributed to Roman victory in the Third Mithridatic War.

After a heavy defeat against king Pharnaces II of Pontus near Nicopolis, the survivor soldiers of Deiotarius army formed a single legion, which marched besides Julius Caesar during his victorious campaign against Pontus, and fought with him in the battle of Zela (47 BC).
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Early history (BC)

When the Roman Empire integrated the Galatian kingdom, this legion, which had been trained by the Romans and had fought under Roman commanders, became part of the Roman army; since Caesar Augustus had already 21 legions, the legion received the number XXII.

Augustus sent the Twenty-second to camp in Nicopolis (next Alexandria, in Aegyptus) together with III Cyrenaica. These two legions had the role of garrisoning the Egyptian province from threats both within and without, given the multi-ethnical nature of Alexandria.

In 26 BC, Cornelius Gallus, praefectus Aegypti (prefectus of Egypt), led a campaign against the Nubian kingdoms and another to find Arabia Felix (Yemen). The campaign came quickly to a halt (25 BC) because of the heavy losses in the troops (Romans, Hebrews and Nabateans), due to hunger and epidemies.
The losses were not recovered, so in 23 BC the Nubians, led by queen Candace Amanirenas, took the initiative and attacked the Romans moving towards Elephantine. The new prefectus of Egypt, Petronius, obtained renforcements, and after blocking the Nubians, marched the Nile up to the Nubian capital of Napata, which was sacked in 22 BC.
It is highly probable that XXII fought in these wars.
After this actions, the Nubian front remained calm for a long time, so the legions could be employed otherwise. The legionaries were used not only as soldiers, but also as workers, as some of them were sent to the granite mines of Mons Claudianus. Other legionaries were sent in the deepest south of the Egyptian province, and scratched their names of the stones of the Colossi of Memnon.
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Later history

Under Nero, the Romans fought a campaign (55–63) against the Parthian Empire, which had invaded the kingdom of Armenia, allied to the Romans. After gaining (60) and losing (62) Armenia, the Romans sent XV Apollinaris from Pannonia to Cn. Domitius Corbulo, legatus of Syria. Corbulo, with the legions XV Apollinaris, III Gallica, V Macedonica, X Fretensis and XXII, entered (63) into the territories of Vologases I of Parthia, who returned the Armenian kingdom to Tiridates.

In 66, Zealot Jews killed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. After the ignominous defeat of the legatus of Syria (67), T. Flavius Vespasianus entered in Iudaea in 68 with the legions V Macedonica, X Fretensis, XV Apollinaris, one vexillatio of 1,000 legionars of the XXII, and 15,000 soldiers from the Eastern allies, and started the siege of Jerusalem (69), which would be completed by his son T. Flavius Vespasianus (better known as Titus) in 70. In fact in 69, the "year of the four emperors", Flavius Vespasianus senior returned to Italy to conquer the imperial throne after Galba rebellion and Nero's desth. The Twenty-second sided with Flavius Vespasianus, who eventually became emperor.

Under Trajan, XXII is officially known as Deiotariana, even if this was its unofficial name since Claudian times.

The last record of XXII Deiotariana is from 119. In 145, when a list of all existing legions was made, XXII Deiotariana was not listed. Probably, XXII Deiotariana was destroyed during the Jewish rebellion of Simon bar Kochba (132–136).

Legio III Augusta Lambaesis

Deep Numidia Desert Border Lambaesis fort

Legio III Augusta was a Roman legion levied by Augustus in 43 BC. Activity of this legion in the African Roman provinces, its principal theatre of operations, is still mentioned in late 4th century, early 5th century. Among the emblems of the legion were the winged horse Pegasus and the Capricorn.

The III Augusta was probably present in the battle of Philippi in 42 BC, where Augustus and Mark Antony defeated the army of the senators that conspired to murder Julius Caesar. After this victory, the III Augusta stayed under the command of Augustus, probably in Sicily, where Sextus Pompeius, son of Pompey had started a rebellion.

From 30 BC onwards, III Augusta was stationed in the province of Africa. The legion was involved mainly in construction activities. Although Africa was a traditionally peaceful part of the Empire, between AD 17 and 24, they were involved in the war against the mutinous Numidian and Mauritanian tribes. In 18, a subunit was destroyed in a guerrilla attack. This disaster was probably due to cowardly behaviour, because afterwards, the entire legion was punished by decimation, that is, the killing of every tenth legionary. This procedure was the most serious action a commander could impose on his soldiers and rarely used. After that, IX Hispana was sent to reinforce Africa and by 24 the rebellion was over.

In the 1st century, Africa was the only province controlled by a senator, the proconsul governor. Thus, it was important for the Emperor that this man, also commander of III Augusta, would be loyal. Sulpicius Galba, emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors occupied the position between 45 and 46.

In the last years of the reign of Nero, Lucius Clodius Macer, proconsul of Africa, revolted and levied another legion, I Macriana liberatrix to join forces with III Augusta. In the confusing Year of the four emperors (69), both legions supported first Galba, then Vitellius and finally Vespasian, although took no part in the battles in Italy.

In 75, Vespasian moved the camp of III Augusta from Ammaedara, near Theveste, to Lambaesis. In the reign of Hadrian (117–138), the legion was stationed at Lambaesis in Numidia. The legion was to stay there for the next two centuries, guarding the province from the Berber tribes. Men from the III Augusta were occasionally used in several campaigns against Parthia. It is know also the presence of legionaries from this African legion in the Marcomannic campaign of Marcus Aurelius against the Hungarians.

In 193, emperor Septimius Severus, an African man, awarded the legion with the cognomen Pia Vindex (Faithful Avenger), by their action in the civil war that followed emperor Pertinax murder.

3rd century was a time of crisis for the III Augusta. First, it suffered heavy losses in a war against a desert tribe, having to receive reinforcements from the recently disbanded III Gallica. In 238, the Year of the seven emperors, the legion suppressed the revolt of Gordian I and Gordian II, but was disbanded by their successor Gordian III.

In 252, Valerian reconstituted the III Augusta with troops coming from Raetia and Noricum, and gave it cognomen Iterum Pia Iterum Vindex (Again faithful, again avenger). The purpose of this reconstitution was to wage a war against a federation of Berber tribes that threatened the empire. This war was over in 260, but between 289-297, the situation was once more out of hand and emperor Maximianus went to Africa to command the Numidian legions personally. Their presence in Africa appears in the sources until late 4th century, early 5th century.

Legio III Cyrenaica

43 Km North of Luxor Coptos

Legio III Cyrenaica, (from Cyrenaica, a Roman province), was a Roman legion probably levied by Mark Antony around 36 BC, when he was governor of Cyrenaica. There are still records of the legion in Syria in the beginning of the 5th century. The legion symbol is unknown.

The first historical appearance of the legion is during the campaign of Emperor Caesar Augustus to conquer Egypt in 30 BC. III Cyrenaica would remain in Egypt and, in AD 35 was in Alexandria, sharing camp with XXII Deiotariana. The main task of both legions was keep the province safe and to maintain peace and order between the different ethnic and religious groups present in Alexandria.

In the internal turmoils of the Roman Empire, III Cyrenaica tended to follow defeated candidates to the throne like Avidius Cassius (vs. Marcus Aurelius in 175) and Pescennius Niger (vs. Septimius Severus in 192).

The legion, or subunits of it, probably participated in the following campaigns:

* 25 BC – against Arabia Felix, modern Yemen, and 23 BC against Nubia (see XXII Deiotariana history)
* 63 AD – against the Parthian Empire for the control over Armenia (see XXII Deiotariana history)
* 66–70 and 132/136– retaliations on the Jewish rebellions
* 162–166 – against the Parthian Empire, commanded by Lucius Verus
* 215–217 – against the Parthian Empire, commanded by Caracalla

After the rebellion of Zenobia in 267-272, III Cyrenaica was transferred to an unclear location, although the legion was in Bostra (Syria) in the beginning of the 5th century.
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Auxiliaries

Legio III Cyrenaica was known to have had at least two organic auxiliary cohorts attached to it. One of these cohorts consisted of Menapian Celts, who probably served as skirmishers or spearmen, and the other cohort was made up of Nabataean archers.