Legio XIV Gemina

Legio quarta decima Gemina (Fourteenth Twin Legion) was a legion of the Roman Empire, levied by Julius Caesar in 57 B.C. The cognomen Gemina (twin in Latin) suggests that the legion resulted from fusion of two previous ones, one of them being the Fourteenth legion that fought in the Battle of Alesia, the other being the Martia (Martian) legion. The cognomen Victrix (victorious) was added by Augustus following their service in the Pannonian War c. A.D. 9. The emblem of the legion was the Capricorn, as with many of the legions levied by Caesar., or the crossed thunderbolts of Jupiter.

Under Caesar
The XIV G.M.V was raised by Caesar in Cispaline Gaul during his raids into, and conquest of, Gaul. Their enlistment term was for 16 years, as per the other legions (though Augustus raised that to 20). For years after the Massacre at Atuatuca, they were viewed as an unlucky legion. They were frequently left behind to guard the camp during battles and raids.

Under Germanicus
The XIV G.M.V fought under General Germanicus Caesar against the German rebel Hermann, better known as Arminius. A decade before this campaign, Hermann succeeded in wiping out three entire legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, one of the greatest disasters in Roman military history. They sealed a victory for Germanicus, and earned him a triumph from his adopted father, Emperor Tiberius.

Invasion of Britain
Stationed in Moguntiacum, Germania Superior, since AD 9, XIV Gemina Martia Victrix was one of four legions used by Aulus Plautius and Claudius in the Roman invasion of Britain in 43, and took part in the defeat of Boudicca in 60 or 61. This was the battle that would send them down in history as one of the greatest Roman Legions. At the stand at Watling Street the 14th defeated Boudicca's force of 230,000, according to Tacitus and Dio, with their meager force of 10,000 Legionaries and Auxiliaries. This act secured them as Nero's "most effective", and kept them garrisoned in Britain during the next few years to keep the uneasy tribes in check. After which, in 68 it was stationed in Gallia Narbonensis.

Rebellion on the Rhine
In 89 the governor of Germania Superior, Lucius Antonius Saturninus, rebelled against Domitian, with the support of the XIVth and of the XXI Rapax, but the revolt was suppressed.

Pannonian defense
When the XXIst legion was lost, in 92, XIV Gemina was sent in Pannonia to substitute it, camping in Vindobona (Vienna). After a war with the Sarmatians and Trajan's Dacian Wars (101–106), the legion was moved to Carnuntum, where it stayed for three centuries. Some subunits of Fourteenth fought in the wars against the Mauri, under Antoninus Pius, and the legion participated to the Parthian campaign of Emperor Lucius Verus. During his war against the Marcomanni, Emperor Marcus Aurelius based his headquarters in Carnuntum.

In support of Septimius Severus
In 193, after the death of Pertinax, the commander of the Fourteenth, Septimius Severus, was acclaimed emperor by the Pannonian legions, and above all by his own. XIV Gemina fought for its emperor in his march to Rome to attack usurper Didius Julianus (193), contributed to the defeat of the usurper Pescennius Niger (194), and probably fought in the Parthian campaign that ended with the sack of the capital of the empire, Ctesiphon (198).

In support of imperial candidates
In the turmoil following the defeat of Valerian, the XIIII Gemina supported usurper Regalianus against Emperor Gallienus (260), then Gallienus against Postumus of the Gallic empire (earning the title VI Pia VI Fidelis—"six times faithful, six times loyal"), and, after Gallienus' death, Gallic Emperor Victorinus (269–271).



5th century
At the beginning of the 5th century, XIV Gemina was still assigned at Carnuntum. It probably dissolved with the collapse of the Danube frontier in 430s. The Notitia Dignitatum lists a Quartodecimani comitatensis unit under the Magister Militum per Thracias; it is possible that this unit is XIIII Gemina.