Рим легионы: III Галлия легионы тарихы

Roman legion

Legio III Gallica ( Third Legion "Gallic") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. The cognomen Gallica suggests that its earliest recruits came from veterans of the Gallic legions of Gaius Julius Caesar, a supposition supported by its emblem, a bull, a symbol associated with Caesar. The legion was based for most of its existence at Raphanea, Roman Syria, and was still active in Egypt in the early 4th century.

The legion was founded in either 49 or 48 BC by Julius Caesar to help in Caesar's war against Pompey. The soldiers of the legion were exclusively from Transalpine Gaul and Cisalpine Gaul. After Caesar died, the III Gallica joined Mark Antony's army. While in the service of Mark Antony the legion would fight at the battle of Munda and Phillipi. They were included in the army levied by Fulvia and Lucius Antonius to oppose Octavian, but ended by surrendering in Perugia, in the winter of 41 BC.

The legion served in Antony's Parthian War in 36 BC. After the battle of Actium and Antony's suicide during Antony's Civil War, the III Gallica was sent again to the East, where they garrisoned the province of Syria. The campaign lasted from 58 68 AD. Corbulo's successes triggered the emperor Nero's resentment and eventually the general was forced to commit suicide. In 68 AD, III Gallica was transferred to the province of Moesia on the Danube.

In the Year of the Four Emperors in 69, the legion, and the rest of the Danubian army, aligned first with Otho, then with Vespasian.