"9th Legion" redirects here. For the Polish regiment, see 9th Legions' Infantry Regiment.
Legio IX Hispana
Map of the Roman empire in 125 AD, under emperor Hadrian, showing the IX Hispana's last attested location at Noviomagus Batavorum on the Rhine (Nijmegen, Netherlands)
Active
Before 58 BC to sometime in the 2nd century AD
Country
Roman Republic and Roman Empire
Type
Roman legion (Marian)
Role
Infantry assault
Size
c. 5,400
Garrison/HQ
Hispania Tarraconensis 41–c. 13 BC ? Pannonia 9–43 AD Eboracum (Britannia) 71–c. 121 ? Noviomagus (Germania Inferior) c. 121–130
Nickname(s)
The Lost Legion
Mascot(s)
Bull
Engagements
Gallic Wars (58–51 BC)
Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC)
Roman conquest of Britain
Boudican revolt
Battle of Mons Graupius
Commanders
Notable commanders
Julius Caesar
Quintus Petillius Cerialis
Gnaeus Julius Agricola
Military unit
Legio IX Hispana ("9th Spanish Legion"),[1] also written as Legio VIIII Hispana,[2] was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that existed from the 1st century BC until at least 120 AD. The legion fought in various provinces of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. The nickname "Hispana" was gained when it was stationed in Hispania under Augustus. It was stationed in Britain following the Roman invasion in 43 AD. The legion disappears from surviving Roman records after c. 120 AD and there is no extant account of what happened to it.[4]
The unknown fate of the legion has been the subject of considerable research and speculation. One theory (per historian Theodor Mommsen) was that the legion was wiped out in action in northern Britain soon after 108 AD, the date of the latest datable inscription of the Ninth found in Britain, perhaps during a rising of northern tribes against Roman rule. This view was popularised by the 1954 novel The Eagle of the Ninth in which the legion is said to have marched into Caledonia (modern-day Scotland), after which it was "never heard of again".
This theory fell out of favour among modern scholars as successive inscriptions of IX Hispana were found in the site of the legionary base at Nijmegen (Netherlands), suggesting the Ninth may have been based there from c. 120 AD, later than the legion's supposed annihilation in Britain.[4]: ch. 11 The Nijmegen evidence has led to suggestions that IX Hispana was destroyed in later conflicts of the 2nd century. Suggestions include the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 AD) or Marcus Aurelius's war against Parthia (161–166 AD) in Armenia.[4]: ch. 12 However, some scholars[5]
have ascribed the Nijmegen evidence to a mere detachment of IX Hispana, not the whole legion.
In any event, it is clear that the IX Hispana did not exist during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211 AD), as it is not included in two identical but independent lists of the 33 legions existing in this period.
^Ritterling, E. (1925). "Legio (64)". Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Halbband XXIV. Vol. Band XII. cols. 1664–1670.
^"Legio VIIII Hispana - Livius". livius.org.
^Cite error: The named reference Campbell-2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abc
Campbell, Duncan B. (2018). The Fate of the Ninth: The curious disappearance of one of Rome's legions. Bocca della Verità Publishing / Kindle Direct Publishing. ISBN 978-1-791-76833-1.
see also Campbell (2010)[3] – free magazine article
^
Hodgson, N. (2021). "The End of the Ninth Legion, War in Britain and the Building of Hadrian's Wall". Britannia. 52: 97–118. doi:10.1017/S0068113X21000015.
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known as "lost legions": Legio XVII, XVIII and XIX, defeated in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD LegioIXHispana, disappeared from surviving...
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The Seventh (Legio VII Claudia), Eighth (Legio VIII Augusta), Ninth (LegioIXHispana), Tenth legions (Legio X Equestris), Eleventh (Legio XI Claudia)...
a Roman military officer of the Roman Imperial army. He commanded LegioIXHispana in Britain, and defeated the first revolt of Venutius of the Brigantes...
evacuated and abandoned it. Boudica's army defeated a detachment of the LegioIXHispana, and burnt both Londinium and Verulamium. In all, an estimated 70,000–80...
governor. Because he probably succeeded Caesius Nasica as commander of LegioIXHispana, and since brothers are often attested as serving in succession in...
Centurions, serving under Quintus Cicero, commander of the Ninth Legion (LegioIXHispana). Vorenus and Pullo appear in the Legion tetralogy of the Videssos...
Lucius Duccius Rufinus was a standard-bearer of LegioIXHispana. Rufinus is known only from his carved limestone tombstone, which was discovered in 1688...
rise in great numbers against the Romans. They attack the camp of LegioIXHispana at night, but Agricola sends his cavalry in, and puts them to flight...
time before 42. In the latter year, commanding a legion, probably the LegioIXHispana in the Africa Province, he was a part of Gaius Suetonius Paulinus'...
Dumnonii. The city of Lincoln was initially the headquarters of the LegioIXHispana and, at the end of the reign of Domitian, was elevated to a Colonia...
and install their own candidate on the throne. A legion (perhaps LegioIXHispana) is destroyed at Elegeia. Gaius' Institutiones are published. The silver...
a base for their northern forces. Initially established solely for LegioIXHispana, it expands later to include public housing, baths and temples. Battle...
Marcus Aquila north of Hadrian's Wall to discover what happened to the LegioIXHispana. The character was played by Christian Rodska in the 1977 BBC adaptation...
Legio VI Hispana ("Sixth (Hispanian) Legion") may have been a legion of the Imperial Roman army. Only a few records attesting a "VI Hispana" were known...
The future governor Quintus Petillius Cerialis, then commanding the LegioIXHispana, attempted to relieve the city, but suffered an overwhelming defeat...
grew up outside it. The fort was built by a vexillation of the legion LegioIXHispana during the final campaign of Cerialis against the Brigantian Venutius...
The legion is key in securing the victory, and eventually replaces LegioIXHispana at Eboracum. Hadrian also visits Britain in this year at the request...
sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part. The LegioIXHispana, the XIV...
governors served under him: Quintus Petillius Cerialis as legate of LegioIXHispana, and Gnaeus Julius Agricola as a military tribune attached to II Augusta...
were sent: only the Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was directly attested to have taken part. The IXHispana, the XIV Gemina (later...
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