Legio XIII Through The Ages K. Qt. Etruscus – V November MMXII
Early Days: Julius Caesar
Legion XIII served faithfully under Julius Caesar during the conquest of Gaul (France and Belgium) and also during the civil war against Pompey. Some notable battles this time included the Battle Against the Nervii (Belgium, 57 BC), the Battle of Gergovia (France, 52 BC), the Siege of Alesia (France, 52 BC), and various other expeditions. On January 10th, 49 BC, Julius Caesar—in defiance of the Senate—led Legion XIII across the River Rubicon, the legal border of Italy past which no one was permitted to bring an army. This action set off the civil war where Caesar reputedly said, “Alea iacta est!” (“The die is cast!”)
Caesar continued with Legion XIII to Rome, causing the Optimates (senatorial conservative faction) to flee and throw their lot in with General Pompey. While one legion was sufficient to chase off the Senate, Caesar quickly built up his forces for the inevitable battles to come.
During the civil war, Caesar’s Legion XIII continued its service and was present at the Battle of Dyrrachium (Albania, July 10th, 48 BC) in which Pompey managed to gain a victory for the Optimates. Beaten but not defeated, Caesar continued on and, with Legion XIII as part of his army, defeated Pompey decisively at the Battle of Pharsalus (Greece, August 9th, 48 BC).
With Pompey crushed, and later assassinated by Egyptians, Legion XIII was disbanded by Caesar and the veterans were given bonuses.
The legion was not to be deactivated for long, however. Remnants of the Optimates—displaced senators and Pompey’s son Gnaeus—managed to form new armies and violence was reignited. Caesar recalled the legion and it was known to have fought at the Battle of Thapsus (Tunisia, April 6th, 46 BC) and defeated the Optimates commanded by Metellus Scipio and their allies, the Numidians. It also defeated the Optimates in the final battle of the civil war, the Battle of Munda (Spain, March 17th, 45 BC), despite being vastly outnumbered. After this, the legion was stood down again and the veterans retired to land grants in Italy. Now master of the Roman Empire, Caesar established himself in the capital as “dictator for life”. His reign was not to endure, though, and he was assassinated by senators of the Optimates (now calling themselves “Liberators”) on the Ides of March, 44 BC.
The Augustan Era
A second “Triumvirate” was established to rule the empire in the name of the Senate, dividing the empire between Octavian Caesar, Mark Antony, and Lepidus. Lepidus was soon persuaded to retire. Octavian and Antony then challenged each other for supremacy. Legion XIII was with Octavian’s massive 72-legion army at the Battle of Actium (Greece, September 2nd, 31 BC), though probably not engaged because it was fought at sea. It is thought that Legion XIII got its name “Gemina” (“twin”) because, like many other Caesarian legions, it was joined with a former-Antonian legion with the same number afterward.
Octavian took the name Augustus Caesar and was the first emperor (“princeps”), establishing himself primarily through constitutional adjustments. During his reign, Legion XIII was stationed in Pannonia (Austria and Hungary). In 6 AD, the Illyrians and Pannonians rose in revolt and Italy itself was threatened by a grand alliance of tribes in the Balkans. Legion XIII and other forces spent three years in what the historian Seutonius described as the hardest-bitten campaign fought since the Punic Wars. In 9 AD, as operations in Germany were redirected to quell the Pannonians and Illyrians, Varus led three legions to destruction in the Teutoberg Forest. Crisis seemed imminent. The Revolt, however, was finally crushed that same year and no Germano-Illyrian alliance—Augustus’s greatest nightmare—could ever be realized.
But peace did not bring happiness. Soldiers in the province, disgruntled by the miserable conditions of their posting, staged a mutiny in 14 AD. It is not known whether Legion XIII specifically participated, but Tiberius was sent to pacify their concerns.
The Fall of the Julio-Claudians and Civil War
Legion XIII remained on garrison duty in Pannonia, performing routine operations and small missions for three generations. In 69 AD, the death of Nero precipitated a civil war between four would-be emperors: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. Galba took the throne by usurpation but was overthrown by Otho, an Etruscan. Otho found himself soon at odds with the German-frontier armies of Vitellius. The Pannonian legions, including Legion XIII, declared for Otho and determined to give battle. Otho marched to meet the advancing Vitellian armies with the Praetorian Guard, a regiment of gladiators, Legion I Aiudtrix, Legion XIII, and parts of Legion XIV. Tired from the long march, the Othonians clashed with the Vitellians on the road between Bedriacum and Cremona on April 14th, 69 AD. Legion XIII, commanded by Legatus Vedius Aquila, was driven back by Vitellius’s Legion V Alaudae. Legion I was out-flanked by Vitellian auxiliaries, and the Othonian gladiators destroyed as they were being ferried across a river to meet the enemy. The remains of Otho’s army were forced to surrender and take an oath to Vitellius.
Soon after, Otho committed suicide to spare Italy from further devastation. Scorned by the victors, Legion XIII was sent to build amphitheaters for the Vitellius’s generals.
Vitellius was not long on the throne before Vespasian advanced from the east, fresh from the Jewish War, with a powerful force. The Pannonian legions (Legion VII Galbiana and Legion XIII Gemina), all too eager for revenge, took to Vespasian’s cause. The forces of Vitellius clashed with Vespasian’s—commanded by Antonius—again near Cremona. This time, the Vitellians were defeated and the town of Cremona itself was burned to the ground and its unfortunate inhabitants massacred.
In 70 AD, Julius Civilis, taking advantage of the instability in the Roman state, mutinied against Rome with Batavian auxiliaries. He quickly cobbled together a loose confederation of Germanic and Gaullish tribes and hailed the creation of a new empire, All Gaul. Quintus Cerialis was sent to quell the revolt with a number of legions, including Legion XIII, summoned from Britain, Italy, and Spain. In Germania, the besieged Roman camps were relieved and the revolt was ended after a short operation. Legion XIII returned to its Pannonian station and maintained a garrison presence there.
The Climax of Empire
Desiring greater glory, gold-rich territory, and to create a buffer state between the empire and increasingly-dangerous Gothic barbarians of the east, Emperor Trajan invaded the Kingdom of Dacia, a wealthy and heavily forested region nestled in the Carpathian mountains. The Dacian Wars were short but vicious, running from 101-102 AD and 105-106 AD. After costly campaigning, skirmishing, and guerrilla warfare, King Decebalus chose to commit suicide rather than be captured, and Dacia was annexed. Legion V and Legion XIII established their headquarters in what is today Alba Iula, Romania, to maintain the peace afterward.
The Great Crisis
Records afterward are sketchy but it is believed sections of Legion XIII fought for Emperor Gellienus in Italy during his reign 253-268 AD. A coin commemorating the legion was struck by Marcus Victorinus, the ruler of the short-lived Gallic Empire (269-271 AD), suggests some elements fought with him.
In 271 AD, imperial government was withdrawn from Dacia proper and Legion XIII was removed to the south of the original frontier in “Dacia Aureliana”.
The Late Empire
In the 400’s AD, Legion XIII Gemina is mentioned by the Notitia Dignitatum as being stationed along the Nile in Babylon, Egypt. It is possible that what was Legion XIII Gemina was active within the Eastern Roman Empire’s military apparatus after the fall of the Western Empire in 476 AD, but specifics are now lost.