XII Fulminata
Heavy Infantry(0.6.7)Side / Back
Short description
(The Lightning Legion)Likely founded by Caesar in 58 BC for his campaign against the Helvetians.
Description
One of the original 28 Augustan Legions (The Lightning Legion)
Legio XII Fulminata (wielder of the thunderbolt), also known as Paterna, Victrix, Antiqua, Certa Constans, and Galliena, was levied by Julius Caesar in 58 BC and accompanied him during the Gallic wars until 49 BC. The unit was still guarding the Euphrates River crossing near Melitene at the beginning of the 5th century. The legion's emblem was a thunderbolt (fulmen).
The Twelfth Legion, as it is perhaps better known, fought in the battle against the Nervians, and probably also in the siege of Alesia. The Twelfth fought at the battle of Pharsalus (48 BC), when Caesar defeated Pompey. After Caesar won the civil war, the legion was named Victrix, and enlisted in 43 BC by Lepidus and Mark Anthony. Mark Anthony led the Twelfth, renamed XII Antiqua (of consolidated quality) during his campaign against the Parthian Empire. During the latest part of Augustus' principality, XII Fulminata served in Syria, camping at Raphana.
In 66, after a Zealot revolt had destroyed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem, the XII Fulminata, with vexillationes of IV Scythica and VI Ferrata, was sent to retaliate, but it was sent back by Gaius Cestius Gallus, legatus of Syria, when he saw that the legion was weak. On its way back, XII Fulminata was ambushed and defeated by Eleazar ben Simon at Beit-Horon and lost its aquila (Eagle). However, XII Fulminata fought well in the last part of the war and supported its commander T. Flavius Vespasian in his successful bid for the imperial throne. At the end of the war, XII Fulminata and XVI Flavia Firma were sent to guard the Euphrates border, camping at Melitene.
After these episodes, the records of the Fulminata are scarce. The Palmyrene Empire was reconquered by Aurelian; Emperor Diocletian defeated the Sassanids and moved the frontier to Northern Mesopotamia. The Twelfth, which probably took part in these campaigns, is recorded guarding the frontier of the Euphrates in Melitene, at the beginning of the 5th century (Notitia Dignitatum). It may have become an Eastern Empire legion.