Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T13:54:47.352Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The End of the Ninth Legion, War in Britain and the Building of Hadrian's Wall

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2021

Nick Hodgson
Nick Hodgson*
Affiliation:
Wallsend Nick.Hodgson@Durham.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is often stated that the Ninth Legion was transferred from Britain and continued to exist until the 130s or beyond. The evidence is reviewed, and it is concluded that: (1) no more than a detachment of the legion went abroad, and that only for the period c. 105 to c. 120; (2) there is no prosopographical or other evidence which proves that the legion existed after the early 120s. Given that war, heavy Roman losses and an interruption in the building of Hadrian's Wall are directly attested in Britain, probably occurring in 122 or shortly after, it is argued that it is most likely that the legion was defeated and disbanded in connection with those events.

Keywords

Ninth LegionBritainNijmegenHadrian's WallHadrianexpeditio Britannicavexillatio Britannica
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 52 , November 2021 , pp. 97 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alföldy, G. 1969: Fasti Hispanienses, WiesbadenGoogle Scholar
Alföldy, G. 1977: Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter den Antoninen: prosopographische Untersuchungen zur senatorischen Führungsschicht, BonnGoogle Scholar
Bennett, J. 2002: ‘A revised programme and chronology for the building of Hadrian's Wall’, in Freeman, P., Bennett, J., Fiema, Z.T. and Hoffmann, B. (eds), Limes 18, British Archaeological Reports International Series 1084, Oxford, 825–34Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 2005: The Roman Government of Britain, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birley, A.R. 2013: ‘Britain under Trajan and Hadrian’, in Opper, T. (ed.), Hadrian: Art, Politics and Economy, British Museum Research Publication 175, 130–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birley, A.R. 2014: ‘Two governors of Dacia Superior and Britain’, in Iliescu, V., Nedu, D. and Barboş, A.R. (eds), Graecia, Roma, Barbaricum: in memoriam Vasile Lica, Galati, 241–59Google Scholar
Birley, E. 1948: ‘Britain after Agricola, and the end of the Ninth Legion’, Durham University Journal June, 78–83 (reprinted in Birley, E. 1953: Roman Britain and the Roman Army, Kendal, 20–30)Google Scholar
Birley, E. 1971: ‘The fate of the Ninth Legion’, in Butler, R.M. (ed.), Soldier and Civilian in Roman Yorkshire, Leicester, 71–80Google Scholar
Bishop, M.C. 2012: Handbook to Roman Legionary Fortresses, BarnsleyGoogle Scholar
Bogaers, J.E. 1967: ‘Die Besatzungstruppen des Legionslagers von Nijmegen im 2. Jahrh.’, in Studien zu den Militärgrenzen Roms, Cologne, 54–76Google Scholar
Bogaers, J.E., and Haalebos, J.K. 1977: ‘Die Nijmegener Legionslager seit 70 nach Christus’, in Haupt, D. and Horn, H.G. (eds), Studien zu den Militärgrenzen Roms 2, Cologne, 93–108Google Scholar
Bowman, A.K., Thomas, J.D., and Tomlin, R.S.O. 2019: ‘The Vindolanda writing-tablets (Tabulae Vindolandenses IV, part 3): new letters of Iulius Verecundus’, Britannia 50, 225–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breeze, D.J. 2003: ‘Warfare in Britain and the building of Hadrian's Wall’, Archaeologia Aeliana 32 (5th series), 13–16Google Scholar
Breeze, D.J. 2004: ‘Roman military sites on the Cumbrian coast’, in Wilson, R.J.A. and Caruana, I.D. (eds), Romans on the Solway: Essays in Honour of Richard Bellhouse, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Extra Series 31, Maryport, 66–94Google Scholar
Breeze, D.J. 2006: John Collingwood Bruce's Handbook to the Roman Wall (14th edition), Newcastle upon TyneGoogle Scholar
Breeze, D.J., and Dobson, B. 2000: Hadrian's Wall (3rd edition), LondonGoogle Scholar
Breeze, D.J., Dobson, B., and Maxfield, V. 2012: ‘Maenius Agrippa: a chronological conundrum’, Acta Classica 55, 17–30Google Scholar
Brunsting, H., and Steures, D.C. 1997: ‘The brick stamps and the occupational history of the legionary fortress at Nijmegen’, in Groenman-van Waateringe, W., van Beck, B.L., Willems, W.J.H. and Wynia, S.L. (eds), Roman Frontier Studies 1995, Oxford, 324–9Google Scholar
Campbell, D.B. 2018: The Fate of the Ninth, GlasgowGoogle Scholar
Casey, J. 1987: ‘The coinage of Alexandria and the chronology of Hadrian’, in Huvelin, H., Christol, M. and Gautier, G. (eds), Mélanges de numismatique offerts à Pierre Bastien à l'occasion de son 75e anniversaire, Wetteren, 65–72Google Scholar
Dickinson, B.M., and Hartley, K.F. 1971: ‘The evidence of potters’ stamps on samian ware and on mortaria for the trading connections of Roman York’, in Butler, R.M. (ed.), Soldier and Civilian in Roman Yorkshire, Leicester, 127–42Google Scholar
Dobson, B. 1978: Die Primipilares, BonnGoogle Scholar
Eck, W. 1972: ‘Zum Ende der legio IX Hispana’, Chiron 2, 459–62Google Scholar
Eck, W., Holder, P., and Pangerl, A. 2016: ‘Eine Konstitution aus dem Jahr 152 oder 153 für Niedermösiche und britannische Truppen, abgeordnet nach Mauretania Tingitana’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 199, 187–201Google Scholar
Eck, W., and Pangerl, A. 2014: ‘Eine Konstitution des Antoninus Pius für die Auxilien in Syrien aus dem Jahr 144’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 188, 255–60Google Scholar
Eck, W. and Pangerl, A. 2015: ‘Eine zweite Kopie der Konstitution für die Truppen Syriens vom 19. März 144 und ein Diplom für die equites singulares vom selben Datum’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 193, 253–60Google Scholar
Frere, S.S. 2000: ‘M. Maenius Agrippa, the expeditio Britannica and Maryport’, Britannia 31, 23–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freyburger-Galland, M.L. 1997: Aspects du vocabulaire politique et institutionnel de Dion Cassius, ParisGoogle Scholar
Graafstal, E. 2012: ‘Hadrian's haste: a priority programme for the Wall’, Archaeologia Aeliana 41 (5th series), 123–84Google Scholar
Graafstal, E. 2018: ‘What happened in the summer of AD 122? Hadrian on the British frontier: archaeology, epigraphy and historical agency’, Britannia 49, 79–111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haalebos, J.K. 2000: ‘Römische Truppen in Nijmegen’, in Le Bohec, Y. (ed.), Les légions de Rome sous le Haut-Empire, Lyon, 465–89Google Scholar
Hassall, M. 2000: ‘The location of legionary fortresses as a response to changes in military strategy: the case of Roman Britain AD 43–84’, in Le Bohec, Y. (ed.), Les légions de Rome sous le Haut-Empire, Lyon, 441–63Google Scholar
Hill, P.R. 1991: ‘Hadrian's Wall: some aspects of its execution’, Archaeologia Aeliana 19 (5th series), 33–9Google Scholar
Hodgson, N. 2017: Hadrian's Wall: Archaeology and History at the Limit of Rome's Empire. RamsburyGoogle Scholar
Holder, P. 2003: ‘Auxiliary deployment in the reign of Hadrian’, in Wilkes, J.J. (ed.), Documenting the Roman Army: Essays in Honour of Margaret Roxan, London, 101–45Google Scholar
Ivleva, T. 2012: Britons Abroad: The Mobility of Britons and the Circulation of British Made Objects in the Roman Empire, unpub. PhD thesis, Leiden UniversityGoogle Scholar
Jarrett, M.G. 1976: ‘An unnecessary war’, Britannia 7, 145–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juntunen, K. 2013: ‘The lost books of Cassius Dio’, Chiron 42, 459–86Google Scholar
Juntunen, K. forthcoming: ‘Ancient Elegeia: battlefield or Roman outpost? From written sources to archaeological evidence’, in Proceedings of the 24th International Limes Congress, Serbia, 2018Google Scholar
Keppie, L. 1989: ‘The fate of the Ninth Legion: a problem for the eastern provinces?’, in French, D.H. and Lightfoot, C.S. (eds), The Eastern Frontier of the Roman Empire, British Archaeological Reports International Series 553, Oxford, 247–55Google Scholar
Keppie, L. 2000: ‘Legio VIIII in Britain: the beginning and the end’, in Brewer, R.J. (ed.), Roman Fortresses and their Legions, London, 83–100Google Scholar
Krier, J., and Schwinden, L. 1974: ‘Die Merscher Inschrift CIL XIII 4030’, Trierer Zeitschrift 37, 123–47Google Scholar
Levick, B. 2000: The Government of the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook, LondonGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D. 2006: An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire, LondonGoogle Scholar
Mitford, T.B. 1980: ‘Cappadocia and Armenia Minor: historical setting of the Limes’ in Temporini, H. and Haase, W. (eds), Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 2.7.2, Berlin, 1169–228Google Scholar
Mor, M. 1986: ‘Two legions: the same fate? (The disappearance of the legions IX Hispana and XXII Deiotariana)’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 62, 267–78Google Scholar
Mor, M. 1990: ‘The Roman legions and the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (132–135 AD)’, in Vetters, H. and Kandler, M. (eds), Akten des 14. Internationalen Limeskongresses 1986 in Carnuntum, Vienna, 163–77Google Scholar
Mor, M. 2016: The Second Jewish Revolt: The Bar Kokhba War, 132–136 CE, Leiden and BostonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ozcáriz Gil, P. 2014: Administración de la provincia Hispania citerior durante el Alto Imperio Romano, BarcelonaGoogle Scholar
Ritterling, E. 1925: ‘Legio’, RE 12.2, 1329–829Google Scholar
Rosenberger, V. 1992: Bella et expeditiones: die antike Terminologie der Kriege Roms, StuttgartGoogle Scholar
Salway, P. 1981: Roman Britain, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Sijpesteijn, P.J. 1997: ‘Die Legio Nona Hispana in Nimwegen’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 111, 281–2Google Scholar
Stevens, C.E. 1966: The Building of Hadrian's Wall, KendalGoogle Scholar
Swan, V. 2002: ‘The Roman pottery of Yorkshire in its wider historical context’, in Wilson, P. and Price, J. (eds), Aspects of Industry in Roman Yorkshire and the North, Oxford, 35–79Google Scholar
Swan, V. 2008: ‘Builders, suppliers and supplies in the Tyne-Solway region and beyond’, in Bidwell, P. (ed.), Understanding Hadrian's Wall, Kendal, 49–82Google Scholar
Swan, V. 2009: Ethnicity, Conquest and Recruitment: Two Case Studies from the Northern Military Provinces, Portsmouth RIGoogle Scholar
Syme, R. 1965: ‘Governors of Pannonia Inferior’, Historia 14.3, 342–61Google Scholar
Todd, M. 1981: Roman Britain 55 BC–AD 400, LondonGoogle Scholar
Tomlin, R.S.O. 2018: Britannia Romana: Roman Inscriptions and Roman Britain, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Willems, W.J.H., and van Enckevort, H. (eds) 2009: Ulpia Noviomagus: Roman Nijmegen, the Batavian Capital at the Imperial Frontier, Portsmouth RIGoogle Scholar
Wilmott, T. 1997: Birdoswald: Excavations of a Roman Fort on Hadrian's Wall and its Successor Settlements: 1987–92, LondonGoogle Scholar