Legio IX Hispana ("9th Hispanian Legion"), also occasionally written as Legio VIIII Hispana, was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that existed from the 1st century BC until at least AD 120. 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 AD 43. The legion disappears from surviving Roman records after and there is no specific account of what happened to it.

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 AD 108, 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 on the site of the legionary base at Nijmegen (Netherlands), suggesting the Ninth may have been based there from , later than the legion's supposed annihilation in Britain. 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 (AD 132–135) or Marcus Aurelius's war against Parthia (AD 161–166) in Armenia. However some scholars

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. AD 193–211), since it is not included in two identical but independent lists of the 33 legions existing in this period.

Republican army (to 30 BC)

The origin of the legion is uncertain, but a 9th legion seems to have participated in the siege of Asculum during the Social War in 90 BC.

When Julius Caesar became governor of Cisalpine Gaul in 58 BC, he inherited four legions, numbered VII, VIII, IX and X, that were already based there. The Ninth (IX) may have been quartered in Aquileia "to guard against attacks from the Illyrians".

Following Caesar's assassination, Caesar's ally Ventidius Bassus made attempts to recreate the 7th, 8th and 9th legions, but "it is not clear that any of these survived even to the time of Philippi".

The Ninth participated in Agricola's invasion of Caledonia (modern Scotland) in 82–83. According to Tacitus, the legion narrowly escaped destruction when the Caledonians beyond the Forth launched a surprise attack at night on their fort. The Caledonians "burst upon them as they were terrified in their sleep". In desperate hand-to-hand fighting, the Caledonians entered the camp, but Agricola was able to send cavalry to relieve the legion. Seeing the relief force, "the men of the Ninth Legion recovered their spirit, and sure of their safety, fought for glory", pushing back the Caledonians.

The legion also participated in the decisive Battle of Mons Graupius.

The last attested activity of the Ninth in Britain is during the rebuilding in stone of the legionary fortress at York (Eboracum) in 108. This is recorded in an inscribed stone tablet discovered in 1864, now displayed in the Yorkshire Museum in York.

Germania Inferior (108? – 130?)

Several inscriptions attesting IX Hispana have been found in the site of the legionary fortress on the lower Rhine river at Noviomagus Batavorum (Nijmegen, Netherlands). These include some tile-stamps (dated 104–120); and a silver-plated bronze pendant, found in the 1990s, that was part of a phalera (military medal), with "LEG HISP IX" inscribed on the reverse. In addition, an altar to Apollo, dating from this period, was found at nearby Aquae Granni (Aachen, Germany), erected in fulfillment of a vow, by Lucius Latinius Macer, who describes himself as primus pilus (chief centurion) and as praefectus castrorum ("prefect of the camp", i.e. third-in-command) of IX Hispana. (it was commonplace for chief centurions, on completion of their single-year term of office, to be promoted to praefectus castrorum).

The archaeological evidence thus appears to indicate that elements of IX Hispana were present at Noviomagus sometime after AD 104 (when the previous incumbent legion, X Gemina, was transferred to the Danube) and that IX was probably replaced by a detachment of legion XXX Ulpia Victrix not long after AD 120.

Less clear is whether the whole IX legion was at Nijmegen or simply a detachment. The evidence for the presence of senior officers such as Macer convinced several scholars that the Ninth Legion as a whole was based there between 121 and 130. It may have been both: first a detachment, later followed by the rest of the legion: a vexillatio Britannica ("British detachment") is also attested at Nijmegen in this period. The emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138) visited Britain in person around AD 122, when he launched the construction of Hadrian's Wall because, according to one Roman source, "the Britons could not be kept under Roman control". It is plausible that Hadrian was responding to a military disaster.

However, there is no archaeological evidence of it around 120.

Mommsen's thesis was published long before the first traces of IX Hispana were found at Nijmegen. As a result of these, and of inscriptions proving that two senior officers, who were deputy commanders of the Ninth in c. 120, lived on for several decades to lead distinguished public careers, led to the Mommsen theory falling out of favour with many scholars. These now suggest later conflicts in other theatres as possible scenes of IX Hispana's demise:

  1. The Second Jewish Revolt against the Romans in Judea that broke out in 132. It was reported that the Romans suffered heavy casualties in this war, whose start-date fits neatly with the estimated time of IX Hispana's departure from Nijmegen (120–130). In this scenario, the Ninth may have been dispatched to Judea to reinforce the locally based legions, but was heavily defeated by Judean forces and the remnants of the unit disbanded. However, another legion, XXII Deiotariana, normally based in Egypt, is actually documented in Judea at this time and its surviving datable records also cease c. 120. It is possible that both legions were destroyed by the Judeans, but if so this would rate as the worst Roman military disaster since the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (AD 9) when 3 legions were lost.
  2. The emperor Marcus Aurelius' Parthian War (161–166) against King Vologases IV. According to the Greco-Roman historian Cassius Dio, a Parthian army led by general Chosroes surrounded and annihilated an unspecified Roman legion in Armenia. This led to the suicide of its commander, the governor of Cappadocia, Marcus Sedatius Severianus. At this time, there were two legions permanently stationed in Cappadocia, the XII Fulminata and the XV Apollinaris. Both these units are attested as operational well beyond AD 200, so neither could have been the legion destroyed by the Parthians. The theory that the Ninth was the lost legion has the drawback that there is a complete lack of evidence that the Ninth was present in the East in the period 130–160. Some scholars argue that the legion referred to by Dio was the XXII Deiotariana, but if so, the latter could not have been annihilated by the Judeans thirty years earlier.

Several scholars continue to argue that destruction in Britain is the most likely scenario for the Ninth's disappearance. Russell argues that "by far the most plausible answer to the question 'what happened to the Ninth' is that they fought and died in Britain, disappearing in the late 110s or early 120s when the province was in disarray".

Such scholars criticise the assumptions of those who extrapolate from inscription evidence, arguing that it is easy to confuse evidence about different persons with the same name. It is highly unlikely that if the legion continued in existence up to the Armenian war of 161, no records at all later than c. 120 would be known. Keppie

However, Keppie does not support the theory that the legion met its end in Britain. He suggests that the legion may have been withdrawn from York around 117 to take part in the war in Parthia at the end of Trajan's reign. Keppie suggests that it was the legion's absence elsewhere that encouraged a native uprising, obliging Hadrian to send the Legio VI Victrix to Britain.

Known members

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|- style="vertical-align: top;"

! Name

! Rank

! Time frame

! Province

! Source

|-

| Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio

| legatus legionis

| c. 22

| Africa

| = ILS 940

|-

| Caesius Nasica

| legatus legionis

| c. 50

| Britannia

| Tacitus, Annales, XII.40

|-

| Quintus Petillius Cerialis

<!-- Per WP:IPC, include examples only if they are notable in the context of both the work and the subject of this article. Especially don't add adaptations of works listed which are not independently notable. -->

thumb|upright=1.2|The [[Silchester eagle, the Roman eagle that inspired Sutcliff's novel. According to Reading Museum, it "is not a legionary eagle but has been immortalized as such by Rosemary Sutcliff".]]

The Ninth Legion's mysterious disappearance has made it a popular subject for historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.

<!-- ordered chronologically -->

  • In Rosemary Sutcliff's 1954 historical novel The Eagle of the Ninth, a young Roman officer, Marcus Flavius Aquila, is trying to recover the Eagle standard of his father's legion beyond Hadrian's Wall. It has been adapted for radio, television and film many times.
  • The 2010 film Centurion follows the destiny of the Ninth Legion, as seen from the perspective of centurion Quintus Dias.

See also

  • List of people who disappeared mysteriously (pre-1910)
  • List of Roman legions
  • Castra
  • Limes (Roman Empire)
  • Structural history of the Roman military
  • Silchester eagle

References