Legio

Legio excavations

Legio was a Roman military camp south of Tel Megiddo in the Roman province of Galilee.

History

The approximate location of the camp of the Legio VI Ferrata was known from the persistence of its name in the form Lajjun by which a Palestinian Arab village was known. It was close to the ancient town of Rimmon, perhaps the Hadad-rimmon of Zechariah 12:11, which in the 3rd century was renamed Maximianopolis (City of Maximian) by Diocletian in honour of his co-emperor Maximian. Both places were within a single episcopal see, generally called Maximianopolis, but in one list of such sees the name Legionum (genitive plural of the Latin word Legio) is used, where the Greek original has "Maximianopolis".[1]

Archaeology

In 2002–2003, an archaeological survey was conducted in the Legio region by Yotam Tepper as part of his master's thesis. The survey located the legionary camp on the northern slope of El-Manach hill, the village of Ceparcotani on the adjacent hill, and the city of Maximianopolis on the site of the contemporary Kibbutz Megiddo.[2] In 2013 Tepper and the Jezreel Valley Regional Project dug test trenches measuring approximately 295 feet by 16.5 feet that revealed clear evidence of the camp.[3] No military headquarters of this type for this particular period had yet been excavated in the entire Eastern Empire, and the 2013 excavations uncovered defensive earthworks, a circumvallation rampart, barracks areas and artefacts including roof tiles stamped with the name of the Sixth Legion, coins and fragments of scale armor.

In 2017, a monumental gate to the camp’s headquarters, a stone mark and a dedicatory inscription were discovered that may be a listing of camp commanders or celebrated heroes of the Sixth Legion. In the camp’s latrines, more than 200 Roman coins dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries were found. Cremated human remains were discovered in a cooking pot. [4]

See also

References

  1. ↑  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Legio". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. ↑ Tepper, Y. 2003. Survey of the Legio Area near Megiddo: Historical and Geographical Research. MA thesis, Tel Aviv University. Tel Aviv.
  3. ↑ Matthew J. Adams, Jonathan David and Yotam Tepper, Legio: Excavations at the Camp of the Roman Sixth Ferrata Legion in Israel, Bible History Daily, Biblical Archaeology Society, 2013.
  4. ↑ Evidence of Roman Army Camp Uncovered in Israel
  • Tepper, Yotam (2006). "Legio, Kefar 'Otnay". Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel. 118. ISSN 1565-5334.
  • Tepper, Yotam (2003-01-01). "Survey of the Legio Region". Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel / חדשות ארכיאולוגיות: חפירות וסקרים בישראל. 115: 29–31*. ISSN 1565-043X. JSTOR 23485339.
  • Legio/Caporcotani/Maximianopolis, at Pleiades
  • Bibliography about Legio, from École Biblique

Coordinates: 32°34′20″N 35°10′13″E / 32.57222°N 35.17028°E / 32.57222; 35.17028

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