Legio VII Claudia

Legio septima Claudia (Claudius' Seventh Legion) was a legion of the Imperial Roman army.

Map of the Roman empire in AD 125, under emperor Hadrian, showing the Legio VII Claudia, stationed on the river Danube at Viminacium (Kostolac, Serbia), in Moesia Superior province, from AD 58 until the 4th century
Gallienus coin, celebrating LEG VII CLA VI P VI F (Seventh legion Claudia, six times faithful, six times loyal, and bearing the bull, symbol of the legion, on the reverse.

History

They were ordered to Cisalpine Gaul around 58 BC by Julius Caesar, and marched with him throughout the entire Gallic Wars. The Roman commander mentions the Seventh in his account of the battle against the Nervians, and it seems that it was employed during the expedition through western Gaul led by Caesar's deputy Crassus[1]. In 56 BC, the Seventh was present during the Venetic campaign. During the crisis caused by Vercingetorix, it fought in the neighborhood of Lutetia; it must have been active at Alesia and it was certainly involved in the mopping-up operations among the Bellovaci.

Legio VII was one of the two legions used in Caesar's invasions of Britain, and played a crucial role in the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, and it existed at least until the end of the 4th century, guarding the middle Danube.

Tiberius Claudius Maximus, the Roman soldier who brought the head of Decebalus to the emperor Trajan, was serving in Legio VII Claudia. An inscription in Pompeii revealed that a certain Floronius also served in the seventh legion. The inscription says: "Floronius, privileged soldier of the 7th legion, was here. The women did not know of his presence. Only six women came to know, too few for such a stallion."

Attested members
Name Rank Time frame Province Source
Tettius Julianus legatus 68-69 Tacitus, Histories, I.79
Plotius Grypus legatus 69-70 Tacitus, Histories, III.52; IV.39, 40
Veturius Paccianus[2] legatus c. 168
Gaius Memmius Fidus Julius Albius[3] legatus c. 180/182 CIL VIII, 12442 = ILS 1110
Gaius Caesonius Macer Rufinianus[3] legatus c. 187/190 CIL XIV, 390 = ILS 1182
Marcus Laelius Maximus[4] legatus 195 CIL III, 8103
Publius Palpellius Clodius Quirinalis military tribune c. 50 CIL V, 533
Lucius Vipstanus Messalla military tribune 69 Tacitus, Histories, III.9
Galeo Tettienus Severus Marcus Eppuleius Proculus Tiberius Caepio Hispo military tribune between 85 and 90 CIL V, 5813
Lucius Valerius Proculus military tribune 1st half 2nd century CIL II, 1970
Gaius Valerius Florinum military tribune 1st half 2nd century CIL XIV, 2957
Gaius Vettius Gratus Sabinianus[5] military tribune c.205
Tiberius Claudius Maximus vexillarius between 85 and 90 AE 1985, 721

See also

References
  1. Caesar, Bellum Gallicum 2.23
  2. Géza Alföldy, Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter der Antoninen (Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 1977), p. 300
  3. Paul M. M. Leunissen, Konsuln und Konsulare in der Zeit von Commodus bis Severus Alexander (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1989), p. 340
  4. Leunissen, Konsuln und Konsulare, p. 341
  5. Inge Mennen, Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193-284 (2011) p. 127

Further reading
  • D. Toncinić, Monuments of Legio VII in the Roman Province of Dalmatia. Split, 2011.


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