Roman Legion Atlas · FAQ
Roman legions: frequently asked questions
Quick answers about Roman legions, drawn from the atlas’s underlying dataset. For a full itinerary of any unit, see the legion index. Legion index.
- How many Roman legions does the atlas cover?
- The atlas records 42 named legions, with 73 campaign entries and 107 major cities and colonies, from 31 BC to roughly AD 400.
- What does “legio” mean and how were legions numbered?
- Legio is Latin for “legion,” the core heavy-infantry formation of the Roman army, typically several thousand citizen-soldiers organized into cohorts and centuries. Legions carried a number and a cognomen (honorific title, such as “Adiutrix” or “Victrix”). Numbers were sometimes reused, so the full name and founding date matter for identification.
- Which Roman legions took part in the conquest of Britain?
- The atlas links the conquest of Britain, beginning in AD 43, to these legions: Legio II Augusta, Legio VI Victrix, Legio IX Hispana, Legio XIV Gemina, Legio XX Valeria Victrix. See each legion’s full itinerary in the index.
- What happened to Legio IX Hispana?
- Legio IX Hispana: Mysterious disappearance. Likely destroyed in the Jewish Bar Kokhba Revolt (c. 132–136) or by the Parthians in Armenia (c. 161). Its last dated station in the atlas was Eburacum.
- How many legions in the atlas were disbanded or destroyed?
- 10 of the 42 legions have a recorded fate involving disbandment, destruction, or annihilation. Others were merged, renamed, or continued as late-Roman border units (limitanei) into the 5th century.
- What time period and sources does the atlas use?
- The atlas covers 31 BC to approximately AD 400. It is based on the Digital Maps of the Ancient World dataset of Roman legions, with modern approximate coordinates where exact ancient sites are uncertain.