Legio XVI Flavia Firma ("Steadfast Flavian Sixteenth Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. The legion was created by Emperor Vespasian in 70 from the remains of the XVI Gallica (which had surrendered in the Batavian rebellion). The unit still existed in the 4th century, when it guarded the Euphrates border and camped in Sura (Syria). The emblem of the legion was a Pegasus,Oliver Stoll: Römisches Heer und Gesellschaft. Gesammelte Beiträge 1991–1999, Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, , pp. 66f.Marion Meyer: Die Personifikation der Stadt Antiocheia: ein neues Bild für eine neue Gottheit, de Gruyter, Berlin-New York 2006, p. 246. although earlier studies assumed it to have been a lion.For example, Yann Le Bohec: Die römische Armee von Augustus zu Konstantin dem Großen, Steiner, 1993, , p. 287. __NOTOC__
History Legio XVI Flavia Firma was raised by Emperor Vespasian in AD 70 using the loyal remnants of Legio XVI Gallica, which had surrendered during the Batavian Rebellion. To restore the legion's reputation, Vespasian gave it the cognomen Flavia Firma ("Steadfast Flavian") and assigned it a new emblem, the Pegasus, replacing the former legionary symbol.
The legion was initially stationed at Satala in Cappadocia to guard the eastern frontier against the Parthian Empire. Under Emperor Trajan, units of XVI Flavia Firma participated in the Parthian War (114–117 AD), after which Emperor Hadrian permanently relocated the legion's headquarters south to Samosata on the Euphrates in Syria. The legion remained stationed at Samosata for over two centuries, participating in Marcus Aurelius's Parthian campaigns and later serving under Septimius Severus against the Sasanian Empire. According to the Notitia Dignitatum, units of XVI Flavia Firma were still guarding the Syrian border at Sura into the 4th century.
Attested members Name Rank Time frame Province Source Lucius Cornelius Pusio Annius Messalla legatus before 70 Lucius Domitius ApollinarisBernard Rémy, Les carrières sénatoriales dans les provinces romaines d'Anatolie au Haut-Empire (31 av. J.-C. - 284 ap. J.-C.) (Istanbul: Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 1989), pp. 253f legatus c. 84-87 IGR III.558 = TAM II.569 Lucius Neratius ProculusGéza Alföldy, Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter der Antoninen (Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 1977), p. 301 legatus c. 138 Gaius Septimius Severus legatus c. 155 Lucius Fabius CiloPaul M. M. Leunissen, Konsuln und Konsulare in der Zeit von Commodus bis Severus Alexander (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1989), p. 344 legatus between 180 and 184 = ILS 1141; = ILS 1142 Lucius Marius Perpetuus legatus after 200 = ILS 1165; = ILS 5899 Publius Tullius VarroAnthony Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), pp. 239f tribunus laticlavius 110/115 Marcus Accenna Helvius Agrippa tribunus laticlavius 2nd century
See also List of Roman legions
References
External links livius.org account