Legio trigesima Ulpia Victrix (Latin for "Thirtieth Victorious Ulpian legion") was a Roman legion

Roman legion

A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...

 levied by the Emperor Trajan

Trajan

Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...

 in 100 for the Dacian Wars. The legion was active until disbandment of the Rhine frontier in the beginning of the 5th century. Their emblems were the gods Neptune and Jupiter and the Capricorn

Capricorn

Capricorn may refer to:* Capricornus, one of the constellations of the zodiac** Capricorn * Capricorn , a manga series created by Johji Manabe* Capricorn , Jay Chou's 9th studio album...

. Ulpia is Trajan's own gens

Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...

 (Ulpia

Ulpia (gens)

The gens Ulpia was a Roman family, which rose to prominence during the 1st century AD The gens is best known from the emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, who reigned from AD 98 to 117. The Thirtieth Legion took its name, Ulpia, in his honor....

), while the cognomen "Victrix" means "victorious", and was awarded after the valliant behaviour in the Dacian wars.

The legion's first base camp was in the province of Dacia

Dacia

In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...

 in the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 fronier, although it's likely that at least some of its legionaries

Legionary

The Roman legionary was a professional soldier of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Legionaries had to be Roman citizens under the age of 45. They enlisted in a legion for twenty-five years of service, a change from the early practice of enlisting only for a campaign...

 took part in the Parthia

Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

n campaigns of Trajan. In 122 they were moved to Colonia Ulpia Traiana (modern Xanten

Xanten

Xanten is a historic town in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany, located in the district of Wesel.Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park or archaeological open air museum , its medieval picturesque city centre with Xanten Cathedral and many museums, its large man-made lake for...

) in Germania Inferior

Germania Inferior

Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, parts of Belgium, and North Rhine-Westphalia left of the Rhine....

, where they remained for the following centuries. Their main tasks were public construction and police affairs.

In the 2nd century and the beginning of the 3rd century, units

Vexillatio

A vexillatio was a detachment of a Roman legion formed as a temporary task force created by the Roman Army of the Principate. It was named from the standards carried by legionary detachments, vexillum , which bore the emblem and name of the parent legion...

 of the XXX Ulpia Victrix were allocated in Parthia

Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

, as well as Gaul

Gaul

Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

, Mauretania

Mauretania

Mauretania is a part of the historical Ancient Libyan land in North Africa. It corresponds to present day Morocco and a part of western Algeria...

 and other Roman province

Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...

s, due to the peaceful situation in Germania Inferior.

In the civil war of 193, XXX Ulpia Victrix supported Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...

, who granted them the title of Pia Fidelis ("faithful and loyal").

The legion was used by Emperor Alexander Severus

Alexander Severus

Severus Alexander was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235. Alexander was the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his cousin Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century — nearly fifty...

 in his 235 campaign against the Sassanids. It was almost certainly involved in Gallienus's wars against the Franks in the 250s. L. Petronius Taurus Volusianus who later became Praetorian Prefect in 260 and Urban prefect in the mid-260s was Primus Pilus of the legion at this time. It supported the Gallic Empire

Gallic Empire

The Gallic Empire is the modern name for a breakaway realm that existed from 260 to 274. It originated during the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century....

 of Postumus

Postumus

Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman emperor of Batavian origin. He usurped power from Gallienus in 260 and formed the so-called Gallic Empire...

 (260-274) and was no doubt suffered great losses when Aurelian

Aurelian

Aurelian , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following...

 overthrew Tetricus

Tetricus

Tetricus may refer to:* Tetricus I, emperor of the Gallic Empire was the last of the Gallic Emperors as Tetricus I from 270/271 to 273.* his son, Tetricus II, was his co-ruler...

 in a bloody battle at the Catalaunian Fields (Châlons-en-Champagne) in 274.

With the re-organization of the Roman Army

Roman army

The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire...

 (Constantius I Chlorus), the legions guarding the border lost their importance to the comitatus

Comitatenses

Comitatenses is the Latin plural of comitatensis, originally the adjective derived from comitatus , itself rooting in Comes .However, historically it became the accepted name for...

, the main, cavalry-based army behind the limes

Limes

A limes was a border defense or delimiting system of Ancient Rome. It marked the boundaries of the Roman Empire.The Latin noun limes had a number of different meanings: a path or balk delimiting fields, a boundary line or marker, any road or path, any channel, such as a stream channel, or any...

. The collapse of the Rhine frontier after 408-410 marked the end of the legion history.

External links

• livius.org account
• Legio XXX Ulpia Traiana Victrix, Italian re-enactment group
• http://www.principialegionis.org/lxxxvvhistory.html, 2nd Century Roman Legion based in Ontario, Canada