Legio Fulminata

LEGIO FULMINATA. - It was the XII Roman legion, which after taking part in the siege of Jerusalem under Vespasian was sent to be stationed at Melitene in Armenia. By Marcus Aurelius it was summoned to take part in the war against the Germans and the Sarmatians. During that campaign, and precisely in the summer of 174 A.D., the l. f. was the protagonist of an exceptional event. The Roman army had been reduced to a critical situation by the continuous drought, when suddenly a providential downpour made it possible to change the fortunes of the battle. The episode, certainly authentic, is narrated by writers almost contemporary with it and independent of one another, both Christian and pagan, and was also reproduced in the third band of the column erected in 180 in honor of Marcus Aurelius. On the Christian side, Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, wrote of it some years after the event (Eusebius, Hist.

eccl., V, 5), and Tertullian (Apol., 5; Ad Scapulam, 4). Their account is substantially identical: they attribute the fact to the prayers of the Christians who were serving in the l. f. Apollinaris further adds the detail, certainly inexact, that because of that event the l. received the name f.: it is established, on the other hand, that this appellation had already been in use for a long time. Tertullian, however, relates that not only did the Emperor write to the Senate reporting what had happened, but he also openly attributed the credit for it to the Christians, against whose accusers he threatened the death penalty. The detail of the letter of Marcus Aurelius is attested also by Cassius Dio, who relates the episode (Hist. Rom., LXXI, 8), but Dio narrates that the rain was obtained through the incantations of a certain Egyptian magician Arnuphis who was with the Emperor, and through the prayers addressed to Hermes. The scene portrayed on the column, finally, certainly inspired by the philosophical ideas of Marcus Aurelius, presents itself in an almost neutral form, since it represents the rain personified, and while on one side it refreshes the Roman army, on the other it strikes down and overwhelms that of the barbarians. That there were Christians in the l. f. is very probable, since in Cappadocia, where it was stationed, Christianity had already been widespread for a long time; according to St. Gregory of Nyssa, the 40 martyrs of Sebaste who perished under Licinius belonged to it.

Agostino Amore