'''Legio XXII ''Deiotariana''''' was a Roman_legion, levied approximately in 48_BC and probably destroyed in 132–135. Its Cognomen comes from Deiotarus, a Celtic king, and its emblem is unknown, but could be a Galatian symbol. == Legion history == === Origin of the legion === The legion was levied by Deiotarus, king of the Celtic tribe of the ''Tolistobogii'', who lived in Galatia, modern Turkey. Deiotarus become an ally of the Roman_Republic general Pompey in 63_BC, who named him king of all the Celtic tribes of Turkey, which were collectively known as ''Galatians'' (hence the name Galatia for the region). Deiotarus levied an army and trained it with Roman help; the army, in 48_BC, was composed of 12,000 infantrymen and 2,000 horsemen. Cicero writes that the army was divided into to thirty cohortes, which were roughly equivalent to three Roman legions of the time. This army supported the Romans in their wars against king Mithridates_VI_of_Pontus, and contributed to Roman victory in the Third_Mithridatic_War. After a heavy defeat against king Pharnaces_II_of_Pontus near Nicopolis, the survivor soldiers of Deiotarius army formed a single legion, which marched besides Julius_Caesar during his victorious campaign against Pontus, and fought with him in the Battle_of_Zela (47_BC). === Early history (BC) === When the Roman_Empire integrated the Galatian kingdom, this legion, which had been trained by the Romans and had fought under Roman commanders, became part of the Roman army; since Caesar_Augustus had already 21 legions, the legion received the number XXII. Augustus sent the Twenty-second to camp in Nicopolis (next Alexandria, in Aegyptus) together with III ''Cyrenaica''. These two legions had the role of garrisoning the Egyptian province from threats both within and without, given the multi-ethnical nature of Alexandria. In 26_BC, Cornelius_Gallus, ''praefectus Aegypti'' (prefectus of Egypt), led a campaign against the Nubian kingdoms and another to find ''Arabia Felix'' (Yemen). The campaign came quickly to a halt (25_BC) because of the heavy losses in the troops (Romans, Hebrews and Nabateans), due to hunger and epidemies.
The losses were not recovered, so in 23_BC the Nubians, led by queen Candace Amanirenas, took the initiative and attacked the Romans moving towards Elephantine. The new prefectus of Egypt, Petronius, obtained reinforcements, and after blocking the Nubians, marched the Nile up to the Nubian capital of Napata, which was sacked in 22_BC.
It is highly probable that XXII fought in these wars.
After this actions, the Nubian front remained calm for a long time, so the legions could be employed otherwise. The legionaries were used not only as soldiers, but also as workers, as some of them were sent to the granite mines of ''Mons Claudianus''. Other legionaries were sent in the deepest south of the Egyptian province, and scratched their names of the stones of the ''Colossi_of_Memnon''. === Later history === Under Nero, the Romans fought a campaign (55–63) against the Parthian_Empire, which had invaded the kingdom of Armenia, allied to the Romans. After gaining (60) and losing (62) Armenia, the Romans sent XV ''Apollinaris'' from Pannonia to Cn. Domitius Corbulo, ''legatus'' of Syria. Corbulo, with the legions XV ''Apollinaris'', III ''Gallica'', V ''Macedonica'', X ''Fretensis'' and XXII, entered (63) into the territories of Vologases_I_of_Parthia, who returned the Armenian kingdom to Tiridates. In 66, Zealot Jews killed the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. After the ignominous defeat of the legatus of Syria (67), T. Flavius Vespasianus entered in Iudaea in 68 with the legions V ''Macedonica'', X ''Fretensis'', XV ''Apollinaris'', one Vexillatio of 1,000 legionars of the XXII, and 15,000 soldiers from the Eastern allies, and started the siege of Jerusalem (69), which would be completed by his son T. Flavius Vespasianus (better known as Titus) in 70. In fact in 69, the "Year_of_the_four_emperors", Flavius Vespasianus senior returned to Italy to conquer the imperial throne after Galba rebellion and Nero's desth. The Twenty-second sided with Flavius Vespasianus, who eventually became emperor. Under Trajan, XXII is officially known as ''Deiotariana'', even if this was its unofficial name since Claudian times. The last record of XXII ''Deiotariana'' is from 119. In 145, when a list of all existing legions was made, XXII ''Deiotariana'' was not listed. Probably, XXII ''Deiotariana'' was destroyed during the Jewish rebellion of Simon_bar_Kochba (132–136). == See also == * List_of_Roman_legions * livius.org account 22 Deiotariana Category:40s_BC_establishments De:Legio_XXII_Deiotariana