GEOFFREY D. TULLY ON VEXILLATIONS OF THE LEGIO VI VICTRIX IN BRITAIN AND ELSEWHERE

The Arm[...]s lacuna as Armoricos or Armenios

The Arm[...]s lacuna as armed tribes (Arthurian battles)

Oddly enough, when considering whether or not L. Artorius Castus led his legions or legionary vexillations inside or outside of Britain, to my knowledge no one has bothered to check whether or not we have a record of such detachments being used externally.

When I posed this question to Lawrence Keppie (Professor Emeritus of Roman History and Archaeology and retired Senior Curator of Archaeology, History, and Ethnography at the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, author of Understanding Roman Inscriptions and The Legacy of Rome: Scotland’s Roman Remains), he kindly referred me to the standard work on Roman vexillations by Geoffrey D. Tully:

Vexillatio : temporary units and special commands of the Roman army 211 BC-AD 268 (University of Queensland, 2002)

Although this work was not available to me, I was able to write to Tully.  When I asked him whether we knew of vexillations from the Legio VI Victrix being sent outside the province, he responded as follows:

"I've just done a search of my catalogue of evidence for vexillations (last updated in 2004!). This is work which I did not submit, owing to time constraints as it would have made my PhD thesis two volumes. Alas, I can find no example of vexillations of VI Victrix outside Britain after AD 119.  All fifteen examples I could find relate to Britain; most from the Antonine Wall.

That might seem disappointing, but it does support the frequently expressed notion that the legion was stationed to cover the North, and presumably its men could not be spared for duties elsewhere. That would make perfect sense."

Now, I would remind my readers that the Sixth Legion was permanently stationed at York in AD 122.

Thus, any argument that insists L. Artorius Castus led three legionary detachments either to Armorica or Armenia must grapple with the fact that we have no evidence whatsoever - aside from what we may ascribe hypothetically to the Castus inscription itself, of course - that any detachments from the Sixth were sent anywhere other than to Hadrian's Wall and to points farther north.

It has often been remarked that the 1500 spearmen who went to Rome during the reign of Commodus may have been composed of three 500 men detachments drawn from each of the British legions.  But according to Dio's account, this force never saw action.  It is probable (as detailed in John S. McHugh's THE EMPEROR COMMODUS) that the spearmen were merely a protective escort for removed senatorial legates heading back to Rome.  The size of the escort may have been required because the Continent was currently in the grips of the Deserters' War.  We also have no idea which legion or legions the 1500 spearmen were drawn from (if, indeed, they were legionary troops; they could just as well have been auxiliaries).

In balance, I think Tully's observation lends support to the idea that Castus led his legionary force into northern Britain, and not to some destination outside of the province.