The 9th legion was born when it was levied by Pompey in the province of Hispania in 65 BC, and its emblem was the bull. Under Pompey they would acquire some victories, and he would soon be known as the most successful general in Rome at the time. It came under Caesar’s control along with the 7th, 8th, and later the 10th legions by the time he was the governor of Cisalpine Gaul. With these 4 veteran Legions, he would embark on his famous campaigns and spiral into the Gallic wars, becoming one of the greatest generals to ever live. The 9th Legion would stick with him throughout the whole of the Gallic wars, winning many engagements and securing the Gallic province to Rome. Their more popular engagements in the Gallic wars were the following: They fought against the Helvetii, a feared tribe that migrated South from the Alps, and burned all their lands and houses to motivate themselves that there is no way back without conquering more land. They fought against the Germanic tribe of the Suebi under Ariovistus and defeated them. They fought against Boduognatus in the Battle of the Sabis river, where the Nervii crossed the shallow river and charged at them so quickly that according to Caesar, they didn’t have time to attach the plumes to their helmets. The Romans eventually drove them back. They fought against Vercingetorix in the Battle of Alesia, when the Romans were outnumbered at least 3 to 1, and surrounded on all fronts. the 9th fought against rebel Gauls who would not engage the Romans if they had any more than 3 legions. After learning of this through spies, Caesar took the 7th, 8th, and 9th, whom he greatly relied on while having the 11th legion concealed behind the baggage because they were fresh. So this gives you an idea of how confident he was in the 9th, that it would be one of few chosen to fight the enemy, out of 11 legions. That says a lot, considering we are talking about one of the greatest generals in history to ever live. There were many more engagements in the Gallic wars, however, apart from these I’ve listed, it is not exactly certain which ones the 9th participated in. Caesar stationed some legions in forts throughout Gaul, and they were not involved in some conflicts. So I will not be stating every conflict as if the 9th partook in them, although it is quite possible that they did. The 9th stood out a lot more during the later civil war. This happened firstly at the battle of Ilerda, in 49 BC, when Caesar noticed a hill in between the City of Ilerda and the Pompeiian fort, and planned to take that hill in order to cut off supply and communications between them. He ordered a legions to take the hill, but they were men by the Pompeiians, who sent more and more men from the camp to reinforce them. The legion had to fall back, and was assisted by 2 other legions sent by Caesar. Caesar’s 3 veteran Gallic legions started to waver and slowly pull back, until entire cohorts broke and fell back. It has here when Caesar unleashed the veteran 9th legion, who he said clashed with the Pompeians with such furiocity that it not only stopped them but pushed them back. The whole 9th legion was so invigorated by this charge, that they chased the Pompeiians uphill all the way back to the hill-top city of Ilerda, where the latter stopped and turned around to face the 9th, now having support from the walls and the other Pompeiians. Here the 9th suffered many casualties from arrows and javelins, but stood their ground for the next 5 hours. The 9th legion would charge the Pompeiians again, this time driving them back, shocked and fatigued, completely into the City. The 9th returned to the Caesarian camp, having made the most of the desperate situation, and saving many of their comrades. The 9th was present at Caesar’s defeat at the battle of Dyrrachium, and suffered many casualties. However, they still played a key key role in the later battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, being on the left most flank of the Caesarian army. For those of you that don’t know how this battle turned out, Caesar routed the whole Pomeiian force from the right with his cavalry, and they routed from right to left, meaning that the 9th legion was in the fight for the longest time, and Caesar trusted it to hold the left flank long enough for his right flank to completely break through and swing to the left. This is yet more proof to how competent Julius Caesar saw this legion to be. Ironically, the legion soon mutinied because they were not given their promised pay and release from the army. And it was the 9th legion that Caesar threatened to decimate to instill order and to discourage the other legions who were also on the verge of mutiny. Decimation was the punishment of killing every tenth man of a legion, selected at random, and it was one of the most harsh punishments a legion could receive. After this they probably served in Caesar’s African campaign and at Thapsus, before being pensioned and finally disbanded. The veterans were given lands in Picenum, Northern Italy. The veterans of the 9th were recalled in 41 BC, to fight another civil war. This time they were tasked to put an end to Sextus Pompeius’ occupation of Sicily, that threatened Rome’s grain supply. (Showing that the legion was well respected, being given such an important role) The legion succeeded in this task. They were *thought to be* one of the legions that fought at the decisive battle at Philippi, in 42 BC, They were also present in the Battle of Actium 31 BC, establishing Octavian as the sole ruler, titled “Augustus”. The 9th Legion was then sent by Octavian to partake in the long Cantabrian Campaign which lasted 10 years, but brought the whole province of Hispania under full Roman dominance for the next few centuries. It fought by the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th, 20th legions. However, it stood out among all of these, and earned its famed title “Hispana”. The title could, I suppose, be translated to “stationed in Hispania”, but considering that not every legions was named after the province it stood in, it meant something more along the lines of “proved itself at Hispana”. The 9th was later stationed in Pannonia, modern day Hungary and parts of Austria, which its permanent quarters, guarding the Empire against the Germanic tribes in the North and East. In the early 1st Century, a man named Tacfarinas, served as an auxiliary in the Roman army in the African province of Rome. He was a local of Numidia, who soon deserted from the army and started raiding travelers and farmers with a band of local bandits. He quickly gained support from the locals, and soon organised raids of a higher degree, applying his knowledge from the Roman army. He equipped and trained his men like legionaries, and even had them fight in cohorts. Tacfarinas soon gained the confidence to start attacking Roman outposts. The issue with this was that the entire African Province was garrisoned by only a single legion, the 3rd Augusta. The legion was unable to deal with the rebels, and this gained Tacfarinas even more support. So the Empire sent the 9th legion to deal with him. Now it is important to note that the African and Egyptian legions were considered inferior to European ones, so this new position was seen more of a downgrade to the 9th Legion; that they would have to abandon their Pannonian province for Africa. The legion was ordered to be divided, and each cohort having to build their own outpost in a different location. One of the freshest cohorts containing new recruits was attacked by the rebels, and its experienced Lead-Centurion ordered a counter-attack from the gates. However, the inexperienced legionaries quickly broke and ran back into the camp. The Lead Centurion was mentioned to have stood his ground and fought bravely, while while trying to recall back his men, but was injured with arrows and stones – even losing an eye – and perished fighting. After the governor heard of this failure, he had the surviving recruits in the camp decimated, which meant he ordered the killing of every tenth man. This was the first time since the civil war that a unit has been punished so severely, and ironically, it was the 9th legion again. Another fort was attacked, however this time it was of a veteran cohort of the 9th, and they fought back ferociously, and drove the rebels back, despite being largely outnumbered. During this battle, a legionary was awarded a golden torque and silver spear, 2 highly esteemed rewards for bravery. Upon hearing of this, There is an account of emperor Tiberius himself, wrote to the governor in sorrow saying that it would have been better if he was the one who awarded that legionary of the 9th. The governor retaliated against the rebels with the 9th and 3rd legions, and destroyed them in battle, after which the 9th was called off back to the province of Pannonia, having regained part of the reputation lost by its routed recruits. The numbers and names of the invading legions are as follows: 2nd Augusta, 14th Gemina, 20th Valeria Vixtrix, and 9th Hispana. The whole 9th numbered 5,500 legionaries and was attached to a unit of a few thousand auxilia. The legion faced huge resistance during a river crossing, by Caratacus’ army for two days, after which they managed to rout the Britons.
After this, the 9th built itself a few legionary fortresses and split up its men. One of these fortresses was named Lindum, which would grow throughout the centuries to become modern day Lincoln. There was then a revolt under Boudicca, a queen of the Iceni - a Roman client state in Britain. Boudicca’s husband, and king of the Iceni wrote a will before his death to make Boudicca, their 2 daughters, and the Roman Emperor as co-heirs. He did this because he did not have a male heir, and wanted to make a smooth transition under Roman Rule for his kingdom. However, because of some money feuds, and the fact that women couldn’t own property according to Roman law, a lot of violence broke out from the Roman side against the Iceni. Boudicca rose a huge uprising of 120,000, who first attacked Camulodunum, violently torturing and murdering around 70,000 Romans, mostly citizens. The closest Roman garrison to this was Cerialis and his 5 cohorts of the 9th Legion numbering 2,500 men at one of their forts. The other half of the legion was further up north, and did not part take in the revolt, because Paulinus feared more tribes in their area would join Boudicca, and attack them in the rear, if he left them unguarded. The young commander Cirealis left a cohort behind at the fort, and marched with 2,000 men to rescue the city. But Boudicca expected this and set up an ambush, destroying all 4 cohorts of the 9th. Only Cirealis and a few cavalry survived to return to the fort. Boudicca, gaining even more followers from this victory, marched on the remaining 14th Legion in the North. She faced Paulinus the 14th, along with some veterans (Evocati) of the 20th, and outnumbered him around 20:1. Boudicca was then said to ride along her units in her chariot and use their success against the 9th legion to motivate them for battle. She did not yet know the 14th was going to win against all the odds.. but that’s a story for another video. After the revolt, the 9th was sized up to full strength by 2,000 legionaries from the Rhine, , most probably from the 21st Rapax, and stationed at the forts of Lindum and Rossington. The uncovered archeological evidence of many burials of soldiers from the 9th under those forts tells us that it was the 9th that built the forts. And like I said, Lindum became the modern city of Lincoln, which tracks its history to the 9th legion of Rome. The next threat in Briton was now the Northern area of Brigantia, which has been at threat of rebellion since 52 BC. The leader of the rebellion was Venutius, who was suspicious of the invading Romans. His wife however, was very much into the technology that Rome brought with it. Although they divorced, she kept supporting Rome with her followers. The 9th, together with the 20th under Agricola were tasked of subduing these Brigantes in the north. However, there was a huge dispute in Rome at this time, where 4 candidates to become Emperor, all struggled for power, which was known as the year of the 4 emperors. During this conflict, 1000 men from the 9th, and other legions in Britain were called off into the continent. The remaining 9th legion in Britain served well under Agricola, they crushed Venutius’ force in 72 AD, and kept up their campaign until it pacified most of Brigantia. And after Agricola became governor of Britain, he launched multiple campaigns with the 9th to pacify the north, and was rather successful. In 83 AD, Tacitus tells us that the 9th legion was attacked in their camp at night, and barely held off until Agricola arrived with reinforcements to drive them back, but was not able to prevent the 9th suffering many casualties. The frequency of campaigns tells us that the Brigantes were very troublesome to deal with, and probably employed guerilla tactics and avoided direct battles with the Romans, learning their lesson from Boudicca’s defeat. The fact that the 9th legion almost got overrun, tells us that the Brigantes were no where near being pacified, and Agricola probably did not have enough men to end the war. Agricola was recalled from Britain, the conquests of the north were let go, never being finished. Meanwhile, the detachment of the 9th that was now in the Rhine was able to secure decorations in 83 AD after fighting the Germanic Chatti tribe. Furthermore adding to the reputation of the Legion, even though it was just a division of it. That detachment soon returned back to the rest of the legion in Britain and were altogether stationed at a fort named Eboracum, which grew to be modern day York. There 9th was probably very well known for their skills in construction. This is evident by the many forts and monuments constructed all over Britain that bore their stamped tiles. It is also know that some of the forts were reconstructed into stone by the 9th Legion, such as Eboracum, modern day York. This reconstruction at York in 108 AD was the last recorded activity of the 9th in Britain. No explanation of their disappearance was given in any text of inscription. And it was not mentioned in Cassius Dio’s list of “active legions” a few decades later. Everything that happens next is theory, and I will go through the most popular ones in detail. The 1st theory is as more popular as it is intriguing, and has been interpreted by the famous novel: The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe, and later on several movies such as The Eagle, staring Channing Tatum. The theory states that the 9th was again assigned for a campaign in the north, but was completely massacred. It is due to this that the famous 6th Victrix legion was sent by Hadrian to replace them in Britain and to participate in constructing the Hadrian wall, which was a massive wall meant to exclude the dangers of the North from the pacified south, and stretched 73 miles or 118 kilometers across. The 6th Victrix remained stationed at the 9th old fort of Eboracum for almost 300 years. This theory is perhaps the most popular and controversial, however, recent archeological evidence of tiles, pendants, and grave markers imprinted with “IX Hispana” have been found in modern day Holland supposedly after the massacre would have taken place. Despite the evidence, many scholars argued that the remains were those of a detachment of the 9th, rather than the whole legion, and was possibly just survivors, and that the swift stationing of the 6th Victrix to replace the 9th in 122 AD, as well as the construction of Hadrian’s wall sufficiently support the theory. The 2nd theory is perhaps more calm, stating that the 9th Hispana was broken up, as it had been many times, and stationed at 2 separate forts, Carlisle and Stanwix. Tiles stamped: "9th Hispana" were found at both locations. The reason for this restationing was probably to construct the western part of Hadrian’s wall. Not long after, they left Britain to replace the "X Gemina" Legion in modern day Holland. Hadrian was known to be a very defensive ruler, unlike Trajan; the emperor before him, and could have likely built up the wall without a direct incentive just like he had done for many other borders of Rome. He even gave up land in the East because he was not sure the Empire could control and protect them. So the 9th then departed Britain to replace the 10th and be stationed along the Rhine for the few following years. Following this theory,
the Legion is thought to have been massacred during the Judean revolt years later, as “VI Ferrata” and “X Fretensis” Legions were also heavily mauled by it. However, that revolt is better documented, and there is no reason it wouldn’t mention another legion being destroyed. By some writers, the 9th is then said to be massacred by Parthians in Armenia in 161 AD, because Cassius Dio mentions a Legion being “wiped out” but this is more likely to be the "XXII Deiotariana" Legion, which was based in the East. The only remaining explanation would be that the 9th was either disbanded or merged with another legion. But there is one more piece of information that denies this theory too. Carus was tribune of the 9th legion in 119 AD. A tribune being a senior officer position, and second in command of the legion. Carus left the legion in 121 AD, and had a great career, later leading another Legion, and then becoming a Consul and even Governor of Arabia. From this we can say for sure, that the 9th Hispana must have still been operating until 121 AD. Carus was then replaced in 121 AD by Saturninus who also lived to become a Legion Commander, Consul, and Provincial Governor as well. Here is the intriguing twist that I found – after being a tribune of the 9th legion, Saturninus did not receive another position for 25 years. Only after that time was he given command of a Legion. This was HIGHLY unusual. Normally after serving as tribune, one would take their seat in the Senate and receive the command of a legion fairly quickly, and then work up the ladder from there. Evidently, Saturninus’ career came to a complete halt in 121 AD, and only in 147 AD, under another emperor, was given the command of a legion, and it was the previously mentioned 3rd Augusta in Africa. He was 50 years old. To put into perspective, Carus at his age had already joined the Senate, been a Legion Commander, a Consul, and was Governor of Arabia. So what could have halted Saturninus’ career so much? Since both men were 2nd in command of the 9th legion only a year apart. Perhaps he was present in the massacre of the 9th and escaped to modern day Holland with some survivors, where the remains of the 9th legion were recently found. Or perhaps he was even taken prisoner by the Brigantes, only to be released 25 years later? Either way, it was a huge disgrace for an officer to be captured or be defeated, and many commanders throughout Roman history even committed suicide after suffering these. This would very well prove why a career could be halted for 25 years. This would not be the first time it happened either. Tacitus writes that some Legion in 51 AD, probably the "XX Valeria Victrix" Legion was defeated in modern day Wales, and its commander, Valens, could not be promoted for the next 17 years. He too has gotten an offer only under another Emperor’s rule. What will be made of these records and findings are open to theory and speculation, but the annihilation of the 9th in the north is definitely very likely. Furthermore, it is important to understand that when a nation got so big and yet so unstable as the Roman Empire did, where a single rumour or show of lack of control, could encourage a mass uprising or invasion by Rome’s many enemies, It is very tempting to simply disregard a certain catastrophe as a massacre in Britain would present. And considering the Brigantes were a very isolated people, having almost no connection to the rest of the world, so they could not spread word of this, why not just hide it? A massacre of an entire legion, so highly respected and feared as the 9th Hispana would be big news for the Empire and its enemies. Especially since it was carried out by such an inferior nation at that time. Which is why I believe that it is highly probable and justified, that the Empire would completely mute this conflict and scratch all records of it, if it did happen. In fact, I believe this was a secret to people even at that time.
