Legio II Augusta

This legion is thought to have been formed in 43 BC and was moved around the empire fighting in various battles. The settlement of Orange in southern France is thought to be for veterans of this legion. In 43 AD it was one of the legions that invaded Britain and this is where it stayed for the next few hundred years.

Previously stationed in Caerleon, Wales, helped build the Antonine Wall in 142 AD and was also part of Septimus Severus’s campaign in 208 AD. A full list of it’s movements is in the map below taken from https://digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com/

Vivius Marcianus was a centurion of the second legion and his tombstone was in London, erected by his wife, Januaria Martina, sometime around 200AD. He may have been in Scotland with Septimus Severus. See the RIB 17. Funerary inscription for Vivius Marcianus.

References

• Legio II Augusta ( livus website)
• The Second Legion Augusta – LEG II AVG ( Caerleon website)
• Legio II Augusta – Wikipedia
• RIB 2193. Distance Slab of the Second Legion found at Summerston
• Map of legions’ movements throughout the Roman empire https://digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com/digital-maps/roman-legions/ii-augusta/
• Information on legion https://www.deviantart.com/aquelion/art/Legio-II-Augusta-vexillum-690382228
• Possible caricature – Gelt – Brampton, Cumbria – inscription recording work by the 2nd Legion Augusta, under the optio Agricola