Mogontiacum
About
Legio XXII Primigenia, raised by Caligula in 39 CE, was stationed at Mogontiacum (Mainz) from 92 CE onward (having shared earlier Rhine postings with other legions), guarding the Rhine and the Mainz bridge. It remained Mainz's garrison through 117 CE and for the following two centuries; the future emperor Hadrian served as one of its military tribunes in 97-98 CE.
What happened here
A legionary fortress holds five thousand men and is laid out to the same plan everywhere, so a transferred soldier knows his way around on the first day. Two main streets cross at the headquarters building, where the standards and the pay chest are kept in a sunken strongroom under guard. Around it: the commander's house with a courtyard garden, granaries raised on stone piers, a hospital, workshops, and long barrack blocks divided into rooms for eight men who cook and mess together. Training is daily, and building work is constant — soldiers make their own bricks, tiles and boots. A civilian town grows against the walls, with bars, traders and the unofficial families of men who are not legally allowed to marry.
In ancient writing
- Cassius Dio, Roman History 67.11
Cassius Dio recounts the revolt of Lucius Antonius Saturninus, governor of Germania Superior, who rose against Domitian at Mogontiacum in 89 CE with the two legions stationed there.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →