Legio I Italica Roman Vexillum

Legio I Italica was created by Nero on September 22, 66 AD, originally named Phalanx Alexandri Magni, for a planned but never realized expedition to Armenia through the Caspian Gates.

Recruited in Italy, with men selected for their above-average stature, it remained on the peninsula during the Year of the Four Emperors, initially siding with Vitellius and permanently taking the name Italica.

After Vespasian's ascent, it was transferred to Moesia, based in Novae on the Danube, where it remained for centuries as a pillar of the Danubian limes and a center of intense building activities, particularly bridges and infrastructure along the river. It participated in Trajan's Dacian Wars and the campaigns against Germanic tribes under Marcus Aurelius. During the Severan age, it supported Septimius Severus against Pescennius Niger, also operating in Byzantium and the East. In the 3rd century, it contributed to the construction of the limes Transalutanus and detachments operated in Dalmatia; epigraphic traces attest to its presence on the Danube as late as the early 5th century, a sign of a long and continuous history in the service of the Empire.