Legio XV Apollinaris Roman Standard

The Legio XV Apollinaris was recruited by Octavian around 41/40 BC to confront Sextus Pompey and secure Rome’s grain supply. Its name recalled the god Apollo, the young prince’s tutelary deity.

After the victory over Pompey and the war of Actium, the legion was deployed in the Illyrian campaigns and stationed for a long time in the Danube area, between Pannonia and Illyricum, contributing to the suppression of the great Pannonian revolt in the time of Tiberius. In this phase it had bases in strategic centres such as Carnuntum and Emona, controlling the routes between north-eastern Italy and the Balkans.

Under Nero it was transferred to the East, to Syria and perhaps Armenia, where it fought in the wars against the Parthians and then in the First Jewish War, distinguishing itself at the sieges of Jotapata and Gamla and in the capture of Josephus. In the 2nd century it established its headquarters at Satala in Cappadocia, from where it intervened against the incursions of the Alans and took part in the Parthian campaigns of Trajan, Lucius Verus and probably Septimius Severus.