LEGIO III ITALICA (USA)

LEGIO III ITALICA CONCORS

Legio III (Tertia) Italica was one of the Roman legions. Its name means 'the Third Italian Legion'. Early in its existence it was awarded the title Concors, the ‘Harmonious’.

This unit was founded between the years of 165 and 166 AD by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who raised two new legions by levy (Legio II Italica & Legio III Italica) to conquer the German Marcomanni and Quadi tribes. In 171 AD, the Third Italian Legion was in the Roman Province of Raetia (modern-day Bavaria and Switzerland). It established a permanent fortress which was named Castra Regina (known today as the city of Regensburg, Germany) along the Danuvius (Danube River).

Under the Emperor Commodus the Legion continued to fight in frontier battles with the Germanic people in the region. After the assassinations of Commodus and Pertinax and the resulting civil war, the Legion was instrumental in supporting the raise to power of the new the Emperor, Septimius Severus, in 193 AD. During his reign, it, as it would for the next two hundred fifty years, continued to be based in Castra Regina.

The Legion’s existence as part of the defense of the Empire and the critical mountain passes to the south is clearly recorded. The legion fought along the frontier, in the civil wars of the third century, and as far east as Parthia, modern Iraq. Early in the fifth century AD, it was still in Raetia defending against the every increasing pressures of continual invasion by the Germanic peoples.


The fate of Legio III Italica in these final years is not clear; by 476, the Western Roman Empire had collapsed. The Legion was probably withdrawn earlier in an attempt to block the invasion routes, the mountain passes, into Italia where it was destroyed.