01 1st Domitian Legion T-Shirt

This Legion was raised by the Emperor Domitian in 82 AD, intially named Flavia Minervia for the Domitian family and his favored goddess Minerva. It served in his Germanic Campaign the next year, and was stationed just south of the provincial capital of Cologne. In 89 it aided in defeating the rebel Governor Saturninus. When Domitian was killed in 96, the Legion assumed the name Minervia Pia Fidelis, and although adding and dropping other surnames over the centuries, Minervia Pia Fidelis never changed. It served under Trajan in his Dacian Campaigns, and its emblem can be seen on the famous Trajan Column that was erected in Rome after his Dacian conquests. It then returned to station along the Rhine in Germania. Beginning in 105, this Legion worked together with its newly-founded twin Legion, XXX Ulpia Victrix. It served under the Emperor Verus in his Parthian Campaign in 162, but when not at war, the Legion always returned to station in Bonn, along the German Rhine. In 193 the Legion sided with Lucius Severus in a Roman Civil War and was victorious. It continued to serve under Emperor Severus, garrisoning Gallic Lyon from 198-211. The Legion was known to have been loyal to the short-lived Gallic Empire in the late 3rd Century AD, but when the 4th century began it was again stationed at Bonn. Bonn was destroyed by the Franks in 353, but then-General and future-Emperor Julian restored the Rhine a few years later, and the Legion continued to garrison it. Minervia Pia Fidelis - Under the Goddess Minerva, faithful and loyal to. Its emblem was the capricorn, the zodiac sign ruled by Minerva.