THE PRESENCE OF LEGIO XX IN ILLYRICUM: A RECONSIDERATION

Abstract

Since Sir Ronald Syme wrote a paper on the legions under Augustus, there has not been much development on the movement of legions in Illyricum before A.D. 9. The basic reference work on the matter is still J.J. Wilkes s Dalmatia ; and the last considerable upgrade was made in this very journal—in the paper by Stephen Mitchell, who showed that legio VII was most probably one of the legions that Marcus Silvanus brought from Galatia to fight the Pannonians at the Volcaean marches in A.D. 7. Since the presence and the movements of the legions in Illyricum during the Augustan era is clouded by the lack of new discoveries of inscriptions, I find it suitable to quote L. Keppie s note from the preface of the second edition of The Making of the Roman Army: ‘The pace of epigraphic discovery has not slackened, though the number of military inscriptions which can confidently be dated to before A.D. 14 remains disappointingly small.’ However, there has been an important discovery of the inscription of legio XX from the colony of Narona, which, in my opinion, should be dated to before A.D. 14. Through analysis of the inscription and reassessment of the conclusions from the original publication, I will try to determine the character of the Narona inscription and to provide some different opinions on the presence of legio XX in Illyricum from what was previously thought.