Legio XV Apollinaris

Legio XV Apollinaris
Map of the Roman empire in AD 125, under emperor Hadrian, showing the LEGIO XV APOLLINARIS, stationed at Satala (Saddagh, Turkey), in Cappadocia province, from AD 117 until the 5th century
Active	41/40 BC to sometime in the 5th century
Country	Roman Republic and Roman Empire
Type	Roman legion (Marian)
Role	Infantry assault (some cavalry support)
Size	Varied over unit lifetime. Approx. 3,500 fighting men + support at the time of creation.
Garrison/HQ	Illyricum (48 BC - 6 BC) Carnuntum (9 - 61) Syria (61-c. 73) Carnutum (c. 73 - 117 Satala (117-5th century)
Nickname(s)	Apollinaris, "devoted to Apollo" under Augustus Pia Fidelis, "faithful and loyal" under Marcus Aurelius
Patron	Apollo
Engagements	Tiberius Marcomanni campaign (6) First Jewish Revolt (66–73) Dacian Wars (105-106) Trajan Mesopotamian campaign (115-117) Lucius Verus Armenian campaign (162) Septimus Severus Parthian campaign (197)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Titus (officer) Trajan (campaign) Lucius Verus (campaign) Septimius Severus (campaign)

Legio quinta decima Apollinaris ("Apollo's Fifteenth Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was recruited by Octavian in 41/40 BC. The emblem of this legion was probably a picture of Apollo, or of one of his holy animals.

XV Apollinaris is sometimes confused with two other legions with the same number: An earlier unit which was commanded by Julius Caesar and met its end in North Africa in 49 BC, and a later unit that was present at the Battle of Philippi on the side of the Second Triumvirate and then sent east.

Octavianus (later Emperor Augustus) raised XV Apollinaris in order to end the occupation of Sicily by Sextus Pompeius, who was threatening Rome's grain supply. After the Battle of Actium, where the legion probably gained its epitaph Apollinaris, it was sent to garrison Illyricum, where it probably remained until 6 BC, though it might have seen action in the Cantabrian Wars.

In 6 AD, Apollinaris was part of the huge campaign by Tiberius against the Marcomanni that was obstructed by a revolt in Pannonia. Apollinaris saw a good deal of fighting in the suppression of the revolt. According to the historian Balduin Saria, this legion erected a camp on the site of the Colonia Iulia Aemona, which was established as a camp in 14 or 15, after the legion left for Carnuntum. This hypothesis has been rejected by the researcher Marjeta Šašel Kos as unfounded. By 9 the legion was headquartered in Pannonia, in the town of Carnuntum.

There the unit stayed until sent to Syria and possibly Armenia by Nero in 61 or 62, these territories newly conquered from the Parthians. After the conclusion of the war with Parthia, the legion was sent to Alexandria but soon found itself engaged in the fierce fighting of the First Jewish Revolt, capturing the towns of Jotapata (32° 50′ 13″ N, 35° 16′ 25″ E) and Gamla (32° 54′ 10″ N, 35° 44′ 26″ E). It was the Fifteenth that captured the Jewish general later to become famous as the historian Josephus. During this period the legion was commanded by Titus, who would later become Emperor.