Legio IV Martia

The Legio IV Martia is a legion which appears only with the IVe century in the province of Arabia. It is mentioned by the Notitia dignitatum like depend on the duke of Arabia, and is based with Betthoro . This base corresponds to the Roman camp of Lejjun (Jordan) whose excavations showed that it had been built under Dioclétien and lodged a garrison which one can evaluate to a thousand of men until in the current of the Ve century.

It was thus one of these many legions created under the Tétrarchie, with a very reduced manpower compared to the first two century old legions. Its number ( IV ) is explained by the fact why it comes to be added to the Legio III Cyrenaica, which controlled the Arabia since the 2nd century. As for its epithet, Martia (of the god Mars), it undoubtedly refers to the local god of Rabbathmoba (today Rabba), a god moabite compared to Mars.

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