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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bing, post: 1949462, member: 44132&quot;]Really, it&#039;s a great write up. </p><p><br /></p><p>Another legion, Legio XIIII was also massacred and for years after the Massacre at Atuatuca, they were viewed as an unlucky legion, frequently left behind to guard the camp during battles and raids.</p><p><br /></p><p>Caesar tells his story about the Eburones in Gallic War 5.24-37. In the winter of 54/53 BCE, the Fourteenth Legion, along with several cohorts of the Thirteenth Legion, had its winter quarters in a place called Aduatuca or Atuatuca, when the Eburones attacked the Romans. Its commanders, Sabinus and Cotta, trusted the Eburonian king Ambiorix, who appeared to be trustworthy, even when he could not control his men. However, when the legionaries left their camp and started to march in the direction indicated by the Eburonian leader, they were unexpectedly attacked. After returning to Atuatuca, the few remaining Roman soldiers committed suicide. </p><p><br /></p><p>From the few survivors accounts, it is believed that Sabinus and a couple of senior Tribunes trusted Ambiorix agreeing to surrender and leave the territory of the Eburones.&nbsp; Cotta disagreed but was junior to Sabinus.&nbsp; Within a few miles after leaving their winter fort, Ambiorix ambushed the Roman column before it could move into battle formation causing many casualties.&nbsp; When Sabinus, the Tribunes and several senior Centurions requested a parlay with Ambiorix, they were told to surrender their arms and they would be allowed to leave unmolested.&nbsp; However, once Sabinus gave the command to down weapons, the senior commanders at the parlay were put to death and the Eburones renewed the attack on the Legion before weapons and shields could be retrieved.&nbsp; Of the entire legion, including cohorts of the 13th, only about 300 were able to retrace their steps in an orderly retreat to their winter fort where they committed suicide.&nbsp; A very few legionnaires made it to safety in the heavily forested area and were able to rejoin Caesar&#039;s army and relate the events.&nbsp; It should be noted that Cotta acquitted himself well and refused to parlay with Ambiorix. </p><p><br /></p><p>Caesar&#039;s revenge was terrible. In the Spring of 53, he invited everyone who wanted to join him, to help massacre the Eburones. Ambiorix managed to escape&nbsp; and his fellow-leader Catuvolcus committed suicide. Nothing more was heard of the Eburones. About three hundred days after they had defeated a Roman legion, they no longer existed as a political entity. Later, a tribe called the Tungri was living in the area.</p><p>However, it remains to be seen whether the Eburones were all wiped out, as Caesar claims. The ancient armies could hardly exterminate complete nations. On the other hand, from pollen findings in the area north of Aix-la-Chapelle, it appears that the number of pastures and cornfields fell from the mid-first century BCE and forests were again growing there. On this land at least, there were no farmers any longer.</p><p><br /></p><p>I do not own a coin of Leg XIIII, but I do have one of Leg XIII struck nearly a century later:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]339928[/ATTACH]</p><p>MARCUS ANTONIUS AR Denarius </p><p>OBVERSE:&nbsp; ANT AVG III VIR R P C, Praetorian galley, thyrsos behind prow&nbsp; REVERSE:&nbsp; LEG XIII, eagle between standards </p><p>Patrae 32-31 BC </p><p>3.5g, 17mm </p><p>RSC 27[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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