Legio
LE´GIO(Λεγεών), a town of Palestine mentioned by Eusebius and S. Jerome. Its importance is intimated by the fact that it is assumed by them as a centre from which to measure the distance of other places. Thus they place it 15 M. P. west of Nazareth, three or four from Taanach ( Onomast. s. vv. Nazareth, Thaanach, Thanaach Camona, Aphraim. ) Reland ( Palaest. s. v. p. 873) correctly identifies it with the modern village Leguneor el-Lejjûn, on the western border of the great plain of Esdraelon,--which Eusebius and S. Jerome designate, from this town, μέγα πεδίον Λεγεῶνος ( Onomast. s. v. Γαβαθών),--where it already begins to rise gently towards the low range of wooded hills which connect Carmel and the mountains of Samaria.Its identity with the Megiddo of Scripture is successfully argued by Dr. Robinson ( Bib. Res. vol. iii. pp. 177--180.) Megiddo is constantly joined with Taanach, and Lejjûnis the requisite distance from the village of Ta'annûk, which is directly south of it. Both were occupied by Canaanitish sheikhs ( Josh. 12.21), both assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh, though lying within the borders of Issachar or Asher (17.11; 1 Chron. 7.29); both remained long unsubdued ( Judges, 1.27). In the battle between Barak and Sisera they fought in Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo,--which waters issue from a copious fountain, the stream from which turns several mills, and is an important tributary to the Kishon (Maundrell, Journey, March 22, p. 57.) This is probably the place mentioned by Shaw as the Ras-el-Kishon, or the head of the Kishon, under the south-east brow of Mount Carmel. Three or four of its sources, he says, lie within less than a furlong of each other, and discharge water enough to form a river half as big as the Isis. ( Travels, p. 274, 4to. ed.) It was visited and described by Mr. Wolcott in 1842. He found it to be an hour and 40 minutes from Ta'annûk(Bibliotheca Sacra, 1843, pp. 76--78.) The great caravan road between Egypt and Damascus passes through Lejjûn;and traces of an old Roman road are to be seen to the south of the village.
[G.W]A site in the Valley of Jezreel, called Kefar Otnay in the Jewish sources, in which Legio IV Ferrata camped after the Bar Kohbah revolt (Ptol. 5.15.3). Eusebius gives the name as Campus Maximus Legionis (Onom. 110.21). When the legion left in the time of Diocletian, the town was renamed Maximianopolis, in honor of the emperor's friend Maximianus Herculius (Onom. 14.21 and later sources). In the Byzantine period Legio was the seat of a bishop.
A rectangular altar dedicated by an officer of the legion in the time of Elagabalus has been discovered. On two sides of it Roman legionary eagles with wreaths in their beaks, stand on thunderbolts; the other sides have dedicatory inscriptions.
BIBLIOGRAPHYF. M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine II (1938) 175, 201; M. Avi-Yonah, The Holy Land (1966) 122-23, 141, 171.
A. NEGEVCity at the foot of the Cantabrian mountains in Tarraconensis. Its name refers to its status as a camp of the Legio VII Gemina. According to recently discovered inscriptions on tablets from Villalís, the legion was founded in A.D. 68, and was permanently stationed there from 72 until the end of the Empire. It was the main body of the Roman forces in the limes of N Spain and controlled the operation of the mines of the region. The city had the rectangular plan with rounded corners typical of Imperial Roman camps; it was 570 by 350 m, an area of 19 ha. It is strategically located on a hillock well supplied with water between the Bernesga and Torfo rivers.
Excavation is difficult because the modern city is built over the ancient one: the roman strata lie ca. 3-4 m below the surface. The finds have been scanty: the city was apparently only a simple camp, with its greatest development during the reign of Trajan. The double walls, however, are largely preserved: an exterior wall 5.25 m thick, and directly inside it another wall 1.8 m thick with an inside face of well-cut blocks and carefully framed and raised joints. This system was completely covered by the wall now visible. The 1.8 m wall must have been constructed toward the end of the 3d or beginning of the 4th c., in time of peace, carefully and without pressure. However, the outside wall was hastily built of reused material, probably under threat of invasion, towards the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th c.
The baths are under the present cathedral but, since they were larger than the latter, some parts have been excavated, including three hypocausts separated by walls 1.2 m thick. The piles of the suspensura are square, of brick, and 80 cm high. These baths must have been part of the residence of the Legatus Augusti of the Legio VII, and some stamped bricks seem to indicate that they date from the period of Antoninus Pius.
The Early Christian building of Marialba, recently discovered outside the city, was a church dedicated to the martyrs, the largest in the peninsula and the most important Early Christian building in N Spain. The walls are preserved to a height of 1-2 m, enclosing a space 23.44 by 13.6 m. At one end is a horseshoe-shaped apse 9.55 m in diameter. The church was constructed in two phases, the middle of the 4th c., and the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th.
There are few other finds in the city: inscriptions, funeral stelai, terra sigillata, and a large number of bricks stamped with various honors obtained by Legio VII.
BIBLIOGRAPHYM. Gómez Moreno, Catálogo Monumental de España. Provincia de León (1925) I; I. A. Richmond, “The Town-walls in Hispania Citerior,” JRS 21 (1931) PI; A. García y Bellido, Nueve Studios sobre la Legio VII Gemina y su Campamento en León (1968) MPI; id., “Estudios sobre la Legio VII y su Campamento en León,” Legio VII Gemina (1970) 569-601PI; T. Hauschild, “Die Märtyrer-Kirche von Marialba bei León,” ibid. 511-23MPI.
R. TEJA