Wednesday, December 27, 2017

The camp of the 6th Legion near Megiddo

ARCHAEOLOGY: Cremated Soldier Found in Cooking Pot at Vast Roman Camp in Israel. The camp discovered by Armageddon is the only full-scale Roman legionary base found so far in the East: It housed the 'Ironclad' Sixth Legion, a cremated comrade in a cooking pot, and a Sacred Eagle, whose birdly squawks would be interpreted as portents of war (Philippe Bohstrom, Haaretz).
A monumental gate and dedicatory inscription in Latin are among the finds unearthed at the vast Roman military encampment discovered at Legio, near Tel Megiddo in northern Israel. The huge gate led to the principia, or headquarters.

The existence of the camp categorically proves the assumption, which had been based on multiple sources, that ancient Rome maintained a massive military presence in the Galilee some 1,900 years ago.

The camp at Legio (also known as Lajjun) dates to the 2nd and 3rd centuries C.E. Today covered by crops, then it was home to the famous Sixth Legion.

[...]
A long and informative article. Past PaleoJudaica posts on the excavation of the camp of the Sixth Legion are here, here, here, and here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.