Chapter 1 : The Crisis

After the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander in 235 AD, the years following after that were the greatest crisis the Roman empire had ever faced. Currently, In the west, a major invasion by the Alemanni and other Germanic tribes was happening, and the Emperor's son, Gallienus, remained in the west to take care of it. In the east, Antioch had fallen into the hands of a Sassanid vassal and Armenia was occupied by Shapur I. And the current Emperor, Publius Licinius Valerianus, commonly known as Valerian, immediately led around 60,000 troops to the east.

During the year 257 AD, Valerian recovered Antioch and returned the province of Syria to Roman control. The following year, the Goths ravaged Asia Minor. In 259, Valerian decided to move on to Edessa.

Currently, within the city of Antioch, Emperor Valerian held a meeting with all his high-ranking military officers, Legatus from all the legions that partaken in the campaign and as well a few military tribunes from all the Legions as well, the Tribunus Angusticlavius (narrow-striped tribune) were officers that held no real authority and the Tribunus Laticlavius (broad-striped tribune) unlike Tribunus Angusticlavius, The Tribunus Laticlavius has real authority and were considered as the second in command of the legion. And there are also some praefectus cohortis, a commander in charge of the auxiliaries (non-roman citizen soldiers).

Hence, knowing that all his important subordinates were present and waiting for him to speak, Valerian immediately opened his mouth and told them his decision.

"I have summoned all of you here to inform you of my decision," said Valerian. After a short silence, Valerian then continued speaking, "I have decided that tomorrow we will be marching towards Edessa, and thereby all of you have to quickly make preparations for the departure."

"Any questions?" Ask Valerian to his subordinates. Not long after that, a young man begins to speak his mind.

"Your Majesty, after we moved to Edessa, what is our next plan then?" Ask Lucius Cassius Julian, a broad-striped tribune of the Legio III Parthica, which, unlike the other legions, was under Julian's direct command because the Legatus of the Third Parthica had died of an illness two years prior after unsuccessfully defending Syria from Shapur I. And not long after that, Valerian, after knowing Julian's talent, quickly appoints him as the broad-striped tribune, therefore making Julian the whole commander of the Legio III Parthica.

"I believe the Sassanids will try to stop us from going further inside to Mesopotamia after we moved to Edessa. My plan is that not long after we move to Edessa, we will confront the Sassanids full force outside the city and defeat them in one fell swoop. After that, we will quickly occupy other towns and cities to secure our region and go straight to Ctesiphon, just like what Septimius Severus did in year 197, but of course, it's easier said than to be done. We will be expecting some resistance along our way to Ctesiphon. " "And also, we have to be fast in this campaign so that we can return to the West to help Gallienus as soon as possible."

Explain Valerian to the young subordinate which he found quite interesting. Because in this meeting, he was the only one at the age of 20 to have authority over a legion. Although it was Valerian's choice to give the position to Julian after his decision to lead his troops to the East years before, the latter's knowledge and sharpness were also included in Valerian's decision to give him the overall authority over a legion.

Julian nodded his head in approval after hearing the emperor's explanation.

"But Your Majesty, what if the Sassanids did not choose to confront us there?" Ask Quintus Aurelius, Legatus of Legio IV Scythica.

"They certainly will. Because Edessa is a strategic location for attacking Mesopotamia, They will certainly deploy their full force to fight us. " Reply Valerian. The other officers did not say anything, which shows their approval. After a short silence erupted, Valerian then said, "Well, if there is no objection, then all of you are dismissed and may begin the preparation for tomorrow."

After that, all the officers began to salute their emperor and leave the meeting room. After leaving the meeting room, he began to head to his legion quarters to inform and order his legion to prepare for tomorrow's departure. But before that, suddenly, he heard someone rushing towards him.

"Hey, Julian! Hold on! " a man in his early forties said "Oh..Albus, it's you." said Julian. This man was Gaius Evasius Albus, Legatus of the Legio III Cyrenaica and a close friend of Julian. He had helped Julian many times during the start of the campaign many years prior.

"What do you think about tomorrow?" Albus asks Julian.

"Well, I think what the Emperor has said is true, but the thing is whether we can defeat the Sassanids to the point they cannot recover immediately or not." Said Julian casually.

"Well yeah, that's what I thought, but we can think about this tomorrow." How about you and your Legion? "

"Thanks to your help, I was able to adapt to my Legion better and they were in good condition, but their morale is decreasing day by day as we did nothing here in Antioch, but after hearing the order to depart for Edessa tomorrow to confront the Sassanids, I think it will be able to improve their morale," said Julian.

"You're right, Julian. We've done nothing in the last two years, but what can we do?" We have to secure the province of Syria from the Sassanids and keep them in check while sadly we let the Goths ravage Anatolia as they wanted, not to mention the West is now facing the invasion of the Germanic tribes, but I heard the Emperor's son, the Caesar (Co-Emperor), is quite good at handling those barbaric invaders. " Said Albus

Then Julian began to speak again. "It's a good thing that they immediately retreated beyond the Black Sea because if they were not, we would likely not be able to confront the Sassanids with our full force. As for the West, yeah, I know Gallienus and I know he is fully capable of taking care of the West. We just have to quickly finish the problems here and return. And not to forget, there might be some usurpers trying to rebel in the future. "

"What a really messed up era." Julian sighs because, in the years since Severus Alexander's death, the empire has been ravaged by civil wars. Many Emperors have been assassinated and replaced and many invasions occurred by Germanic tribes and the Sassanids, and the empire's economic condition is also deteriorating year by year due to the civil wars.

"Well, you're right. And the legionnaires were always complaining about their payments, and the veterans were demanding their retirement and rewards for their service. " Sigh. Albus complained to Albus while saying all those problems.

Then Julian replied, "But then again, at the end of the day, Rome will come out victorious as always. All right then, I still have a lot of things to do. I'll take my leave then. " "So am I. Well, see you tomorrow at Edessa. " replied Albus.

After talking to Albus, Julian went straight to his camp and summoned the Camp Prefect, Primus Pilus, and all the Centurions of the Legio III Parthica.

"I heard from other Legion that we're going to fight soon." Is that true, Sir? " Ask Marcus Flavius Seneca (not Seneca the Philosopher). He is currently the Praefectus Castrorum (Camp Prefect) of Legio III Parthica and, despite being a decades older than Julian, he still addressed him according to their gap in ranks. As Seneca asked Julian about the matter, the other centurions were all waiting for his answers.

"That's true. I want all of you to prepare for tomorrow, and we will depart at dawn." "And Seneca, as the camp prefect, you will be responsible for tomorrow's march and overseeing all the cohorts." Said Julian to Seneca, and then looking at his centurions, continued speaking, "And also, if everything is according to plan, then not long after that we will confront the Sassanid army."

After hearing that, all the centurions, including the Camp Prefect, began to have a resolute look in their eyes because finally they would be able to fight with the Sassanids after doing nothing here in Antioch.

"Hah… look at you, Your eyes tell me as if all of you are seeing a bunch of gold or something." Said Julian to his officers

"Well, you're not wrong. I'm hoping we will be able to defeat the Sassanids and sack their capital, and if that were to happen, I will definitely not have to worry about my future anymore as I was already rich because of selling many slaves from Ctesiphon. " said Alba Aurelius, a centurion of the Second Centuria of the First Cohort

"Huh, you've probably wasted it all on women not long after we returned," said Quintus Helvius Aulus, the First Centurion of the first cohort (Primus Pilus).

Everybody began to laugh soon after hearing Alba's remarks. "Well, that is the essence of life, Sir," replied Alba jokingly.

Julian and the others also continued to smile after hearing Alba's words. Then Julian began to stand up from his chair and say, "All right, we can have some chats about this after we defeat the Sassanids. Now prepare yourself for tomorrow and the upcoming battle. All of you are dismissed."

Author's Note :

A Legion consists of 10 cohorts, with the first cohort being the most elite and biggest with 800 men, and the other cohorts just consisting of 480 men.

I will give a more thorough explanation of The Roman Legion in the next chapter. Don't forget to vote and leave a review!