New Perspectives on the Lost Legions

A collection of essays on the Lost Legions and the impact of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest on Roman culture and society.

Editted by Germaine Lostell

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New Perspectives on the Lost Legions

There are disputed accounts of how the 18th Legion got their nickname of the Lupae, or She-Wolves. The obvious answer, and the one atested by Tacitus, is that they took their name from the Capitoline Wolf, the famous symbol of Rome, but it is not the only origin story offered. A surviving fragment of Seutonius's History of Rome's Great Sex Workers claims the nickname is derived not from Wolves, but from the slang term 'lupa', meaning a female prostitute, in reference to the legion's reputation for allowing, or even encouraging same sex relationships between legionaries. This origin is not attested elsewhere, and Suetonius is a notoriously unreliable source, and so is not widely accepted among historians.

Finally, and least accepted, several medieval occult texts reference a now lost primary source usually referred to as the Secret History of Werewolves, which apparently claimed that the nickname came from the fact that the descendants of Lykaon, the Arkadian King who, in Greek Mythology, was turned into a wolf by the Gods, served in this Legion, and retained their ancestor's ability to take lupine form.

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Type

Textbook

Medium

Paper

Authoring Date

1998