Legio Fimbria (Valeria) - Legiones - Epic Roman Music
Echo Nomad
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Legio Fimbriana was born in mutiny, forged in blood, and forgotten by the Rome it served for twenty years.
In 86 BC, the consul Lucius Valerius Flaccus led two legions east across the Adriatic, sent by Cinna's government to fight King Mithridates VI of Pontus, who had overrun Rome's provinces in Asia. Flaccus was no soldier's general. Harsh, greedy, and widely despised by his own men, he drove his troops to the edge of collapse, losing ships to storms and watching them desert in droves to his rival, Sulla. One man held the army together: his legate, Gaius Flavius Fimbria.
This is their origin.
When Flaccus fled to Nicomedia, Fimbria's men followed and killed him. Fimbria seized command, an unlawful general at the head of a mutinous army, and made war on Mithridates anyway. He crushed a Pontic force at the Rhyndacus River, took city after city across Asia, and cornered Mithridates himself at Pitane. Victory was in reach. Then Lucullus, commanding Rome's fleet and loyal to Sulla, refused to close the sea. Mithridates escaped. Sulla arrived. Fimbria's own men abandoned him, and he took his own life near Pergamon.
His legions did not die with him. Renamed the Fimbriani, they were left in Asia, treated as a mark of shame, and forgotten by the Senate for twenty years. They served under Murena in the Second Mithridatic War, and later under Lucullus in the Third, fighting at Cyzicus and Cabira. When Lucullus pushed them toward Armenia, the same veterans who had once mutinied against Flaccus mutinied again, refusing to march further. Lucullus fell from command. Pompey took his place.
A legion born from murdering its own general. Never forgiven. Never disbanded. Never forgotten by its own men, even when Rome forgot them.
I made the song entirely in Classical Latin, not Church Latin, not Italian Latin, but the original hard pronunciation of the Roman legionary. Raw male voices. Marching drums. Built with the help of modern AI and human editing.
This is part of the LEGIONES series, a song for every Roman legion, each one built on verified historical research, and the real emblems, battles, and identity of that unit.
TIMELINE:
86 BC - Flaccus leads two legions east; Fimbria serves as his legate
86 BC - Mutiny at Nicomedia; Flaccus is killed, Fimbria takes command
86 BC - Victory at the Rhyndacus River over a Pontic army
85 BC - Mithridates cornered at Pitane; Lucullus withholds the fleet
85 BC - Sulla arrives; Fimbria is abandoned and dies near Pergamon
83 - 81 BC - The Fimbriani serve under Murena in the Second Mithridatic War
74 - 66 BC - The Fimbriani serve under Lucullus; battles of Cyzicus and Cabira
66 BC - Mutiny against advancing into Armenia; Lucullus is replaced by Pompey
Subscribe for the full LEGIONES series. Every Roman legion gets its intro.
#romanempire #ancientrome #spqr
#warhammer40k #warhammer #gymmusics #legionesromanas
#legion #italia #warmusic #history #fimbria #valeria
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Legio Fimbria (Valeria) - Legiones - Epic Roman Music
Echo Nomad
38,762 views
Legio Fimbriana was born in mutiny, forged in blood, and forgotten by the Rome it served for twenty years.
In 86 BC, the consul Lucius Valerius Flaccus led two legions east across the Adriatic, sent by Cinna's government to fight King Mithridates VI of Pontus, who had overrun Rome's provinces in Asia. Flaccus was no soldier's general. Harsh, greedy, and widely despised by his own men, he drove his troops to the edge of collapse, losing ships to storms and watching them desert in droves to his rival, Sulla. One man held the army together: his legate, Gaius Flavius Fimbria.
This is their origin.
When Flaccus fled to Nicomedia, Fimbria's men followed and killed him. Fimbria seized command, an unlawful general at the head of a mutinous army, and made war on Mithridates anyway. He crushed a Pontic force at the Rhyndacus River, took city after city across Asia, and cornered Mithridates himself at Pitane. Victory was in reach. Then Lucullus, commanding Rome's fleet and loyal to Sulla, refused to close the sea. Mithridates escaped. Sulla arrived. Fimbria's own men abandoned him, and he took his own life near Pergamon.
His legions did not die with him. Renamed the Fimbriani, they were left in Asia, treated as a mark of shame, and forgotten by the Senate for twenty years. They served under Murena in the Second Mithridatic War, and later under Lucullus in the Third, fighting at Cyzicus and Cabira. When Lucullus pushed them toward Armenia, the same veterans who had once mutinied against Flaccus mutinied again, refusing to march further. Lucullus fell from command. Pompey took his place.
A legion born from murdering its own general. Never forgiven. Never disbanded. Never forgotten by its own men, even when Rome forgot them.
I made the song entirely in Classical Latin, not Church Latin, not Italian Latin, but the original hard pronunciation of the Roman legionary. Raw male voices. Marching drums. Built with the help of modern AI and human editing.
This is part of the LEGIONES series, a song for every Roman legion, each one built on verified historical research, and the real emblems, battles, and identity of that unit.
TIMELINE:
86 BC - Flaccus leads two legions east; Fimbria serves as his legate
86 BC - Mutiny at Nicomedia; Flaccus is killed, Fimbria takes command
86 BC - Victory at the Rhyndacus River over a Pontic army
85 BC - Mithridates cornered at Pitane; Lucullus withholds the fleet
85 BC - Sulla arrives; Fimbria is abandoned and dies near Pergamon
83 - 81 BC - The Fimbriani serve under Murena in the Second Mithridatic War
74 - 66 BC - The Fimbriani serve under Lucullus; battles of Cyzicus and Cabira
66 BC - Mutiny against advancing into Armenia; Lucullus is replaced by Pompey
Subscribe for the full LEGIONES series. Every Roman legion gets its intro.
#romanempire #ancientrome #spqr
#warhammer40k #warhammer #gymmusics #legionesromanas
#legion #italia #warmusic #history #fimbria #valeria
Lyrics (English / Classical Latin):
Surgite! Surgite!
Milites Romae, arma capite!
Legio venit, hostes tremunt.
Fimbria! Fimbria!
Cinna nos misit contra Pontum,
Flaccus dux noster, naves paravit.
Duae legiones, nomen Valeriae,
contra Mithridatem, hostem Romae.
Romae! Romae!
Surgite! Surgite!
Milites Romae, arma capite!
Legio venit, hostes tremunt.
Fimbria! Fimbria!
Flaccus avarus, nos verberavit.
Naves perdidit tempestate.
Milites ad Sullam iam fugiebant.
Fimbria solus nos retinuit.
Flaccum odimus!
Odite! Odite!
Flaccum odimus!
Odite! Odite!
Flaccum fugientem persecuti sumus.
Nicomediae ducem necavimus.
Fimbria surrexit, arma sumpsit.
Arma! Arma!
Dux novus noster, sanguine factus.
Odite! Odite!
Ad Rhyndacum filium vicimus.
Urbes Asiae ad nos venerunt.
Fimbriani, nomen novum accepimus.
Fimbriani! Fimbriani!
Mithridates fugit, nos sequimur.
Fugit! Fugit!
Pitanam regem paene cepimus.
Lucullus classem non praebuit.
Sulla venit, milites reliquerunt.
Fimbria Pergami cecidit.
Fimbria vocat, legio venit!
Eia Fimbriae!
Fimbria vocat, legio venit!
Eia Fimbriae!
Halyn cum Murena fugimus.
Annos multos sine domo.
Cyzicum, Cabira, pro Roma pugnavimus.
Viginti annos in Asia mansimus.
Roma oblita, nos non obliti.
Non obliti Non obliti
Clodius venit, ignem tulit.
Contra Armeniam non ibimus.
Lucullus cadit, Pompeius venit.
Gladios posuimus, ducem reliquimus.
Milites Romae, arma capite!
Legio venit, hostes tremunt.
Fimbria! Fimbria!
ENGLISH (WITH CONTEXT)
Rise up! Rise up!
Soldiers of Rome, take up arms!
The legion comes, the enemies tremble.
Fimbria! Fimbria!
(A muster call. "Fimbria" is chanted as a name before we even know who he is setting him up as the figure this whole song orbits around.)
Cinna sent us against Pontus,
Flaccus our leader, prepared the ships.
Two legions, the name of Valerius,
against Mithridates, enemy of Rome.
Of Rome! Of Rome!
(Lucius Cornelius Cinna was the ruling consul at Rome in 86 BC. He sent Lucius Valerius Flaccus east with two legions, officially to fight King Mithridates VI of Pontus but also to outflank Sulla, who was already campaigning against Mithridates on his own authority. This sets up a story with two enemies: Mithridates abroad, and Rome's own civil war in the background.)
Flaccus, greedy, flogged us.
He lost ships to a storm.
Soldiers were already fleeing to Sulla.
Fimbria alone held us together.
(Ancient sources (Appian, Plutarch) describe Flaccus as harsh and deeply unpopular. His fleet suffered storm losses, and with morale collapsing, troops began deserting to Sulla a far more prestigious commander already in the region. Fimbria, a subordinate officer (legate), is credited with keeping the army from falling apart entirely.)
We hate Flaccus!
Hate him! Hate him!
We hate Flaccus!
Hate him! Hate him!
(A dramatized chant of the troops hostility toward Flaccus, right before the mutiny breaks out.)
We pursued Flaccus as he fled.
At Nicomedia we killed the leader.
Fimbria rose up, took up arms.
Arms! Arms!
Our new leader, made by blood.
(This is the mutiny itself. Flaccus fled to the city of Nicomedia and was killed there by the mutinying troops. Fimbria then seized command but illegally. He was never appointed by Rome his authority was "made by blood," born entirely from killing his predecessor. This makes everything that follows the actions of a renegade general, not a legitimate one.)
At the Rhyndacus we defeated the son.
The cities of Asia came over to us.
Fimbriani, we received a new name.
Fimbriani! Fimbriani!
Mithridates flees, we pursue.
He flees! He flees!
("The son" refers to Mithridates' son, who commanded a Pontic army defeated by Fimbria near the Rhyndacus River. After this win, several Greek cities in Asia Minor submitted to Fimbria, and his legions took on a new identity: the Fimbriani a name that outlived Fimbria himself by decades.)
At Pitane we almost captured the king.
Lucullus did not provide the fleet.
Sulla came, the soldiers abandoned him.
Fimbria fell at Pergamon.
(This is the turning point of the whole story. Fimbria trapped Mithridates by land at the city of Pitane total victory was within reach. But Lucullus, commanding Rome's fleet and personally loyal to Sulla (not Fimbria), refused to blockade the harbor by sea. Mithridates escaped. Shortly after, Sulla himself arrived in the region, and since Fimbria was on the opposing side of Rome's civil war, his own soldiers defected to Sulla. Abandoned and doomed, Fimbria took his own life near Pergamon rather than be captured.)
Fimbria calls, the legion comes!
Hail to Fimbria!
Fimbria calls, the legion comes!
Hail to Fimbria!
(As a memory)
We fled to the Halys with Murena.
Many years without a home.
Cyzicus, Cabira, we fought for Rome.
Twenty years we remained in Asia.
Rome forgot, we did not forget.
We have not forgotten We have not forgotten
(This is the part of the story most people won't know. Fimbria's leftover legions the Fimbriani were not disbanded after his death. Considered disgraced for their role in the mutiny, they were left in Asia Minor for years, serving first under Lucius Licinius Murena in the Second Mithridatic War, then later under Lucullus in the Third Mithridatic War, fighting at Cyzicus (73 BC) and Cabira (72 BC). "Twenty years" reflects roughly how long these veterans were kept away from Rome, unrecognized for their service because of how their unit began.)
Clodius came, brought fire.
Against Armenia we will not go.
Lucullus falls, Pompey comes.
We laid down our swords, we abandoned our leader.
(Publius Clodius Pulcher (later a famous, controversial Roman politician) served under Lucullus and is linked by ancient sources to stirring unrest among his war-weary troops. When Lucullus tried to push the army further, into Armenia against King Tigranes, the veteran soldiers including the same men who had once mutinied against Flaccus decades earlier refused to advance. This mutiny helped end Lucullus's command; Pompey was given the war instead in 66 BC.)