L’origine transalpina della V Alaudae e della legio Martia

Asterix and Obelix would have been astonished to know that their southern cousins, the Transalpini of Gallia ulterior, were glad and proud to serve Caesar under the eagle and the standards of a Roman legion. They would have been astonished as much at being informed that Roman citizens of the southern Gaul were already so grown in number as to enhance the army of Caesar with their own legion. Asterix and Obelix, unfortunately for our French friends, were not real, but these legions were. The large renown of V Alaudae has something overshadowed both Caesar’s other legion from Gallia Transalpina and the historical meaning of his choices in the sensitive field of legionary recruitment. This paper will deal with both issues in order to acknowledge once more Caesar’s political and military genius. It will also explain how six legions came to be called Gallica and why just two of them retained the original name