The legion was raised during the reign of
Alexander Severus in 231, with Italian and
Pannonian soldiers, and perhaps took soon part in the expedition against the
Sassanids in 231–231. Its first commander was an
Equestrian praefectus legionis Maximinus Thrax, the former common soldier and future emperor; reflecting the growing trend of appointed equestrian
legati in place of
senatorial ones. The legion participated in all of Maximinus' campaigns in the Danubian area in 235–238. Under
Gordian III, it returned to the eastern frontier in 242–244 to fight the Sassanids under the prefect Serapamo, with its base set perhaps in the province of
Mesopotamia. Nischer speculates it may have later been based in the Gaul under
Diocletian. The
Notitia dignitatum attests the unit as a pseudo-
comitatenses legion under the
magister militum per Orientem. It perhaps survived until the reformation of
Justinian in 545. ==See also==