Legio XVII

This legion was probably created to deal with Sextus Pompey, the last opponent of the second triumvirate, garrisoned in Sicily and threatening Rome's grain supply.

Following the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra in the battle of Actium (31 BC), the legion was stationed in Gaul.

In the end of the 1st century BC, the Seventeenth was sent to the Germania provinces in the Rhine and was stationed in Castra Vetera (Xanten).

In AD 5, the provinces were pacified and Publius Quinctilius Varus was assigned governor and commander of the Germania army.

Without suspecting the information received, Varus took his three legions, the XVII along with XVIII and XIX, and headed west.