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Legio VI Victrix (victorious legion) was founded by Octavian in 41 BC. It was a copy of Legio VI Ferrata and perhaps held veterans of that legion, and some soldiers kept to the traditions of the Caesarian legion. The legion saw its first action in Perugia in 41 BC. It also served against the Sextus Pompeius, who occupied Sicily and made threats to discontinue sending grain to Rome. In 31 BC the legion fought in the Battle of Actium against Marc Antony. The next year it was stationed in Hispania Tarraconensis, where it helped in Augustus' major war against the Cantabrians, which lasted from 25-13 BC.
The legion stayed in Spain for nearly a century and received the surname Hispaniensis. Soldiers of this unit and X Gemina numbered among the first settlers of Zaragoza. The name Victrix dates back to the reign of Nero. But Nero was unpopular in the area, and when the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, Servius Sulpicius Galba, said he wished to overthrow Nero, the legion supported him and he was proclaimed Emperor in the VI Victrix legionary camp. Galba created VII Gemina and marched on Rome, where Nero killed himself.
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