The legions were replaced, and (news to me) all three eagles were eventually recovered from German tribes, but those three numbers (Varian disaster) were never reconstituted.
> The three legion numbers were not used again by the Romans, unlike other legions that were restructured – unique in Roman history, except for the XXII Deiotariana legion, which may have been disbanded after heavy losses against the Jewish rebels in the Bar Kokba revolt (132–136 CE) in Judea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Teutoburg_Forest#Aftermath
> The outbreak took the Romans by surprise. Hadrian called his general Sextus Julius Severus from Britain, and troops were brought from as far as the Danube. The size of the Roman army amassed against the rebels was much larger than that commanded by Titus sixty years earlier. Roman losses however were very heavy - XXII Deiotariana was disbanded after serious losses.[9][10] In addition, some historians argue that Legio IX Hispana disbandment in the mid-2nd century could also have been a result of this war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Kokhba_revolt#Roman_reaction
(note, the Ninth Legion is the one claimed to have been annihilated in Caledonia/Scotland, a tale that is entirely modern in origin)
***and (news to me) all three eagles were eventually recovered from German tribes,***
I read about finding the Eagles, years later, at a Germanic pagan worship site. It was when I read the history by Tacitus, a book everyone should go through.
You would find politics back then was just as bad as it is now!
Anyone here see the movie “The Eagle” (based on the book “The Eagle of the Ninth”)?