Legions of Rome

LEGIONS OF ROME

THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF EVERY IMPERIAL ROMAN LEGION

STEPHEN DANDO-COLLINS

New York • London

© 2010 by Stephen Dando-Collins

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For Louise, who soldiers at my side,
and Richard, who always fights the good fight.

CONTENTS

Introduction

I. THE MEN

I.        Where It All Began

II.       Soldiering for Augustus

III.      Enlisting and Retiring

IV.      Special Duties

V.       Discipline and Punishment

VI.      Legionary Pay

VII.    Comparative Buying Power of a Legionary’s Income, First–Second Centuries
AD

VIII.   Military Decorations and Awards

IX.      Legionary Uniforms and Equipment

X.       The Legionary’s Weapons

XI.      Legionary Training

XII.     Legionary Rations and Diet

XIII.    Furloughs and Furlough Fees

XIV.    Legion Musicians

XV.     The Standard-Bearer, Tesserarius and Optio

XVI.    The Decurion

XVII.   The Centurion

XVIII.  The Camp-Prefect

XIX.     The Tribunes

XX.      The Prefect

XXI.     The Quaestor

XXII.    The Legate

XXIII.   The Praetor

XXIV.   Senior Officer Rank Distinctions

XXV.    Senior Officers of the Late Empire: Prefects, dukes and counts take command

XXVI.   Auxiliaries

XXVII.  The Use of Multipart Names by Roman Auxiliaries and Sailors

XXVIII. Numeri

XXIX.   Marines and Sailors

II. THE LEGIONS

I.       Legion Organization

II.      Lawrence Keppie’s Legion Number Formula: Explaining the origins of the 5th to 10th legions

III.     The Legion Camp

IV.    Watchwords and Trumpet Calls

V.      On the March

VI.     Baggage Trains and Non-Combatants

VII.    Artillery and Siege Equipment

VIII.   Legion, Praetorian Guard and Auxiliary Standards

IX.     The Vexillum

X.      The Draco, or Dragon Standard

XI.     The Commander’s Standard

XII.    Legion Emblems and Birth Signs: Caesar’s bulls and other myths

XIII.  The Triumph

XIV.  Unit Histories: Rome’s imperial legions and guard units

XV.   The Emperor’s Household Cavalry

XVI.  The Imperial Bodyguard: The German Guard and its successors

XVII.  Legions of the Late Empire

XVIII. Cavalry

XIX.   Cavalry Evolutions

XX.    Cavalry of the Late Empire

XXI.   Camels and War Elephants

XXII.  The Evocati

XXIII. The Palatium

III. THE BATTLES

I.        Routing the Scythians

II.      The Cantabrian War

III.     Rome Invades Ethiopia

IV.     Second Cantabrian War

V.      The 5th Alaudae Loses its Eagle

VI.     Conquering Raetia

VII.    At the Altar of Peace

VIII.   The Pannonian War

IX.     The Varus Disaster

X.      The Struggle at Fort Aliso

XI.     Invading Germany

XII.    Battle of Long Bridges

XIII.   Battle of Idistavisus

XIV.   Battle of the Angrivar Barrier

XV.    Tacfarinas’ Revolt

XVI.   Scribonianus’ Revolt

XVII.  Invading Britain

XVIII. Corbulo’s First Armenian Campaign

XIX.    Rioting in Jerusalem

XX.     Boudicca’s British Revolt

XXI.   Corbulo’s Second Armenian Campaign

XXII.  First Jewish Revolt

XXIII. Vespasian Takes Command

XXIV. The Roxolani Battle

XXV.  Year of the Four Emperors

XXVI. The Civilis Revolt

XXVII. Losing the Rhine

XXVIII. Rome’s Rhine Response

XXIX.   Battle of Rigodulum

XXX.    Battle of Trier

XXXI.   Battle of Old Camp

XXXII.  Besieging Jerusalem

XXXIII. Machaerus and Masada

XXXIV. The 6th Ferrata Takes Commagene

XXXV.  The Chattian War

XXXVI. Battle of Mons Graupius

XXXVII.  Decebalus the Invader

XXXVIII. Saturninus’ Revolt

XXXIX.   Retreat from Dacia

XL.          First Dacian War

XLI.        Overrunning Dacia

XLII.       Between the Dacian Wars

XLIII.      Second Dacian War

XLIV.     Trajan Annexes Arabia

XLV.      Trajan’s Parthian War

XLVI.     Disappearance of the 9th

XLVII.    Second Jewish Revolt

XLVIII.  Arrian Against the Alans

XLIX.    A Legion Destroyed

L.          Cassius’ Parthian War

LI.         Marcus Aurelius’ Danube Wars

LII.       The Thundering 12th

LIII.      Blood on the Ice

LIV.     Challenging for Marcus’ Throne

LV.      Marcus Aurelius’ Last Campaigns

LVI.     Severus Versus Niger

LVII.    Battle of Lugdunum

LVIII.   Severus’ Parthian War

LIX.     Severus’ Scottish Invasion

LX.      Executions at York

LXI.     Killing Caracalla

LXII.    Macrinus Against Elagabalus

LXIII.   For and Against Maximinus

LXIV.   Valerian Captured

LXV.    The Palmyran Wars

LXVI.   Constantine Fights for the Throne

LXVII.  Battle of the Milvian Bridge

LXVIII. Constantine Against Licinius

LXIX.    Julian Against the Germans

LXX.     Battle of Argentoratum

LXXI.    Surviving the Siege of Amida

LXXII.   Losing Mesopotamia

LXXIII.  Battle of Adrianople

LXXIV. Stilicho Saves Italy

LXXV.  The Fall of Rome

LXXVI. Why Did the Legions Decline and Fall?

Plates

Key to Sources

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

The Roman legion of the imperial era was a triumph of organization. Its basic structure was so effective that it continues to be used to this day, by armies whose squads, platoons, companies and battalions reflect the contubernium, century, cohort and legion of old. The imperial legion created by Augustus was like a giant Lego set, with each component, from heavy infantry to cavalry, artillery to supporting auxiliary light infantry, fitting neatly together to form a solid, self-contained military machine.

The fearsome effectiveness of the organizational structure, training, and tactics of the legions were so universally acknowledged that several of Rome’s greatest foes used them against her. Men who had formerly served in Rome’s army and went on to raise rebellions against her not only organized their own forces along Roman lines, their intimate knowledge of how the legions operated allowed them to employ tactics which exploited their few weaknesses. As a result, Arminius destroyed Varus and his three legions in Germany’s Teutoburg Forest, Tacfarinas was able to terrorize North Africa for years, and Civilis took the Rhine and seven legions from Rome and threatened to remove all of Gaul from Roman control.

The legions’ make-up, originally homogeneous as a result of mass enlistments in specific provincial areas, became increasingly ethnically diverse, with men from opposite ends of the Roman world bringing greatly varying customs, dialects, and religious observances to their legions without any detrimental effect to the serviceability of the overall unit. This can be put down, in part, to the fact that, like a modern military unit, legions had for centuries possessed a strong corporate identity, with the battle honors of previous enlistments being cited by commanders to rouse their troops to greater battlefield deeds.

It is remarkable that even though all the imperial legions sprang from common roots and used common training and equipment, their performance varied. Some were consistently reliable while others were fated to disappoint. Others that had once failed later grabbed glory with spectacular victories. Others still did not live up to earlier reputations. The legions destroyed with Varus in the Teutoburg Forest, for example, had been, up to that time, considered by Velleius, an officer who served with them on the Rhine, among Rome’s best and bravest. Yet clever tactics by their attackers and poor leadership by their commander led to their destruction.