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Authors: Stephen Dando-Collins

Legions of Rome

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LEGIONS OF ROME

THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF EVERY IMPERIAL ROMAN LEGION

STEPHEN DANDO-COLLINS

New York • London

© 2010 by Stephen Dando-Collins

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of the same without the permission of the publisher is prohibited.

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ISBN 978-1-62365-201-2

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c/o Random House, 1745 Broadway
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www.quercus.com

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.

BOOK: Legions of Rome
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