The Backbone of Rome: The Legionary
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:01 pm
the Legionarius was unique: his discipline was unlike any other soldier of antiquity in dominant armies if the time.
We could, for example, use circa 30 ad for for a discussion point..
They were armored infanfry
They did not rely on heavy cavalry;
They were trained with various swords: the gladius and later the Spatha
They were missile troops, relying mercenary archers, the Spiculum, the Pilum, lead weighted darts in later years, the lancea (the weapon similar to the Macedonian xyston as used by Alexander's Companions and Hyspapists) Verutum and other Javelin like weapons passed through service.
They usually had up to four ranks armed with a long spear. In the early day of the Legion it was the 6' "Hasta" and in later days and in situtiations were in open country, it was the 12' "Kontos".
The best recreation of the Legion of the time of Claudius can be seen in the Movie "Masada".. The Legion in the move "Gladiator" appeared to be slightly anachronistic as the "Lorica Segmentatata" ,, according to some sources had to be abandoned (too time consuming to manufacture and perhaps beyond the skill available to the Legion (Legio) armorer's skill at the time of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. ( The latter had little interest in campaigning on Rome's frontiers).
This is a bit unusual as, despite the images we have of decadent emporers popping grapes on lounges, many of them never saw much of Rome (Like Hadrian) and many died 'with their boots on' such as Valens when he fought the Goths at Adrianople. An Emporer and his son were both killed in the West at Trebium Forii.
I will admit many were killed or assinated by the Praetorians or court membed, but such murders were often undertaken because the Emporer was not doing his job (ie: securing the frontiers-maybe that is why Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius never spent much time in Rome)
When inquiring about the legions and the equipage, a time should be given, because, although some formations lasted 400 years, they changed greatly and theor combat readiness dependended on who was in charge of the Legion, the Empire and the Province at the time in question.
For example, some say the " Phyricc Beat" (route march drums) were used and other authors say the Romans had no use for drums and Only the Cornuti were used used for signaling. Also it is alleged the grerat horns were never used in the sense of a "Musical Band" but only for signaling the movements to the Cohorts.
I hope we can talk more about this.
JT
We could, for example, use circa 30 ad for for a discussion point..
They were armored infanfry
They did not rely on heavy cavalry;
They were trained with various swords: the gladius and later the Spatha
They were missile troops, relying mercenary archers, the Spiculum, the Pilum, lead weighted darts in later years, the lancea (the weapon similar to the Macedonian xyston as used by Alexander's Companions and Hyspapists) Verutum and other Javelin like weapons passed through service.
They usually had up to four ranks armed with a long spear. In the early day of the Legion it was the 6' "Hasta" and in later days and in situtiations were in open country, it was the 12' "Kontos".
The best recreation of the Legion of the time of Claudius can be seen in the Movie "Masada".. The Legion in the move "Gladiator" appeared to be slightly anachronistic as the "Lorica Segmentatata" ,, according to some sources had to be abandoned (too time consuming to manufacture and perhaps beyond the skill available to the Legion (Legio) armorer's skill at the time of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. ( The latter had little interest in campaigning on Rome's frontiers).
This is a bit unusual as, despite the images we have of decadent emporers popping grapes on lounges, many of them never saw much of Rome (Like Hadrian) and many died 'with their boots on' such as Valens when he fought the Goths at Adrianople. An Emporer and his son were both killed in the West at Trebium Forii.
I will admit many were killed or assinated by the Praetorians or court membed, but such murders were often undertaken because the Emporer was not doing his job (ie: securing the frontiers-maybe that is why Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius never spent much time in Rome)
When inquiring about the legions and the equipage, a time should be given, because, although some formations lasted 400 years, they changed greatly and theor combat readiness dependended on who was in charge of the Legion, the Empire and the Province at the time in question.
For example, some say the " Phyricc Beat" (route march drums) were used and other authors say the Romans had no use for drums and Only the Cornuti were used used for signaling. Also it is alleged the grerat horns were never used in the sense of a "Musical Band" but only for signaling the movements to the Cohorts.
I hope we can talk more about this.
JT