Salah

The Imperial Roman Army is probably one of the best known historical armies in the pre-modern era. I figured it would be cool if we could compile some random 'did-you-know?'-type facts about it here. I'll kick it off...

• At the Battle of Second Cremona, which effectively decided the tumultuous events of the Year of Four Emperors (69 AD), some of the legionaries on each side had relatives and friends on the other. A young legionary in Vespasian's army killed a veteran in Vitellius' and looted his corpse - only to find it was that of his own father!
• It is believed that the last traditionally-organized Roman legion to fight as a complete unit was the Legio II Parthica during the Persian Wars of 242-244 AD. Afterwards most legionary units operated in smaller detachments (vexillations) of 500 or 1000 men.
• During the Roman route at the Battle of Heraclea (280 BC), a centurion named Minucius escaped death by one of Pyrrhus' war elephants by hacking off its trunk with his gladius
• The last recorded case of a cohort of legionaries being punished by decimation (one in ten is beaten to death by his comrades) took place in AD 18
• It is estimated that during the 2nd and early 3rd Centuries AD, there were about 400,000 regular soldiers in the Roman Empire - and of these well over half were of auxiliary class.
• An aquilifer was a legionary entrusted with the gold eagle standard (aquila) of his cohort. The tombstone of an aquilifer named Felsonius Verus - killed during the Persian War mentioned above - shows that his eagle was a live eagle kept in a cage at the top of his spear.
• Roman soldiers were required to have their swords and daggers on their person at all times, even while digging trenches - Nero's general Corbulo actually executed legionaries for removing their sidearms during his Armenian Campaign.
• Though Roman legionaries are stereotypically portrayed using the rectangular scutum shield and auxiliaries as using the oval clipeus, there are tombstones and carvings that show legionaries with oval shields and auxiliaries with rectangular shields.

okamido

The point you made about Corbulo has an interesting side-note. When he executed those men for not wearing their weapons and issued the orders that they must be worn at all times in the future, some wiseguys decided to dig their trenches naked, yet with their weapons on. Corbulo was not pleased and had them schwacked as well.

Cicero

Proto Chemical Warfare

According to the historian Plutarch, the Roman general Sertorius in 80 B.C. had his troops pile mounds of gypsum powder by the hillside hideaways of Spanish rebels. When kicked up by a strong northerly wind, the dust became a severe irritant, smoking the insurgents out of their caves.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1879350,00.html#ixzz0bVfnENOV

Salah

Have you read about the siege of Dura Europos, around 251 AD? The Persians apparently used some kind of gas to kill Roman legionaries who broke into a mine they dug under the walls.

okamido

post #136

Daily dose of archaeology

Cicero

Funny I had just rediscoved that fact and was about to post it!
http://heritage-key.com/blogs/ann/bi...-ancient-world

Cicero

I saw a history channel program on Roman Miltiary Medicine and remember some facts presented there. Sorry that I am relying on my memory here and can't provide a reference.

The average life expextancy of a Roman Legionary was greater than that of the average Roman Citizen due to Roman Military Medicine and hygiene.

Surgical instruments were advanced and quite complicated. Thought they didn't understand the germ therory of disease, they had discovered that boiling (sterilizing) instruments was benificial and used this practice.

They had established military hospitals and a medical corps of sorts.

Galen one of the influential physicians and personal physician to Marcus Aurelius, basically wrote the medical text used till the 14th century.

Medical treatment given by the Romans wasn't significantly improved on till the 19th century.

Roman Military Surgeons used staples to close wounds, which decreased the incidence of infections. They also used scored staples for ease of removal.

Roman Military surgeons didn't cauterize wounds with oiling oil like in later generations. This practice made infections worse.

okamido

That's a good article you provided. The whole "honey" incident should be written up as well. It's also a good story.

stevewough

The fear of the MIC is that it will subvert or take over government in an effort to perpetuate its existence.This can be seen starting in the Roman times with its military, that is why that example was used.That is not now the norm,but it is a starting point for the evolution of the MIC.