The Polybian Roman Army in to the Strongest!
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
ROMAN REPUBLICAN CAVALRY TACTICS in the 3Rd-2Nd
ACTA MARISIENSIS. SERIA HISTORIA Vol. 2 (2020) ISSN (Print) 2668-9545 ISSN (Online) 2668-9715 DOI: 10.2478/amsh-2020-0008 “BELLATOR EQUUS”. ROMAN REPUBLICAN CAVALRY TACTICS IN THE 3rd-2nd CENTURIES BC Fábián István Abstact One of the most interesting periods in the history of the Roman cavalry were the Punic wars. Many historians believe that during these conflicts the ill fame of the Roman cavalry was founded but, as it can be observed it was not the determination that lacked. The main issue is the presence of the political factor who decided in the main battles of this conflict. The present paper has as aim to outline a few aspects of how the Roman mid-republican cavalry met these odds and how they tried to incline the balance in their favor. Keywords: Republic; cavalry; Hannibal; battle; tactics The main role of a well performing cavalry is to disrupt an infantry formation and harm the enemy’s cavalry units. From this perspective the Roman cavalry, especially the middle Republican one, performed well by employing tactics “if not uniquely Roman, were quite distinct from the normal tactics of many other ancient Mediterranean cavalry forces. The Roman predilection to shock actions against infantry may have been shared by some contemporary cavalry forces, but their preference for stationary hand-to-hand or dismounted combat against enemy cavalry was almost unique to them”.1 The main problem is that there are no major sources concerning this period except for Polibyus and Titus Livius. The first may come as more reliable for two reasons: he used first-hand information from the witnesses of the conflicts between 220-167 and ”furthermore Polybius’ account is particularly valuable because he had serves as hypparch in Achaea and clearly had interest and aptitude in analyzing military affairs”2. -
General Principles
The Legion in Civitates Bellatorum General Principles While it is perfectly possible to deploy Roman Legionaries in units of several cohorts or detachments, Civitates Bellatorum is designed to allow players to field whole legions as single units. This is particularly appropriate for the Republican period where there are two possible Legion types the ‘Manipular’ (pre-100 BC) and the ‘Cohort’ (post-100 BC) Legion. A single Manipular Legion Unit should have 6, 9 or 12 heavy infantry stands divided into 3 equal lines. The first two (Hastati and Principes) are pilum-armed swordsmen. The third line is made up of spear- armed Triarii. The Triarii should be as many stands as each of the front lines but count as under- strength representing the fact that a Triarii line had 600 men while the Hastati and Principes were 1200 each. From the late 2nd century BC pilum-armed swordsmen could replace the Triarii. Legionary light infantry and cavalry should be deployed as separated units. A Manipular Legion Unit may be used to represent a single legion or even two ‘legions’ (one Roman legion plus their allies), depending on the scale being used. For example, at scale of 1 full strength stand = 1200 men, a Legion unit of 6 stands could represent both the Romans and their allies. At a scale of one stand = 300 men, a 12 stand unit could represent a single Roman Legion without allies. From the late Republic onwards, a Cohort Legion Unit should have 5-10 stands, again depending on the scale being used. For example, with smaller scale figures, such as 6mm and 2mm on 20mm bases, it is practical to have each stand representing a cohort of 400-500 men with each Legion Unit containing 10 stands (or maybe 11 to represent a double-strength First Cohort). -
The Military Reforms of Gaius Marius in Their Social, Economic, and Political Context by Michael C. Gambino August, 2015 Directo
The Military Reforms of Gaius Marius in their Social, Economic, and Political Context By Michael C. Gambino August, 2015 Director of Thesis: Dr. Frank Romer Major Department: History Abstract The goal of this thesis is, as the title affirms, to understand the military reforms of Gaius Marius in their broader societal context. In this thesis, after a brief introduction (Chap. I), Chap. II analyzes the Roman manipular army, its formation, policies, and armament. Chapter III examines Roman society, politics, and economics during the second century B.C.E., with emphasis on the concentration of power and wealth, the legislative programs of Ti. And C. Gracchus, and the Italian allies’ growing demand for citizenship. Chap. IV discusses Roman military expansion from the Second Punic War down to 100 B.C.E., focusing on Roman military and foreign policy blunders, missteps, and mistakes in Celtiberian Spain, along with Rome’s servile wars and the problem of the Cimbri and Teutones. Chap. V then contextualizes the life of Gaius Marius and his sense of military strategy, while Chap VI assesses Marius’s military reforms in his lifetime and their immediate aftermath in the time of Sulla. There are four appendices on the ancient literary sources (App. I), Marian consequences in the Late Republic (App. II), the significance of the legionary eagle standard as shown during the early principate (App. III), and a listing of the consular Caecilii Metelli in the second and early first centuries B.C.E. (App. IV). The Marian military reforms changed the army from a semi-professional citizen militia into a more professionalized army made up of extensively trained recruits who served for longer consecutive terms and were personally bound to their commanders. -
The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476)
Impact of Empire 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd i 5-4-2007 8:35:52 Impact of Empire Editorial Board of the series Impact of Empire (= Management Team of the Network Impact of Empire) Lukas de Blois, Angelos Chaniotis Ségolène Demougin, Olivier Hekster, Gerda de Kleijn Luuk de Ligt, Elio Lo Cascio, Michael Peachin John Rich, and Christian Witschel Executive Secretariat of the Series and the Network Lukas de Blois, Olivier Hekster Gerda de Kleijn and John Rich Radboud University of Nijmegen, Erasmusplein 1, P.O. Box 9103, 6500 HD Nijmegen, The Netherlands E-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected] Academic Board of the International Network Impact of Empire geza alföldy – stéphane benoist – anthony birley christer bruun – john drinkwater – werner eck – peter funke andrea giardina – johannes hahn – fik meijer – onno van nijf marie-thérèse raepsaet-charlier – john richardson bert van der spek – richard talbert – willem zwalve VOLUME 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd ii 5-4-2007 8:35:52 The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476) Economic, Social, Political, Religious and Cultural Aspects Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Roman Empire, 200 B.C. – A.D. 476) Capri, March 29 – April 2, 2005 Edited by Lukas de Blois & Elio Lo Cascio With the Aid of Olivier Hekster & Gerda de Kleijn LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. -
The Roman Army's Emergence from Its Italian Origins
CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Carolina Digital Repository THE ROMAN ARMY’S EMERGENCE FROM ITS ITALIAN ORIGINS Patrick Alan Kent A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2012 Approved by: Richard Talbert Nathan Rosenstein Daniel Gargola Fred Naiden Wayne Lee ABSTRACT PATRICK ALAN KENT: The Roman Army’s Emergence from its Italian Origins (Under the direction of Prof. Richard Talbert) Roman armies in the 4 th century and earlier resembled other Italian armies of the day. By using what limited sources are available concerning early Italian warfare, it is possible to reinterpret the history of the Republic through the changing relationship of the Romans and their Italian allies. An important aspect of early Italian warfare was military cooperation, facilitated by overlapping bonds of formal and informal relationships between communities and individuals. However, there was little in the way of organized allied contingents. Over the 3 rd century and culminating in the Second Punic War, the Romans organized their Italian allies into large conglomerate units that were placed under Roman officers. At the same time, the Romans generally took more direct control of the military resources of their allies as idea of military obligation developed. The integration and subordination of the Italians under increasing Roman domination fundamentally altered their relationships. In the 2 nd century the result was a growing feeling of discontent among the Italians with their position. -
POLYBIUS and LIVY on the ALLIES in the ROMAN ARMY Paul Erdkamp* from the Fourth Or Third Century Until the Beginning of the Firs
POLYBIUS AND LIVY ON THE ALLIES IN THE ROMAN ARMY Paul Erdkamp* From the fourth or third century until the beginning of the rst century bc, Rome’s armies were also the armies of her allies. The socii and nomen Latinum raised at least half of the soldiers that fought wars for Rome. The Italic allies were clearly distinguished from the non-Italic troops, such as Cretan archers or Numidian horsemen, by the fact that they were governed by the formula togatorum. This can be concluded from their ‘de nition’ in the lex agraria from 111 bc: socii nominisve Latini quibus ex formula togatorum milites in terra Italia imperare solent. The formula togatorum is seen as a de ning element, distinguishing the Latin and Italic peoples from Rome’s overseas allies. Although in the second century bc a con- sciousness of Italy as a political and cultural unity gradually emerged, it was still referred to as a military alliance of Roman citizens and allies at the end of that century.1 The beginnings of this system remain in the dark, due to the inadequacies of our sources. The foedus Cassianum between Rome and the Latin League (traditionally dated to 493 bc) supposedly established a federal army under Roman command, but next to nothing is known about its functioning. The participation of the allied peoples was based on the treaties between their communities and Rome. The position of the Latin colonies was slightly different, because their obligations were probably based on the lex coloniae governing each Latin colony.2 We may assume that the role of the allies was re-de ned * I wish to thank John Rich, Luuk de Ligt and Simon Northwood for their many valuable comments. -
Rome and the Cottians in the Western Alps Carolynn Roncaglia Santa Clara University, [email protected]
Santa Clara University Scholar Commons Classics College of Arts & Sciences Fall 2013 Client prefects?: Rome and the Cottians in the Western Alps Carolynn Roncaglia Santa Clara University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/classics Part of the Classics Commons Recommended Citation Carolynn Roncaglia. 2013. “Client prefects?: Rome and the Cottians in the Western Alps”. Phoenix 67 (3/4). Classical Association of Canada: 353–72. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7834/phoenix.67.3-4.0353. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts & Sciences at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Classics by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CLIENT PREFECTS?: ROME AND THE COTTIANS IN THE WESTERN ALPS Carolynn Roncaglia introduction When Augustus and the Romans conquered the central and western Alps at the end of the first century b.c.e., most of the newly subjugated regions were brought under direct Roman control. The central portion of the western Alps, however, was left in the hands of a native dynasty, the Cottians, where it remained until the reign of Nero over a half-century later. The Cottians thus serve as one of many examples of a form of indirect Roman rule, its “two-level monarchy,” wherein the rulers of smaller kingdoms governed as friends and allies of the Roman state in an asymmetrical power relationship with Rome.1 This article explores how a native dynasty like the Cottians presented and legitimized their relationship with Rome to a domestic audience. -
Getty Pompeian Identities Final
[Draft for Getty seminar, not for publication.] Pompeian identities: between Oscan, Samnite, Greek, Roman and Punic Andrew Wallace-Hadrill Pompeii is a welcoming place for thinking about the complexities of cultural identity: because it is a frontier zone (but then, what zone is not a frontier?). Of course, Pompeii has long had to do duty for some sort of standard ‘Roman’ city. That it was ‘Roman’ from its establishment as a colony, in a year not precisely known, but normally taken to be 80 BCE, is undeniable; the assumed corollary is that before that point, it was not Roman, but as Amedeo Maiuri put it, ‘pre-Roman’ (Maiuri 1973). Such contrasts do less than justice to the subtleties of cultural identity, and Pompeii was a good deal more ‘Roman’ before it became a colony than is generally allowed, and perhaps rather less ‘Roman’ than generally allowed thereafter. In what follows, I shall start by looking at Strabo’s account of the ethnic identities of Pompeii and the surrounding area; and then take two moments, of ‘Etruscan’ Pompeii in the sixth century, and ‘Hellenistic’ Pompeii in the second century, to illustrate the complexity of the town’s cultural identities. Strabo’s Pompeii The bay of Naples is familiar as a hinge zone between Greek colonists and local Italian powers, an enclave of non-Greekness (Etruscan, Samnite) caught between the solid block of colonized coast up to Posidonia, and the final bastion of colonial power represented by the northern coast from Neapolis to Cumae. From the sea, it is completely exposed to the Greek; but to the south it is shielded by the massive limestone outcrop of the Monti Lattari, which connects it strongly to the hinterland of Irpinia. -
Marius' Mules: Paving the Path to Power
1 Marius' Mules: Paving the Path to Power Mary Wright Seminar Paper Presented to the Department of History Western Oregon University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in History Spring 2009 For Dr. Benedict Lowe Dr Narasingha Sil Hst 499: Prof. Max Geier & Prof. Narasingha SilI 2 I Gaius Marius (157-86 B.C.) has long been a controversial figure in Roman history. His spectacular life and career which included seven consulships has been subject to many different interpretations. After his death, debate still rages about how much of his life and actions set the stage for the slow death of the Roman Republic. Ancient historians such as Plutarch have credited Marius with number of military reforms paving the way for the increased political influence of the army. This paper discusses how Marius' effectively marshalled several ongoing changes occurring within the Roman army while using military glory to vault over rejection by the Senate to the heights of political power. The defeat of Hannibal at the end of the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.) left the Roman Republic poised for an unprecedented era of expansion. The annexation of Carthaginian holdings including Spain, Sardinia and Corsica brought wealth and opportunity to many. Families of senatorial rank continued to use military glory as a method of acquiring political power and prestige. The extensive series of wars all over the Mediterranean created the roots for several political and societal changes that are later reflected in Marius' reforms in the military. Families such as the Scipioni and Metelli produced several successful generals who won many impressive victories. -
Communicating Identity Belongs to the Publishers Oxbow Books and It Is Their Copyright
This pdf of your paper inCommunicating Identity belongs to the publishers Oxbow Books and it is their copyright. As author you are licenced to make up to 50 offprints from it, but beyond that you may not publish it on the World Wide Web until three years from publication (July 2014), unless the site is a limited access intranet (password protected). If you have queries about this please contact the editorial department at Oxbow Books ([email protected]). An offprint from Communicating Identity in Italic Iron Age Communities Edited by Margarita Gleba and Helle W. Horsnæs © Oxbow Book 2011 ISBN 978-1-84217-991-8 Contents Preface vii Authors ix List of Abbreviations xiii Introduction: Communicating Identity in Italic Iron Age Communities – and Beyond 1 Jean MacIntosh Turfa 1. Communicating Identities in Funerary Iconography: the Inscribed Stelae of Northern Italy 7 Kathryn Lomas 2. The ‘Distaff Side’ of Early Iron Age Aristocratic Identity in Italy 26 Margarita Gleba 3. Weaving, Gift and Wedding. A Local Identity for the Daunian Stelae 33 Camilla Norman 4. Identity in the Tomb of the Diver at Poseidonia 50 E. G. D. Robinson 5. Communicating Identity in an Italic-Greek Community: the Case of L’Amastuola (Salento) 73 Jan Paul Crielaard and Gert-Jan Burgers 6. Family and Community: Self-Representation in a Lucanian Chamber Tomb 90 Helena Fracchia 7. The Inscribed Caduceus from Roccagloriosa (South Italy): Image of an Emerging ‘Political’ Identity 99 Maurizio Gualtieri 8. Hybridity and Hierarchy: Cultural Identity and Social Mobility in Archaic Sicily 113 Gillian Shepherd 9. Wohnen in Compounds: Haus-Gesellschaften und soziale Gruppenbildung im frühen West- und Mittelsizilien (12.–6. -
Polybius and Livy on the Allies in the Roman Army
POLYBIUS AND LIVY ON THE ALLIES IN THE ROMAN ARMY Paul Erdkamp* From the fourth or third century until the beginning of the rst century bc, Rome’s armies were also the armies of her allies. The socii and nomen Latinum raised at least half of the soldiers that fought wars for Rome. The Italic allies were clearly distinguished from the non-Italic troops, such as Cretan archers or Numidian horsemen, by the fact that they were governed by the formula togatorum. This can be concluded from their ‘de nition’ in the lex agraria from 111 bc: socii nominisve Latini quibus ex formula togatorum milites in terra Italia imperare solent. The formula togatorum is seen as a de ning element, distinguishing the Latin and Italic peoples from Rome’s overseas allies. Although in the second century bc a con- sciousness of Italy as a political and cultural unity gradually emerged, it was still referred to as a military alliance of Roman citizens and allies at the end of that century.1 The beginnings of this system remain in the dark, due to the inadequacies of our sources. The foedus Cassianum between Rome and the Latin League (traditionally dated to 493 bc) supposedly established a federal army under Roman command, but next to nothing is known about its functioning. The participation of the allied peoples was based on the treaties between their communities and Rome. The position of the Latin colonies was slightly different, because their obligations were probably based on the lex coloniae governing each Latin colony.2 We may assume that the role of the allies was re-de ned * I wish to thank John Rich, Luuk de Ligt and Simon Northwood for their many valuable comments. -
Historical Evolution of Roman Infantry Arms And
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF ROMAN INFANTRY ARMS AND ARMOR 753 BC - 476 AD An Interactive Qualifying Project Report Submitted to the Faculty of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE In partial fulfillment to the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science By Evan Bossio Robert Chase Justin Dyer Stephanie Huang Marmik Patel Nathan Siegel Date: March 2, 2018 Submitted to: Professor Diana A. Lados Professor Luca Capogna Abstract During its time, the Roman Empire gained a formidable reputation as a result of its discipline and organization. The Roman Empire has made a lasting impact on the world due to its culture, political structure, and military might. The purpose of this project was to examine how the materials and processes used to create the weapons and armour helped to contribute to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. This was done by analyzing how the Empire was able to successfully integrate new technologies and strategies from the regions the Empire conquered. The focus of this project is on the Empire's military, including the organization of the army, and the tactics and weapons used. To better understand the technology and innovations during this time the Roman long sword, spatha, was replicated and analyzed. 1 Acknowledgments The team would like to thank Professor Diana A. Lados and Professor Luca Capogna for this unique experience. The team would also like to thank Anthony Spangenberger for his guidance and time throughout the microstructure analysis. Lastly, this project could not have been done without Joshua Swalec, who offered his workshop, tools, and expertise throughout the manufacturing process 2 Table of Contents Abstract 1 Acknowledgments 2 Table of Contents 3 List of Figures 6 List of Tables 11 Authorship 12 1.