04-26-2013, 01:39 PM
Quote:Ioannes Lydus' number is pretty close to some estimates of Antonine and Severan army strengths.
Hmm. I'm sure everybody else know this already, but I've just noticed that if you take Lydus's number for the army, minus naval personnel (389,704 men), divide it in two to represent an approximate 50/50 split between legionaries and auxiliaries (194,703.5), and then subdivide this figure by 6000 (the probable 'paper' strength of a legion, e.g. following Vegetius), you get 32.45.
This is so close to the 33 legions supposed to have existed under Septimius Severus that I'm inclined to believe Lydus got his figure from around that time. Maybe some military census connected with the Antonine Constitution of AD212, at a guess?
Nathan Ross
