11-27-2015, 11:17 PM
(11-27-2015, 10:50 PM)CNV2855 Wrote: I cannot imagine 30% of any population dying out in the modern day... I think Nationalism suffered as well... Do you think Commodus was affected mentally by the plague? I honestly think that segmentata did not "last" as long as hamata.
30% is a very high estimate. A low estimate would be 1-2% (see the Bruun paper I linked above). The truth is probably somewhere in between. Either way, it's a lot of people. But all we have to go on is the evidence available - in military terms, the army grew larger under Severus, and its comparative effectiveness does not seem to have suffered. The army of the Principiate knew defeats, civil wars and mutinies too.
'Nationalism' is a modern concept, and one not easy to equate to ancient ideas of patria, citizenship or even euergetism among the elite classes.
You seem to mean that Commodus was emotionally traumatised. If he was, then so were many of his contemporaries - including those who criticised him! Trying to psychoanalyse ancient emperors is fraught with subjectivity - which doesn't stop people trying, of course...
Mail was in widespread use for nearly two thousand years, so it was obviously very effective armour. Segmentata, by contrast, clearly met the needs of its day but fell out of use eventually when it was no longer considered fit for purpose, as they say. The change was almost certainly due to the battlefield and logistical needs of the era.
Nathan Ross
