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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Sorry about the delay, but I have been busy revising the book.

Michael wrote:
I don't think we could expect Tacitus to be that specific.

I beg to differ.

Tacitus (Annals 13 37) “Corbulo, therefore, frustrated in his persevering quest for battle, and forced to imitate the enemy by carrying his arms from district to district, divided his strength, so that the legates and prefects might deliver a simultaneous attack at widely separate points.”

Tacitus (Annals 13 38)
“First in the field on the appointed day, Corbulo stationed on the flanks the allied infantry and the auxiliaries furnished by the king; in the centre, the sixth legion, with which he had embodied three thousand men of the third, summoned from another camp during the night: a solitary eagle produced on the spectator the impression of a single legion. The day was already declining when Tiridates took up his position at a distance from which he was more visible than audible: the Roman commander, therefore, without conference, ordered his troops to draw off to their various camps.”

This is an example of leaving the pilani of the sixth legion as garrison troops for the fort and having to reinforce them with 3000 men from the third legion to bring the sixth legion up to full strength. The remainder of the sixth legion had to have been somewhere else.

Michael wrote:
So, those that we are calling 'veterans' (vexillarii) are likely to be those who had served sixteen years and who were exempted from fatigues and other duties except defending the camp and, presumably, as in this case, helping to resist an enemy attack. If, as seems to be the case, they were not evocati but still serving soldiers, I wonder if calling them 'veterans' (although convenient) is entirely correct or whether we should consider using another term - 'senior soldiers', perhaps.

I see those who had served sixteen years as evocati and are organised into their own distinct cohorts or vexillations. The term cohort and vexillation is one and the same and depends on the style of the ancient author. However, the pilani are also termed veterans. So it can get confusing. I have references that show the pilani still served in the field. For the campaign of 6 AD, Paterculus (2 113) has ten legions levied and 10,000 veterans. This allocates each legion 1000 veterans (960 men rounded), and each legion will now consist of 12 cohorts. This is where to double first cohort comes into play. When in camp, and only when in camp, cohort 12 of the evocati (480 men) are billeted next to the first cohort (480 men), thereby making the so called double cohort. Cohort 11 (evocati) of 480 men is distributed in the camp among the sixty centuries of the legion. In this manner, the other sixty centuries increase from eighty men to eighty eight men (or one extra tent arrangement). This only happens when the evocati are present. It does not happen to the pilani of the legion.

That is my take on the evocati.

Michael wrote:
Incidentally, they appear, in defending the camp, to have similar duties to the old triarii and triarii were organised in vexilla (Livy, 8. 8. 8). It is interesting to see similar terminology persisting.

That is because most of these organisations were established with the Servian constitution and hadn’t changed except the name in some cases. Cohorts, maniples, centuries and vexillations were all part of the Servian constitution. Everything established then, can be found in the late Roman army.

Michael wrote:
Did I say that? If I did, I did not mean to. Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding. Could you point me to the relevant post?

I cannot remember what posting, but you did mention on this forum about the commands of the junior centurions and also sent me your paper offline.

Mio wrote:
So, my military intuition is correct then, despite being a blasphemer?

The blasphemer was a joke, that’s why I put funny faces next to it. The blasphemer was your reference to the young troops could be left to guard the camp. That’s what I was poking fun at. The sacred text declare that only the older troops guarded the camp, and all ye must obey the sacred text. And come on, we all know you got that head injury bowing to that pagan altar. But the falling off the horse story, yeah that would sound good after six pints at the pub.

About your intuition, I think Michael is right that Paulinus was planning to link up with the ninth legion (without their pilani) but when he was informed of their ambush, it became a matter of getting all troops he could. Whatever the size of Paulinus’ force, it was in three strong divisions, and this means of equal strength for each division. That is why I believe it is the infantry that is being discussed. However, as there are no other sources for comparison, all interpretations are conjecture, and because of that, as much as I love this campaign, it has been omitted from the book.
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Calling all armchair generals! - by Ensifer - 03-11-2010, 03:13 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-18-2012, 06:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 12:02 AM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 02:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 05:40 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 11:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 05:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 10:10 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:25 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 08:36 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-26-2012, 02:57 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-27-2012, 01:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 08-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-07-2014, 02:18 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-08-2014, 01:50 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-11-2014, 02:03 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-18-2014, 07:54 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-20-2014, 02:37 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM

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