03-23-2014, 02:42 PM
Nathan wrote:
Do we know they 'liked to round things up'? Or is it more likely that Roman historians (like writers of any era) preferred to quote approximate rather than exact figures?
I’d place my money on rounding up and down throughout the primary sources. Caesar numbers his army at Pharsalus at 22,000 men but Appian claims “about” 22,000 men. Polybius at Cannae has the Roman cavalry at “over 6000,” while Appian gives 6000. These are obvious accounts of rounding.
Nathan wrote:
I believe Malalas is just calling the two legions numeri. This again suggests that the word numerus could refer to military units of various sizes, and was not an exact term.
My latest number crunching is leading me to believe a numerus or numerii (excuse my bad Latin or lack of it), is a body of men selected from the various units in the army. So for example a 300 man unit could consist of 20 men taken from 15 units or 50 men taken from six units. These troops could be of different troop types (lanciarii, archers spearmen etc.). Like a WWII German kampgroup. Interesting how 1500 men could equate to five units of 300 men, which is a predominant figure in Ammianus.
Concerning the Lanciarii and Mattiarii, I understand the Lanciarii can be classified as light-armed infantry, but are the Mattiarii those men who were armed with the short dart?
Do we know they 'liked to round things up'? Or is it more likely that Roman historians (like writers of any era) preferred to quote approximate rather than exact figures?
I’d place my money on rounding up and down throughout the primary sources. Caesar numbers his army at Pharsalus at 22,000 men but Appian claims “about” 22,000 men. Polybius at Cannae has the Roman cavalry at “over 6000,” while Appian gives 6000. These are obvious accounts of rounding.
Nathan wrote:
I believe Malalas is just calling the two legions numeri. This again suggests that the word numerus could refer to military units of various sizes, and was not an exact term.
My latest number crunching is leading me to believe a numerus or numerii (excuse my bad Latin or lack of it), is a body of men selected from the various units in the army. So for example a 300 man unit could consist of 20 men taken from 15 units or 50 men taken from six units. These troops could be of different troop types (lanciarii, archers spearmen etc.). Like a WWII German kampgroup. Interesting how 1500 men could equate to five units of 300 men, which is a predominant figure in Ammianus.
Concerning the Lanciarii and Mattiarii, I understand the Lanciarii can be classified as light-armed infantry, but are the Mattiarii those men who were armed with the short dart?
