07-30-2019, 04:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-30-2019, 04:37 PM by Nathan Ross.)
(07-30-2019, 12:53 PM)Steven James Wrote: Some ancient authors provide extremely correct unit numbers for the Late Roman army, such as some of the numbers found in Meletius (252 soldiers), or Macarius (1104 soldiers).
I know you've mentioned this before, but I wasn't sure what it referred to. These are the names of martyrs, I think, not 'authors' - Meletius (or Melitius Stratelates - 'Meletius the General') is mentioned in a few martyrologies, and those killed with him numbered as either 252 or a more detailed 1218 including (or in addition to) a number of civilians and officers; I can't find an original source for either version of the account - do you know of one?
Macarius, or Makarios, is listed as a friend of the martyr Eudoxios; this martyr story seems to have some convincing elements - taking off the belts, for example - but the 1104 soldiers executed were those among the troops who confessed to being Christian, not all of the troops or a single unit of them (assuming the governor did not maintain a unit solely composed of Christians!). Again, I can't find a source for this - it just seems to be repeated here and there.
I would think 1104 a perfectly decent 'actual strength' figure for a 4th-century limitanei legion, which might be stationed somewhere like Melitene, but the appearance of the number here doesn't seem to have much foundation!
(07-30-2019, 12:53 PM)Steven James Wrote: As to your figures of 660 men, and 850 men, well good luck with going down that road. I hope you can provide a breakdown of all the subunits that go with those numbers.
That would be going too far! I could estimate unit structures and come up with detailed figures, but (except in the case of the Perge legion, which I suspect was pseudocomitatensis) they would be so hypothetical as to be almost imaginary...
Nathan Ross