An open invitation from the Batavians!

[Peroni]

I also think it wouldn't be very likely they used legions that were somewhat linked to the batavians to extinguish their revolt...

They moved the XIIII GMV to quell the revolt, and the Batavians were attached to them for many years in Britain and were shipped out with the XIIIIth at the same time.

They hated each others guts though! and there was more than one instance of huge fights between the two units! :twisted:

Though they had to get the praetorians to help them at Turin!

Basically the Batavi were complete nutters! and always up for a good scrap! (depite the odds)

[Martin Wallgren]

Sounds like yer average northern Swede then! Feels comforting and familliar!

[Caius Fabius]

"the Dutch Centurio forgot the command to stop and the testudo crashed into a car! "

hmm, we "Mark Time" when someone tries to march us off a cliff or into a car or swimming pool. But then, that was the real military. I remember once....
nevermind :lol: :lol:

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

"the Dutch Centurio forgot the command to stop and the testudo crashed into a car! "

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Robert]

Just a thought, but if we were to chose a Cohors Batavorum unit for the permanent display troops at Noviolocus, we could issue free tickets on demand through RAT for every auxilia legionary of the international Cohors Batavorum and one accompanying person once we get the park of the ground. No need to kit up, thats only when events are hosted, but allowed if one wishes.
The only real "problem" with that is the Batavians were shipped over to England after the revolt and we are reconstructing a camp of the post-revolt times (Trajanus to Hadrianus). Not that the spectators would notice. It's more a matter of shield design and standard. The kit would have to be auxiliary anyway, as Lego X left in 113 ad and the Limes was mostly manned by auxiliary. Quite a few equitata cohors, so we will have a cavalry detachment on permanent display. Is there any standard "rule" for inviting re-enactments groups over to tyhemeparcs and shows. We were thinking of supplying an original barracks in the castellum, offering free room and board (hefty Roman meals in the dining quarters).

[Peroni]

WoW! that's a really great offer Robert!

The only real "problem" with that is the Batavians were shipped over to England after the revolt and we are reconstructing a camp of the post-revolt times

Not at all Robert....The third Cohort and the ninth cohort are recorded at Vindolanda circa 85-105 before being shipped back out for Trajan's Dacian wars.

Only one unit was then returned to Britain. and that was a newly raised unit. It was a newly raised COH I Batavorum, and was stationed at Brocolitia (Carrawburgh) on Hadrian's wall from this time until the time of the Notitia Dignitatum.

The majority of the other cohorts were stationed in Dacia, Noricum, Raetia, Moesia, and Panonnia.

Send me a PM with your email address, and I will forward you all the info we have on the stations and garrissons of the Batavi!

[Robert]

You mean the free tickets or the offer of room and board for Batavian re-enactor groups?
I'm really wondering about the conditions offered by other parks, this seemed a good deal to me, but then again, no experience. This MIGHT tempt groups to go Batavian, but as I said, have to get up and running first before we can extend hospitality Sending you a PM with the e-mail.

[Peroni]

What a great place to host a Batavian get-together of all the re-enactment groups! We could re-stage the revolt!

I would like to have our group visit sometime in the future! Maybe we could have a chat at the RAT conference?

[Caballo]

It would be great to come over and link up- and given Dutch beer, little danger of the fate that befell one Vindolanda-based Batavian vexillation which ran out of beer.....a tragedy comparable to Teutoberger Forest, methinks... :wink:

[Robert]

Yeah, we could make that the grand opening event of the park! Although it would be a shame to burn the place to the ground on opening day :lol:
I wonder how many Romans would/could turn up? Is there a tallycount of the different groups and numbers? It would be a late first century affair, but then a lot of RAT ters seem to do several impersions, so we could be OK.

[James B.]

Basically the Batavi were complete nutters! and always up for a good scrap! (depite the odds)

Sounds like I picked the right portrayal

[Caballo]

If you haven't seen Graham Sumner's excellent article here http://www.esg.ndirect.co.uk/Gentlemen.htm , some Batavian exploits.

"The courage and fortitude of the Batavian Cohorts mentioned above was well known. These warriors recruited from the marshlands of Holland and Belgium became the commando troops of their day.

The Batavians were famous for crossing rivers fully armed, such as the Ems during Germanicus' campaigns in Germany and the Po in the civil wars of A.D.69. Although no evidence exists, it is more than likely that the Auxiliaries referred to as crossing the river Medway during the Claudian invasion of Britain, were the Batavians. The task on this occasion was to disable the enemy's chariots and horses while their attention was distracted elsewhere.

One also suspects it is the Batavians who crossed the Menai Straits into Anglesey to destroy the Druid stronghold there. Tacitus describes how "some (the cavalry) utilised fords but in deeper water the men swam beside their horses".

This feat is somewhat surpassed by the achievement before the Emperor Hadrian of Soranus, a trooper in Cohors III Batavorum Milliaria Equitata. Soranus' epitaph records that in A.D. 1 18 he was " . . . the man who, once very well known to the ranks in Pannonia, brave and foremost among one thousand Batavians, was able, with Hadrian as judge, to swim the wide waters of the deep Danube in full battle kit. From my bow I fired an arrow, and while it quivered still in the air and was falling back, with a second arrow I hit and broke it. No Roman or foreigner has ever managed to better this feat, no soldier with a javelin, no Parthian with a bow. Here I lie, here I have immortalised my deeds on an ever mindful stone which will see if anyone after me will rival my deeds. I set a precedent for myself in being the first to achieve such feats."

And if anyone can re-enact that, I will be well impressed!

Cheers

Caballo

[Martin Wallgren]

Time to train, out to swim the river and shoot the bow! Be back in a while...

[Peroni]

Time to train, out to swim the river and shoot the bow! Be back in a while...

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Dio Cassius Comments upon Hadrian and the rigorous training that he insisted his troops be tutored in. In one passage he refers to the Batavians (Presumably the emperor’s personal horse guards) and their river-crossing abilities.

“So excellently, indeed, had his soldiery been trained that the cavalry of the Batavians, as they were called, swam the Ister with their arms. Seeing all this, the barbarians stood in terror of the Romans, they employed Hadrian as an arbitrator of their differencesâ€

[Robert]

Salve omnes!

On the Batavian helmets, here may be a suggestion. When looking at the Deepeeka offerings, I came across the AH6314 Celtic "Port Bei Nedau" Helmet (Celtic helmets). This looks a lot like the Batavian version posted by Peroni and would be easy to decorate the Batavian way. It would save cutting up a perfectly good Gallic type helmet (unless you once bought the Trooper, no holds barred then :lol: ), as this seems to have all the right features to modify.
Could someone point me to a decent Western style Hamian archers helmet, please?? I dislike the Deepeeka archers helmet.
Any feedback on how many groups are going Batavian aux?