I'm watching this three part series and in parts 1 & 2 they referred to a defeat inflicted on a Roman legion by the Silures tribe in southern Wales early in the Roman occupation. The historian host, Bettany Hughes even stated that a legion was destroyed. Tacitus is stated as the source. My Tacitus books are the Penguin paperbacks but I've not found any reference to a destruction or a defeat of a legion. Does anyone know of a specific source for this?
Quote:I'm watching this three part series and in parts 1 & 2 they referred to a defeat inflicted on a Roman legion by the Silures tribe in southern Wales early in the Roman occupation. The historian host, Bettany Hughes even stated that a legion was destroyed. Tacitus is stated as the source. My Tacitus books are the Penguin paperbacks but I've not found any reference to a destruction or a defeat of a legion. Does anyone know of a specific source for this?
Typical TV script hyperbole, I'm afraid. Everything always has to be extremes in case you lose interest an switch over.
The passage concerned is
Tacitus Annals XII.38 and tells of several cohorts under a
praefectus castrorum on fort-building duties being attacked by the Silures. It is usually assumed by writers (but not stated) that it was
legio XX. Reinforcements were sent for and averted a massacre, but the
praefectus castrorum, eight centurions, and 'the bravest of the soldiers' were lost. It is unclear whether the subsequent rout of a foraging party supported by cavalry was related (Tacitus is a bit vague).
Mike Bishop
There's also a brief note a little later on (Tac. Ann. 12.40) that the legion under the command of Manlius Valens had meanwhile been defeated... by the Silures. But Tacitus says that the 'disaster' was exaggerated by both sides, so obviously it was a long way from the 'destruction' of a legion...
Indeed, 'defeated' is different from 'destroyed'.