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+--- Thread: Sallust and the 600 man cohort (/showthread.php?tid=30215)
Sallust and the 600 man cohort - Steven James - 01-22-2017
This was written in Osprey “Roman Republic Warships 509 BC to 27 BC,” New Vanguard 225. On page 19, under the heading “The oneraria,” the author states “According to Sallust (Rom. Hist., 3,8) a large phaselus carried a cohort of 600 men.”
I’ve looked but have not been able to find this reference. Has anyone come across this reference before?
Steven
RE: Sallust and the 600 man cohort - Michael Kerr - 01-22-2017
Lionel Casson on page 167 in his book "Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World mentions the phaselus. Sorry I had to do text as a jpg to save the Ancient Greek (I think) as converting it to text did some strange things.
This was the reference on the bottom of the page. 55 Sallust (Hist. 3.8, Maurenbrecher) mentions a cohors una grandi phaselo vecta "a cohort carried in a large phaselus". (a cohort at full strength was 600 men). Casson's translation
Regards
Michael Kerr
RE: Sallust and the 600 man cohort - Nathan Ross - 01-22-2017
(01-22-2017, 01:32 AM)Steven James Wrote: “According to Sallust (Rom. Hist., 3,8) a large phaselus carried a cohort of 600 men.”
It's a modern gloss.
Sallust (here) just says that a cohort was once carried in a large phaselus (light merchant ship).
Casson, in Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World (1971) quotes Sallust in his footnotes and mentions that 'a cohort at full strength was 600 men'; Morrison in Greek and Roman Oared Warships (1996) uses this to claim that 'Sallust writes that a large phaselus carried one cohort (600 men)'; D'Amato in the book you mentioned, merely implies Casson's figure as part of the original quote: 'According to Sallust... a large phaselus carried a cohort of 600 men'.
No actual evidence here for 600-man cohorts, just the steady accumulation of assumptions. As Sallust was writing about the later Republic (I think) his cohort was very likely far smaller, even if it was at full strength when it boarded the boat!
RE: Sallust and the 600 man cohort - Renatus - 01-22-2017
I can't find the Latin in Nathan's link, so for completeness I add it here:
Et forte in navigando cohors una, grandi phaselo vecta, a ceteris deerravit, marique placido a duobus praedonum myoparonibus circumventa.
As Nathan says, there is no mention of 600 men there.
RE: Sallust and the 600 man cohort - Steven James - 01-23-2017
Thank you Michael, Nathan and Renatus. As this reputation system still does not work, I have given you a “neutral” rating.
Nathan wrote:
It's a modern gloss.
I had thought as much. After years of studying the primary sources and academic research, one becomes familiar with the data relating to cohort sizes. As this reference was not common, nor widely found, I knew something was amiss.
Nathan wrote:
No actual evidence here for 600-man cohorts, just the steady accumulation of assumptions.
A friend had recently commented that “It is always difficult to separate the interpretation of the Academic from the primary source.”
RE: Sallust and the 600 man cohort - Robert Vermaat - 01-23-2017
(01-23-2017, 01:19 AM)Steven James Wrote: Thank you Michael, Nathan and Renatus. As this reputation system still does not work, I have given you a “neutral” rating.Added the 'positives' for you.
