02-11-2012, 08:56 AM
Quote:One reference (not sure which) refers to these men being called 'Quintani', after their unit numeral....Yes, I've read a source with that and, like you Robert, I've lost track of it. If anyone has a lead on it that'd be great. I recently had a "computer tragedy" where I lost a lot of my saved resources so I'm re-building all my Late Legion stuff from scratch. The "Quintani" reference was a key one for me.
Quote:...do we have any inscriptions referring to any such communities manning sections of walls anywhere? It would be really interesting to know that. ...That's one for the epigraphy specialists among us (of whom I'd like to be one in a few years). It's an important set of data to draw together too, if anyone's thinking that way. With the responsibility for maintaining the frontier seeming to fall increasingly on local communities, it's necessary to establish links between edicts, commercial documents, inscriptions and - maybe - local coinage issues. If "privatisation" became the (?? post-Justinian) system of Roman frontier defence, then it's an important if challenging field.
Quote:Or the one in the Caucasus?...(Heeeeeelllllpppppp!!!!!)
Quote:The word 'legion' seems to have become generic...And there's the rub. The search isn't necessarily for a whole legion but for a presence, a footptint. For my quest, I'll be happy if there's sound evidence "X was at place "Y" at time Z", whether "X" is a detachment or whole legion (what's left of it). That could at least prove the continuing existence of "The Legion".
Which brings me to this question:
If one takes the Severan era as something of a turning-point in the prestige of "The Legion", why did units designated as "Legions" persist? What was the motivation for forming new "Legions" or maintaining existing "Legions" when it might seem to us they had much debased worth? What is it about the organization of manpower that is being signified by the word "Legion" (or its later Greek equivalent)? What made a "Legion" - the unit-type - useful enough to be hung onto when other forms of infantry-unit organisation abounded and cavalry seemed more valued tactically anyhow?
????
Cheers
Howard/SPC
Spurius Papirius Cursor (Howard Russell)
"Life is still worthwhile if you just smile."
(Turner, Parsons, Chaplin)
"Life is still worthwhile if you just smile."
(Turner, Parsons, Chaplin)