07-07-2010, 10:18 PM
Quote:The figure of 40,000 for the army in Scotland is quoted a bit online, and seems to derive from an estimate of the force needed to fill the series of (probably Severan) 165-acre camps. Dio isn't much help - he claims that 50,000 men died on the expedition! Nicholas Reed ..... estimates the total force as something equivilent to six legions (the three 'British' legions, plus the 10,000-strong Praetorian Guard and II Parthica) - which, with auxiliaries added, could indeed total around 40,000.
- Nathan
I take your point, Nathan. The army increased steadily throughout and beyond this period.I've seen figures of 450,000 men quoted for the army of Diocletian. However, if this is indeed the case, then it implies that the province of Britannia was stripped of its legions to form the army that 'invaded' Caledonia. Ancient writers are notorious for exaggerating numbers. As you mention, Casius Dio suggested a figure for the losses that was actually larger than the army SS was supposed to have led into the wilds! Such losses would be comparable to those suffered by the Republican army at Cannae! Or at Aquae Sexitae.
It strikes me that a better (or, at least, alternative) explanation for the size of those camps is that they were not completely given over to troop accommodation but were also supply depots (rather like Arbaea). Even if you are going to 'park' substantial forces along your route, that's still an awful lot of supplies that have to be hauled through hostile country, where there are no roads.
My main point was not so much to question the size of the Severan army, but for the programme to tell me where this information came from and to frame some sort of discussion as to how likely it was that a force of this size was actually assembled. I don't think that they even mentioned what legions were forming the garrison of Britannia at that time - much less where all the other troops could have come from. Obscure aerial views of what might have been large Severan camps/supply dumps is no real substituite for some reasoned discussion on the topic.
Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)
visne scire quod credam? credo orbes volantes exstare.
