Late roman army (west)

[Robert Vermaat]

Just to (perhaps) confuse the picture a little, what do people nowadays make of Speidel's idea (1996 I think) that the auxilia palatina of the later empire were barbarian federate troops - and so would perhaps have been armed and equipped in their native fashion? (to be fair, Speidel doesn't actually say this, but his point about the Regii, for example, being the Alammanic tribesmen brought into Roman service under King Crocus by Constantius implies that they were fairly unRomanised). Would these 'barbarian' auxilia draw their arms and equpiment (and possibly clothing) from the state fabricae, and end up looking much like regular troops, or would they retain their tribal costumes, weapons etc?

I see no problem in the auxilia palatina being recruited of mostly Germanic troops, because that's not a radical innovation. I do think that recruiting one tribe (part) under one leader would be foolish though, because if you don't control the leader you end up with a rebellious unit. I'd like to think of the auxilia therefore as recruited from Germanic volunteers.

As to these troops retaining their own clothing and weapons, I don't think so. For one, we never see this in Roman artwork - to the contrary, when we see Late Roman guards, they are always dressed and equipped like Roman troops. We see the same thing whether elite troops were drawn from Germanic regions or later when they were drawn from Isaurians, the outward appearance does not change.

I’ve included 3 images below: guards from Theodosius to Justinian.

Perhaps only a longer haircut distinguishes them from common Roman troops, but the Roman army seems to have - specialist weapons excluded perhaps - to have refitted every soldier that entered its service. It was one of the maim attractions (apart from the money) to gain access to such a limitless supply of material I suppose.

Lastly, I do not think that federates would enter such elite units. Federates were, after all, bound by a treaty that was in most cases forced upon them after a defeat by Roman forces. Their duty to supply troops for the Roman army was different from treaties such as that of the Batavi, who could serve in guard units because they were not settled within Roman territory after a defeat.

Guards of Theodosius:
[attachment=3285]Guardstheodosius.jpg[/attachment]

Guard of Constantius II:
[attachment=3286]Guardsconstantius.jpg[/attachment]

Guards of (a) Valentinian:
[attachment=3287]Guardvalentinian.jpg[/attachment]

Guards of Justinian:
[attachment=3288]Guardsjustinian.jpg[/attachment]