Imperial Roman organisation

[Rod MacArthur]

There is a thread on this very forum about Legion Reinforcements which examines that theory, following the publication of a number of books expousing it by Stephen Dando-Collins.

Yes, the thread you mention concerns the legions of Caesar's day, when the old republican practice of en bloc mustering and disbandment was still in use. After the reform of the army by Augustus, however, this practice changed, and the imperial legion (as you have it in your post above) was a standing formation. Dando-Collins prefers to believe that the old system still applied, and goes on in his books, I understand, to 'explain' various aspects of Roman military history with reference to it. Unfortunately this contradicts all available ancient evidence on imperial recruitment practices, and everyone (as far as I know) who's ever written on the Roman army - it would therefore appear that Dando-Collins invented this theory himself! hock:

Nathan,

Yes, I was aware that Dando-Colllins was controversial. As always there is a danger that some good things written by such revisionist authors get discarded along with discredited items. I have several of his books but will re-read them with a more sceptical eye. The same problem existed in the Napoleonic world a few years ago with a book on Waterloo by David Hamilton-Williams which was regularly trashed on the Napoleon Series website. Interesting how both of these controversial authors have double barrelled names.

Rod