Infantry Relief System

[Mark Graef]

Mark: I have been a member for years and this topic has been discussed many times. That is the best single post on the topic I have ever read.

I have always thought that some rotation had to have been done. Now, I am not so sure; probably think otherwise.

Apparently the Legions drilled ALL the time. I always thought the HBO Rome scene would explain that discipline that they were renowned for best. If you have the boxed set there is an interview with the writers that states that scene (and others) were based on new evidence of tactics. They include it in the Phillipi battle scene also .

I would be interested in watching that interview. I don't remember seeing it, but I only own the season 1 set. Was it in the season 1, 2 or a combined set?

I remember the interview with Ray Stevenson (Pullo) where he commented on their training and practice for the battle scenes, commenting that he thought the rotation method was a really nifty maneuver. (I also remember how proud the prop people were in reproducing those "authentic" ring helmets!)

I read an news article about a seminar at the Getty Museum at which Jonathan Stamp, the series historical advisor, was a keynote speaker. He readily admitted that the series was largely fiction and what the producers strove for was not authenticity but a realistic feel and look. Sometimes the writers would come to him and ask him if something was authentic, or find an authentic reference to what they were proposing, but sometimes they did what they wanted to in spite of what he told them.

The problem with using semi-historical entertainment for historical study (especially video or film) is that it doesn't come with footnotes or citations. So you never really know for sure what is pure fabrication and what could be a nugget of historical truth from an academic consultant or new, not quite published ground breaking work. You can't check any references. I have a hunch that the writers new evidence of tactics was the rank rotation system proposed by J.F.C. Fuller's 1965 book on Caesar, or some other historical work which incorporated his ideas.

I have no doubt that Romans had an understanding of complex linear infantry tactics and practiced some of them regularly as field exercises, and could do maneuvers that were similar to the HBO sequence, but for different purposes, and before close combat occurred.