01-29-2014, 02:04 PM
There is an interesting aspect to this topic which we are all touching on but in some ways skirting around.
Most of the Roman histories that talk about battles describe the Romans fighting in 'acies'- lines. Vegetius admitted obtaining much of his information from existing manuals, most of which now no longer exist. His description of how a single legion formed up has it divided into what is in effect four lines of troops. The first line was made up of the Princeps, the second the Hastati, the third the Triarii and then the Ferentarii. Actually the Ferentarii are described as forming the front rank and then they retire behind the other three lines to form the rear line from where they provided overhead missile fire and then were the troops tasked with pursuing the enemy if they broke off from combat.
This formation would be followed by all the legions and auxilliary units on the battlefield and if you were able to fly above the battlefield you would see the whole Roman infantry force deployed in four lines. However, by the time Ammianus wrote his history we can infer that the lines were no longer made up of sections of each legion or auxilia unit but were in fact made up of units fighting as a whole group. So, a front line would be composed of legion and auxilia units and another line behind would be formed of more legionary and auxila units. This could lend some weight to the theory that Late Roman infantry units were smaller than their counterparts from before Diocletian and Constatine's reorganisations.
In all of the above examples the cavalry were usually deployed either side of the infantry formation but unfortunately I'm not too sure if they too would have been deployed in lines or not?
Most of the Roman histories that talk about battles describe the Romans fighting in 'acies'- lines. Vegetius admitted obtaining much of his information from existing manuals, most of which now no longer exist. His description of how a single legion formed up has it divided into what is in effect four lines of troops. The first line was made up of the Princeps, the second the Hastati, the third the Triarii and then the Ferentarii. Actually the Ferentarii are described as forming the front rank and then they retire behind the other three lines to form the rear line from where they provided overhead missile fire and then were the troops tasked with pursuing the enemy if they broke off from combat.
This formation would be followed by all the legions and auxilliary units on the battlefield and if you were able to fly above the battlefield you would see the whole Roman infantry force deployed in four lines. However, by the time Ammianus wrote his history we can infer that the lines were no longer made up of sections of each legion or auxilia unit but were in fact made up of units fighting as a whole group. So, a front line would be composed of legion and auxilia units and another line behind would be formed of more legionary and auxila units. This could lend some weight to the theory that Late Roman infantry units were smaller than their counterparts from before Diocletian and Constatine's reorganisations.
In all of the above examples the cavalry were usually deployed either side of the infantry formation but unfortunately I'm not too sure if they too would have been deployed in lines or not?
Adrian Coombs-Hoar
