10-14-2002, 03:08 PM
Salve,<br>
<br>
A distinction must be made between unit titles and actual ethnic composition of the troops. As Roman units tended to recruit replacements in the most convenient manner and did not make any effort to replenish them from men of the original recruitment area, the unit title would cease to be representative within several years. Also a number of those Germanic names of units are derived from existing auxiliary units (eg the units titled <i> Batavi</i>) which had long lost their ethnic identity. New units may have been formed from Germanics, but there is no evidence that this resulted in lasting effects. Units of Frankish and Alamannic troops in Syria would be likely composed of locals in a matter of years.<br>
<br>
The number of officers of a certain background need not have reflected the ethnic composition of the army as a whole. In the <i> equites singulares Augusti</i> for instance, a unit which is relatively well documented, the proportion of troopers provided by particular areas of the empire was not matched by the composition of the officer corps. Germanic names do not automatically indicate foreign extraction: Germanic tribes had been part of the empire for centuries and in many part of the empire ethnic names were never fully replaced by Roman ones. In modern publications people are often claimed to be barbarians even when born in the empire. Thus it is not hard to find publications that claim that Stilicho was a Vandal barbarian, when he was born and raised in the empire from a Roman mother and a Vandal father who spent a lifetime in Roman service.<br>
<br>
An important part in the decline of the western empire's military capability was in trying defense on the cheap by letting recruitment of replacements into regular army units slip. The economically stronger eastern empire was less affected by this and could maintain its army of regulars better.<br>
<br>
Speidel, M.P., <i> Riding for Caesar. The Roman emperors' horse guard</i> (London 1994) 223p.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Sander van Dorst <p></p><i></i>
<br>
A distinction must be made between unit titles and actual ethnic composition of the troops. As Roman units tended to recruit replacements in the most convenient manner and did not make any effort to replenish them from men of the original recruitment area, the unit title would cease to be representative within several years. Also a number of those Germanic names of units are derived from existing auxiliary units (eg the units titled <i> Batavi</i>) which had long lost their ethnic identity. New units may have been formed from Germanics, but there is no evidence that this resulted in lasting effects. Units of Frankish and Alamannic troops in Syria would be likely composed of locals in a matter of years.<br>
<br>
The number of officers of a certain background need not have reflected the ethnic composition of the army as a whole. In the <i> equites singulares Augusti</i> for instance, a unit which is relatively well documented, the proportion of troopers provided by particular areas of the empire was not matched by the composition of the officer corps. Germanic names do not automatically indicate foreign extraction: Germanic tribes had been part of the empire for centuries and in many part of the empire ethnic names were never fully replaced by Roman ones. In modern publications people are often claimed to be barbarians even when born in the empire. Thus it is not hard to find publications that claim that Stilicho was a Vandal barbarian, when he was born and raised in the empire from a Roman mother and a Vandal father who spent a lifetime in Roman service.<br>
<br>
An important part in the decline of the western empire's military capability was in trying defense on the cheap by letting recruitment of replacements into regular army units slip. The economically stronger eastern empire was less affected by this and could maintain its army of regulars better.<br>
<br>
Speidel, M.P., <i> Riding for Caesar. The Roman emperors' horse guard</i> (London 1994) 223p.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Sander van Dorst <p></p><i></i>
