[split] Distances between files and ranks

[Nathan Ross]

My paper discussing how this was done.

p.5:... with Pompey’s three battle lines being deployed ten men deep, Pompey’s 4,000 Italian camp guards would represent those pilani aged thirty nine years to forty two years, who constitute ranks nine and ten. With the frontage of Pompey’s legionaries being arrayed 1,500 men wide, ranks nine and ten amount to 3,000 pilani being allocated as camp guards... with ratio of legionaries to auxiliary infantry being 3:1, this would allocate an additional 1,000 auxiliary infantry as camp guards, which complies with Appian’s figure of 4,000 camp guards (3,000 pilani and 1,000 auxiliary infantry). The 4,000 camp guards could have been organised into ten cohorts each of 400 men, with a cohort consisting of 300 legionaries and 100 auxiliary infantry (fifty archers and fifty slingers) organised into five centuries each of eighty men (sixty legionaries, ten archers and ten slingers)."

This sounds like you are reducing the ten-deep formation to an eight-deep formation by taking away two ranks to act as 'camp guards' (again!). Is that right?

Do you mean two ranks from each of the three acies? Why would Frontinus say that Pompeius had drawn his men up in three ten-deep lines if it was actually three eight-deep lines (or two ten-deep and one eight-deep)? They can't be in the ranks and guarding the camp at the same time.

And how do you figure auxiliaries (allied troops at this date) being integrated with legion cohorts and even with centuries? How would that work?