11-08-2021, 01:42 AM
Julian wrote:
From the evidence I have uncovered, the seniores were part of a Late Roman legion, and each legion was allocated a specific number of cavalry (iuniores and seniores). This does not mean the cavalry had to always accompany the legion. I will end this by saying that in the Roman army, there is no such thing a unit of no specific size.
Steven James
Yes, 400-600 is roughly the number I am going for. I was aiming for something similar to the Cohors Equitata of old, with 480 infantry and 120 cavalry.
In two incidents Ammianus has 300 picked men taken from each numerus. (20 4 2-3), (31 11 2) Therefore, from a numerus of 400 men, this leaves 100 men, and from a numerus of 600 men, this leaves 300 men. This is deducting 75% of 400 men and 50% of 600 men, which is rather drastic. The numerus has to be larger than 600 men.
Julian wrote:
I had no idea the Iuniores/Seniores distinction happened within a unit. I thought that was solely a distinction between east/west.
That is solely my conclusion based on my research, and the evidence for this is quite compelling. The Passion of Saint George reports that Diocletian allocated the general Euchios, command of 3,000 soldiers to overthrow the Christian churches in Egypt. The Passion of Saint George also reports that Anastasius, the governor of Palestine was allocated 3,000 soldiers by the emperor Diocletian. Also Zosimus (3 74) has the emperor Julian sail to Sirmium with 3,000 troops.
I have found that the 3,000 troops represents a full strength legion and includes the iuniores and seniores, both infantry and cavalry, plus the officers, and then is neatly rounded to 3,000 men.
Saint Meletius the Soldier was an officer in the Roman army who with 252 of his soldiers was put to death for being an avowed Christians. The Roman Martyrology (Saint Meletius May 24) Firstly, I am not interesting in the validity of whether this event took place or not. My interest is the source is using the paper strengths of the Roman army. The 252 soldiers includes the officers, and neatly fits into the 3,000 soldiers source.
Next, Macarius (311) mentions that 1,104 soldiers were stationed at Melitene. Here I have found the same source from above in play as it also includes the officers. The difference is the 1,104 soldiers also includes cavalry. Like the 252 soldiers, it is a very accurate figure.
Next, “The Acts of the Disputation of Archelaus (1-2)” mentions that after the soldiers had attacked the Christians, the tally of Christians consisted of ‘some’ 7,700 prisoners, of which 500 were wounded, and ‘about’ 1,300 Christians were killed. The Second Book of Chronicles (17 11) also uses the number 7,700 for the size of a flock of rams and goats.
I have found that the number of Christians killed; wounded and taken prisoner follows Roman military organization. The figure of some 7,200 prisoners is the infantry of the iuniores, part of the iuniores cavalry and all the seniores cavalry. The 500 wounded are the remaining iuniores cavalry and the figure of about 1,300 killed is the infantry of the seniores. When put back into their proper organization, these figures, which do not include the officers, match the organization of the infantry and cavalry of the previous examples. It could be that the original author recognized the similarity to the biblical number of 7,700 rams and goats, and therefore, partition those taken prisoners and wounded to closely recreate that figure.
Returning to Ammianus’ comment that 300 picked men were taken from each numerus, this is a common military Roman doctrine. At Ecnomus in 255 BC, the Romans picked the best from the army for the invasion of Africa. Going back to the republic, I have found that each century is organised into a soldiers years of service, spanning from veterans to raw recruits. In the beginning of the republic it was based on how many campaigns a soldier had undertaken, with the veterans undertaking their maximum number of campaign. So those 300 picked troops Ammianus mentions, and following this practice introduced with the start of the republic, those 300 picked troops have been rounded from 320 troops. In the situation Ammianus mentions, the methodology is when picking those troops; the selection officer had to select a specific and equal number of troops of varying military experience. In the republic, this meant an equal number of raw troops, in between troops and veteran troop. Selecting only veteran troops was not how it worked in Ammianus’ example.
Steven James
