The invention of the maniple, & the Dunbar Number

[richsc]

Let me further the idea. In a Roman fort, and maybe in marching camps as well, the entrances to the century's rooms face seem to face each other, rather than blank walls. When you add up the two centuries facing each other, you have a maniple, or a small community. Perhaps even in marching camps this kind of relationship was maintained in the siting of the tents. So while the maniple had ceased to exist as a tactical formation, it remained as a social one.

So you would next have to ask: what would the purpose of forming such a social community within a legion? I will have to read one of Dunbar's books, but the idea that the soldiers in these two centuries could get to know each other and tend to self organize for things like self policing, support in combat, maintenance, etc, is a good argument.