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Manipular formation
#46
Quote:Big Grin I'm going away from this thread to make sure I get my facts straight before answering in full. I personally think the centurions were the makers and breakers of the battle, and had far more authority over the units than being given credit for. But we are talking maniples, so I also think we're completely forgetting about the role of the tribune. Two centurions per maniple, sure, but there were two centuries per maniple as well, so we're getting into a whole load of management theories about how authority was divided between the centurion, the signifer, the optio, the tesserarius, the tribune, and even the cornicen. If we're to discuss this subject properly we really do need to discuss the possible choices for delegation of authority for all of those individuals and their chain of command, and whether it was a serial chain, or could have been parallel? That all has to be done with reference to primary sources.

It's off to the sources - see you in a few months. :wink:

I think I need to do the same!! Big Grin D

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Ian (Sonic) Hughes
Ian (Sonic) Hughes
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides, Peloponnesian War
"I have just jazzed mine up a little" - Spike Milligan, World War II
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#47
To return to the original argument, the widening of files it is a contemplate maneuver in the strategikon: "Largia ad amba partes" (for subdivision or thin out)
"Each historical fact needs to be considered, insofar as possible, no with hindsight and following abstract universal principles, but in the context of own proper age and environment" Aldo A. Settia

a.k.a Davide Dall\'Angelo




SISMA- Società Italiana per gli Studi Militari Antichi
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#48
Great discussion.
Quote:Further, wasn't there also an 'optio' for each century, who could also move around the unit, raising morale and giving orders, or remaining with the standard to transmit changes in tactics? (Sorry, it's along time since I studied and only slowly are things coming back to me: was the optio in the manipular, Polybian legion or did he only surface later? :? )
According to Polybius Book 6.24, there were two Centurions, two Optiones and two Vexillarii in each Manipuli. The Optiones, in my translation, are 'rear rank officers'.

I don't think the 6' Facing that Polybius suggests is a medieval transcribing error, especially as Polybius then explains that the result is that every Roman therefore has two Greeks facing him. That would mean each Greek had a Facing of less than 1.5', which strikes me as very unlikely.

Matthew James Stanham
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Yoshida Kenko (1283-1350), Tsurezure-Gusa (1340)
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