10-10-2007, 05:34 PM
Quote:Vortigern Studies:7cnxrsg1 Wrote:A thing which I'm ignorant about - when did the Roman army introduce conscription? I know it from late Roman times as a given, but I have no idea as to when it was introduced.It was normal in Republican times. A man was supposed to serve for at least six campaigns between his eighteenth and forty-third (-second?) birthday. When Rome's empire expanded, these were often six consecutive years in a faraway country, which was the first step towards a standing army. Keppie has an excellent chapter on it in The Making of the Roman Army.
So was there conscription in the time of Augustus, or was service voluntary, as stated in the article?
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)