Roman "Special Forces"

[Anonymous]

There was a post in another thread that asked whether there were any "special forces" in the Roman Army. I found an interesting article on Roman legionaries being sent out on intel and recon missions. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I thought I might pass it along for anyone who might be interested in discussing it:<br>
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[url=http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/prm/bltogaanddagger.htm" target="top]Toga & Dagger: Espionage in Ancient Rome[/url]<br>
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A related article discusses the Roman version of the "Secret Service":<br>
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[url=http://www.sisde.it/sito/Rivista11.nsf/ServNavig/29" target="top]The Roman Secret Service[/url]<br>
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Thoughts? How accurate are these articles and does anyone know of any other sources that discuss these phenomena?<br>
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Thanks in advance!<br>
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Carina <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

the book 'exploratio' deals with various scouting and 'spying' activities.<br>
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<p><img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.martin/forum/mark.gif
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[JRSCline]

If you're doing a project on Roman espionage and military intelligence, you could write an email to Rose Mary Shelton, who is the only academic I know of doing work on the subject. You could find her CV on the web, which lists all her articles, and have Interlibrary Loan chase up the ones you want.<br>
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Jenny <p></p><i></i>

[Los456]

We had a detailed discussion about this buried within another thread a few months back. (Can't remember which, and I'm in a rush right now) For the most part, (well as it's alueded too in sources) troops required for "special operations" were drawn from whatever legion was conducting the overall operation. For example in the Jewish revolt, whenever raids, infiltrations, or storming parties were used in conjunction with a siege type operation, these cohorts or troops were drawn from the legion itself. In any legion given the legionaries long term service there would have been troops with many years of experience in combat operations. And experience is nine tenths of the law in special operations.<br>
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Be advised however, that from a practical standpoint, there is a distinction between scouting/patrolling to gather intelligence and actual spying, though the terms may have been used interchangeably in ancient times. but someone else chime in. "Special Forces" connotes a whole spectrum of tasks to include combat operations, raids, patrols, intelligence gathering, etc.<br>
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Los <p></p><i></i>