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(that's a good name for band!)
Let's say that it's the late first century AD, and I've been given special dispensation by the Emperor to raise a mercenary army of auxiliaries from the Hellenic regions. What sort of troops would I be employing - would the specialist Hellenic auxiliaries be along the lines of Thorakitai or Thureophoroi.
Purely hypothetical, I'm just asking for opinions as I'm working out an idea, and wanted to see what you guys thought. I wanted to give the army a more Hellenic feel than simply just saying "legions" and "auxiliaries" all the time, given that this army would be comprised of Hellenic soldiers.
Let us know your thoughts
cheers
Russ
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Assuming that acontinius record keeping would be from the time of Sulla you would get reliable allies (could double as merecenaries) from Phokis and Beotia. Ceretainly the ubiquitus Cretan archers.
And the reliable troops could be raised from the "Koino ton eleftherolakonon" (Free spartans kleague).
Plutarch mentions Macedonian Cavalry.
Aegean Islanders (Rhodes) would be recruited for naval amphibious missions.
Hope it helps
Kind regards
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It does, Hoplite, thanks so much. Do you think the troops from the Koino ton eleftherolakonon would be legionaries or more traditionaly (albeit modernised for the 1st century AD) Hellenic troops.
Not to worry if you don't have time to look at this, I'm just trying to get some thoughts together for my book.
Cheers
Russ
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I'm thinking of Rhodian slingers, Bastarnea infantry, Illerian Axeman, horse and foot archers from Scythia, Thracian light infantry
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Nice one Marcus, thanks!
Russ
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Russ,
I visited your website and we share the same interest for historical fiction. I just started in Scott Oden's "Memnon"
I will order Gladiatrix very soon.
Did you read David Anthony Durham's "Hannibal, Pride of Carthage" ?? One of the best i ever read.
kind regards
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There is a grave stele in Laconia that depicts a a man in legionary Gear and was used as a basis of an Osprey reconstruction.
I am under the impression that the Legion of the late principatum period had become a "foreign legion".
Pausanias in his 10th book mentions hoplites that repulsed a raid of a people called Kosotovokoi. They were led by a an Olympic champion from Megara. Pausanias talks of hoplites but I am inclined to think them as auxilia.
There were city states with allied status vassal cities and cities with citizen status. I don find it unlikely that in the eastern legions there were even legionaries of Greek origin.
Kind regards
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Quote:There is a grave stele in Laconia that depicts a a man in legionary Gear and was used as a basis of an Osprey reconstruction.
I am under the impression that the Legion of the late principatum period had become a "foreign legion".
We had a debate on here a while back on whether these troops, armed with clubs, but otherwise standard roman, were mostly symbolic or not. The Romans also raised a "macedonian phalanx" along with these Spartan club-men, a la Heracles, for the invasion of Persia. The date is also much later than you wish, mid 4th century if I recall.
Late 1st C, the Euryclids were very powerful in Sparta and I think there is mention of them supplying troops or ships to the romans. There was a famous Spartan ship a century earlier at actium for example that pursued Antony and Cleopatra.
Paul M. Bardunias
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It would really depend on what mission you wanted completed. What did you have in mind?
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John Abbate
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Hi John - it was really a more general question...it seems that I could pretty much recruit what I wanted from the answers here, though!
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Ah ok mainly I would suggest what has already been mentioned.
Veni Vidi Vici
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John Abbate
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3. There is no 3. Mysterious!
