auxilia

[Quintus Aurelius Lepidus]

i would like to make some sort of battle order of the roman army during the principate.

i would to list every known auxilia unit. i'm reading 'the auxilia of the roman imperial army' by Cheesman right now and i was wondering if somebody knows how many ala and auxilia there are known to us?

I believe we know 97 ala en 279 auxilia cohors? is that correct?

[jvrjenivs]

Although I don't have a copy at hand right now, so I can't look it up, but a good list af Alae you can find in
Ala2 by John Spaul.

[popularis]

Although I don't have a copy at hand right now, so I can't look it up, but a good list af Alae you can find in
Ala2 by John Spaul.

I can't think of anything else, although if anyone knows of anything, I'd be delighted to read it. There are actually two books by Spaul which will probably contain the most comprehensive lists:

Spaul, J. (1994), ALA2: the auxiliary cavalry units of the pre-Diocletianic Imperial Roman army, Andover.
Spaul, J. (2000), COHORS2: the evidence for and a short history of the auxiliary infantry units of the Imperial Roman Army, BAR International Series 841, Oxford.

Note that the "2"s are both superscript. Unfortunately, you'll need a good library for both.

There's also Holder, P.A. (1980), Studies in the Auxilia of the Roman Army from Augustus to Trajan, BAR International Series 70, Oxford. Which is probably pretty useful. If you have access, the articles by Cichorius in RE ('Ala' and 'Cohors') are still pretty good.

Bear in mind that if you want a battle order it'll take a long while! A simple list of all known unit titles could come from the table of contents of the Spaul volumes (bear in mind that, IIRC, those not in all caps are probably alternate names or the names of units which later merged with others), but, presumably, you'd need to work out which auxiliary units were in service at a given time and where. Good luck though, it'd be absolutely fantastic to see something like that done, and would be very useful (even if you just did it with legions, frankly).

blue skies

Tom

[Robert Vermaat]

Best choose a shorter timeframe, because 'the Principate' is a fairly long time, and many units will have been raised and disappeared within that period.

[D B Campbell]

Best choose a shorter timeframe, because 'the Principate' is a fairly long time, and many units will have been raised and disappeared within that period.

The reign of Hadrian is probably most promising, when things are settling down and we have a large concentration of diplomas to work with. Your starting point is Paul Holder, "Auxiliary deployment in the reign of Hadrian", in: John Wilkes (ed.), Documenting the Roman Army: essays in honour of Margaret Roxan (London, 2003).

[Quintus Aurelius Lepidus]

Best choose a shorter timeframe, because 'the Principate' is a fairly long time, and many units will have been raised and disappeared within that period.

yeah you're probably right.

[Quintus Aurelius Lepidus]

Best choose a shorter timeframe, because 'the Principate' is a fairly long time, and many units will have been raised and disappeared within that period.

The reign of Hadrian is probably most promising, when things are settling down and we have a large concentration of diplomas to work with. Your starting point is Paul Holder, "Auxiliary deployment in the reign of Hadrian", in: John Wilkes (ed.), Documenting the Roman Army: essays in honour of Margaret Roxan (London, 2003).

thanks for the tip. maybe it's better to do something like that indeed.

for all, tnx for the sources!

[Pompieus]

I tried your project once, aiming at the reign of Antonius Pius (ca 155AD), with marginal success. viz:

Totals:
Alae: milliary - 7 quingeneria - 73
Cohors equitata: milliary -18 quingeneria - 82
Cohors peditum: milliary - 12 quingeneria -135

I used Cheeseman, Holder and Spaul but I couldn't get hold of Spaul's Ala2 on this side of the pond (not even the Library of Congress had It!) Also I couldn't get the totals to add up to the unit names and distribution among the provinces. Perhaps with more care and determination than I had you'll have better success.

[Duncan Head]

Best choose a shorter timeframe, because 'the Principate' is a fairly long time, and many units will have been raised and disappeared within that period.

One attempt at doing just that is Michael Lane's booklet at http://www.soa.org.uk/store/store_publications/

Unfortunately "out of stock" at the moment, but worth a look if you can track one down.

[Caius Fabius]

I couldn't get hold of Spaul's Ala2 on this side of the pond (not even the Library of Congress had It!)

I have a copy, but I don't loan it out. There was a copy at the Fort Leavenworth Staff Library a few years ago.
That is one reason I started collecting books, because Inter-Library Loan never was able to get the books I neded
for research. But, after loaning out my 'Robinson' and never getting it back, I have become wary of letting people
borrow my books.

[Paullus Scipio]

Pompeius wrote:

I used Cheeseman, Holder and Spaul......

Definitely a good choice ! I am surprised that Cheeseman's "The Auxilia of the Roman Imperial Army" Oxford University press 1914 hasn't been mentioned more prominently. It must surely be the foundation for any such study, updated by Holder and Spaul, who both used it. The date of publication is significant, for Cheeseman would become a casualty of World War 1 , thus nipping in the bud the career of a brilliant mind, who would have gone on to write much on Roman Studies and become as well known as his contemporary, Arnold Toynbee.....

Caius Fabius wrote:

That is one reason I started collecting books, because Inter-Library Loan never was able to get the books I neded
for research. But, after loaning out my 'Robinson' and never getting it back, I have become wary of letting people
borrow my books.

....a common problem it seems, and I share your wariness ! evil: .....In my youth I lost a precious original Military Memoir to a 'friend' who persistently refused to return it......my biggest loss is the seven times purchased "Lord of the Rings" ( a masterpiece of written English language prose ) of which I still possess one.....
I never seemed to learn....but could not resist sharing this treasure. :lol: :lol: It is less of a problem nowadays, since photo-copiers and scanners have been invented. :wink:

[MeinPanzer]

I couldn't get hold of Spaul's Ala2 on this side of the pond (not even the Library of Congress had It!)

I have a copy, but I don't loan it out. There was a copy at the Fort Leavenworth Staff Library a few years ago.
That is one reason I started collecting books, because Inter-Library Loan never was able to get the books I neded
for research. But, after loaning out my 'Robinson' and never getting it back, I have become wary of letting people
borrow my books.

According to WorldCat, the following libraries in North America have copes of Ala 2 which can be loaned out:

CA,ON UNIV OF TORONTO ROBARTS LIBRARY UTO
US,CO UNIV OF COLORADO AT BOULDER COD
US,HI HAWAII PACIFIC UNIV HGP
US,IL UNIV OF ILLINOIS UIU
US,MA HARVARD UNIV, HARVARD COL LIBR HLS
US,MS UNIV OF MISSISSIPPI MUM
US,NC UNIV OF N CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL NOC
US,NH YBP LIBRARY SERVICES YDX
US,NJ PRINCETON UNIV PUL
US,NY CORNELL UNIV Corrigenda (2 leaves)... COO
US,OH UNIV OF CINCINNATI CIN
US,TN UNIV OF TENNESSEE TKN
US,TN VANDERBILT UNIV LIBR TJC
US,VA VIRGINIA MIL INST

So trying any one of those might yield results.

[Quintus Aurelius Lepidus]

tnx all.

due to familial problems i was not able to answer earlier... (but i don't want you to think your help is not appreciated so... )

this was very helpfull.

[Quintus Aurelius Lepidus]

i've secured a copy of cohors 2 but ala2 is much more difficult to find.... x

[jvrjenivs]

i've secured a copy of cohors 2 but ala2 is much more difficult to find.... x

Oxbow seems to have it in stock:
[url:3bzsqfij]http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/11795[/url]