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New Legion X Book!
#1
Avete!<br>
<br>
Just picked up <em>Caesar's Legion</em>, by Stephen Dando-Collins (John Wiley & Sons, Inc, NY, c/r 2002), and it's absolutely <em>spectacular!</em> Written in a similar genre to Michael Shaara's ACW epic The Killer Angels, it covers in detail the history of Legio X, from it's recruitment in Spain to just after they storm Masada. What makes it unique is that, to my knowledge, there's never been a comprehensive history written about an individual Roman legion before, only relatively brief overviews. Here's a few lines in the opening pages [the Xth, led personally by Julius Caesar, is advancing on the forces of Pompey]:<br>
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"The men of the 10th would have been anxious to make out the identity of the legion on the flank directly facing them, hoping it wouldn't be their brother Spaniards of the 8th. The 10th and the 8th had been through thick and thin together over the past 16 years. It would not be easy to fight and kill old friends. But they would do it. For Caesar."<br>
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A bit pricey at $24.95, but so far, worth every penny!<br>
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Mr. Dando-Collins, whose apparently spent some 30 years of his life researching specific Roman legions, claims to have unearthed enough information to write similar books on other legions (he mentions XIII GMV, III Aug, VI Vic, and XII Fulm. specifically). One can only hope more volumes are forthcoming.<br>
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Best to all,<br>
Gil / Gaius Darius <p></p><i></i>
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#2
Salve,<br>
<br>
Note the comments on this book in this previous thread (and this one)<br>
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For legionary histories the following publications can be recommended:<br>
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Bohec, Y. Le (ed.), <em>Les légions de Rome sous le Haut-Empire</em> (Lyon 2000).<br>
Keppie, L., <em>The making of the Roman army from republic to empire</em> (2nd edition) (London 199EM 272p.<br>
Ritterling, E., 'Legio' in: Pauly-Wissowa, <em>Real-Encyclopaedie XII</em> (Stuttgart 1925).<br>
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Regards,<br>
<br>
Sander van Dorst <p></p><i></i>
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#3
...made up histories are forthcoming. Dando-Collins offers as fact things that are debatable without stating why he comes to his conclusions. For example the Spanish origin of Caear's Tenth. I can find no classical author who states such a thing yet Dando-Collins presents that in his book as a given. Nor can we be sure that the single legion in Transalpine Gaul at the beginning of the Gallic Wars was the Tenth. The classic histories are just not that detailed. I would definitely recommend against the purchase of any more of his books though perusing library copies might be amusing. <p></p><i></i>
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#4
Ahh, perhaps I was a bit hasty in my judgement! I had written my posting after getting to page 4. By page 10, some inaccuracies were becoming evident with increasing frequency (ten men to a tent, etc.). I was not aware of the earlier thread on this... my apologies to anyone who may have ran out and bought the book based on my shoddily-researched announcemt. DE EM<br>
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Gil / Gaius Darius <p></p><i></i>
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#5
Its not that bad. He seems to be out of sync on the way these books are written (generals colonels et al).He stretches his authorities a bit but its very readable and his use of his imagination pads out what could be a very dry tome if all he did was repeat the modest factual basis of our knowledge. If he writes other books I shall certainly <p></p><i></i>
Quod imperatum fuerit facimus et ad omnem tesseram parati erimus
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