Research questions for a book

[Kate Quinn]

My third book is coming out next April, and I'm currently neck deep in copyedits. It is titled "Empress of the Seven Hills," published through Berkley Books, and the hero is a Roman legionary serving under Trajan through the second Dacian War and then the Parthian Wars. Despite all my research into Roman legionary life, I still have questions I'd love to fact check, and writers I very much respect like Ben Kane have recommended this forum as a terrific place to find experts.

Would this be a good place to post a list of 7-8 questions? I would deeply appreciate any help/answers I can get.

Thanks,

Kate Quinn

[jvrjenivs]

It probably would

[Kate Quinn]

Ok, here's my list of questions.


1.My hero's career path: five or six years as a legionary, rising to aquilifer for an act of bravery during the Second Dacian Wars, promoted to centurion at 30 (first cohort, at Emperor's request), jumping up gradually to Primus Pilus over the four years of the Parthian Wars afterward, and finally given his own legion as legate by 34. Is this wildly unrealistic? I've based him on several real soldiers like Marcius Turbo, who started as a common legionary and rose meteorically to command the Roman fleet, become Prefect of Egypt, and then end up Hadrian's Praetorian Prefect.

2.Would a plebeian-class legionary have to become an equite in order to move up the ladder and become a legate? I have read that legates have to be patricians, but surely that is not the case since there are legates recorded in history who started out as plebeians.

3.Could a legionary ever rise to command the legion he'd served in, or would he automatically be moved to a different one?

4.Did camp followers/wives follow legions on the march? Technically they weren't supposed to, but I've never heard of an army in history that didn't have at least an unofficial tail of women and children.

5.What would a centurion do with his wife and family on the Parthian campaign – park them at a nearby city like Antioch? Any way to bring them along, say as part of the Imperial entourage of servants etc.?

6.Did the siege of Sarmizegetusa in Dacia end in a typical rape-burn-and-pillage operation? The research I've done indicates the legions marched in in fairly controlled fashion, except for the burning of the fortress which Trajan authorized.

7.Prefect of the Camp – I've read this is a position only held for a year, and by a centurion on his last year of service, but I wasn't certain the source was reliable.

Thanks again, everybody.

[M. Caecilius]

Ok, here's my list of questions.

[...]

I have read that legates have to be patricians, but surely that is not the case since there are legates recorded in history who started out as plebeians.

Patrician status was not essential to be a legate. Take T. Flavius Vespasianus, a member of the gens Flavia, which was plebeian, but he was the legate of II Augusta. So was the gens Petilia, to which Cerialis, legate of IX Hispanica (amongst other) belonged, and the gens Aelia, the family of Hadrian (I Minervia P.F. in 106); all according to Smith's Dictionary. Two of these managed to rise quite a bit higher, too, later in life.

Remember that ever since the end of the Struggle of Orders way back in the childhood days of the Republic, patrician and plebeian status lost quite a bit of impact on public life, except for a few offices barred to one or the other (Tribune of the Plebs, Curule or Plebeian Aedile,...).

If you mean to ask whether one could be a legate without first being a Senator, I think that a legatus had to be praetor first, but that could be remedied by the grant of praetoria insignia (as I understand it, the rank of a praetor without actually having held the office, cf. Tacitus Hist.4.4]. Thus Cornelius Fuscus, an equestrian by birth, led V Alaudae in 69, if I understand correctly without having really entered the cursus honorum or the Senate. Civil Wars do help people overlook constitutional niceties, though.

[Quintius Clavus]

It would be "possible", though not probable for a plebeian legionary to have the career you want. Marcius Turbo was a member of the Ordo Equester to hold the prefectures he held. Your hero, once he reached Primus Pilus - this is the post held for only one year at a time - would probably have the income for eligibility and be enrolled in the Ordo Equester.
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Legionary legates were usually of the Senatorial order, but it is possible that exceptions existed. The position of Camp Prefect could be held for many years and usually followed the year of service as Primus Pilus. One would expect only one per camp or fortress, yet Varus (in AD 9) had two with him according to Velleius Paterculus.
Patronage did play a significant role by all appearances in promotion within the Roman army. It did matter whom one knew. Your legionary as he moves swiftly up the ladder, might encounter some resentment along the way, however, as others are passed over.

Trajan as a soldier, himself, would recognize outstanding bravery and a doctoral thesis on the career paths of centurions did look at battlefield promotions, of which the Dacian Wars would be a prime example of where such could (and probably did) happen. (I'll get you that reference citation later - it is accessible through the British Library's online thesis collection as a PDF file and FREE once you have registered with them online).

Soldiers below the rank of centurion could not legally marry while in service during this period, though once your man is in the senior centurionate, the rules might change (Sara Eliza Phang, The Marriage of Roman Soldiers). He would be expected to marry a Roman citizen, when he did marry, because he is a citizen himself. Legionaries did not get the grant of "conubium to marry a non-citizen like auxiliaries did and as a senior officer he would be under some social pressure to not marry beneath his station.

Camp followers were a feature of military life in many ages. Under a commander like Trajan they would presumably be under some form of discipine and probably kept well to the rear during periods of hard fighting - such as being encamped some distance to the rear of the main front line units engaged in combat. Caesar was known to put his baggage train in its own camp well to the rear/or among "fiendly" tribes during the fight against Vercingetorix.

Hope this helps some.

[Nathan Ross]

Hi Kate

Your big problem, I think, is that prior to the third century there was no way for a legionary or centurion to rise to command a legion. Legions were commanded by legates, who were always senators. This was a life-long career path quite different (socially and politically) from an army career. The exception was Egypt, were the legions were commanded by Equestrian praefects, some of whom were indeed former centurions.

It was possible for former and serving centurions to hold the temporary command of praepositus ('commander', roughly), leading forces made up of vexillations for a particular campaign. This was probably Turbo's status in the Egyptian war of 117.

Turbo's an interesting character - I gave a brief summary of his career here. He was also pretty exceptional, though!

As for the rest of your hero's rise up the ladder - getting to Primus Pilus after only four years as a centurion would be quite amazing. We don't know too much about the ages of primipilares - it has been suggested that they needed to be at least fifty years old (based on one inscription to a 'primus pilus in waiting' aged 49), but I doubt this was always the case. Turbo, for one, appears to have held the post in his early 40s at the latest. But even with an initial appointment in the principales, it would take a good decade or so, I'd imagine, to reach this prestigious position.

I've made some attempts to reconstruct Turbo's career, actually, based on the few available dates. After his first primipilate, probably aged about 43, he served tribunates in the vigiles, the horse guards and the praetorians, served as primus pilus again (iterum), became procurator of the Ludus Magnus and then Praefect of the Misenum fleet, probably around age 50 or so, then went on to various independent commands in his 50s before becoming Praetorian Praefect aged about 60.

As Max said above, the Plebian/Patrician division was pretty meaningless by this date. The important one was between the aristocracy (Equestrian and Senatorial) and everybody else (often confusingly called the 'plebs'!). A Primus Pilus would be able to gain Equestrian status after his year of service, which would enable him to serve as a Praefectus Castrorum, a Tribune in the Rome Cohorts, or as a Procurator, with very able men going on to the 'higher praefectures' (grain supply, Vigiles, Egypt, and Praetorian Praefect at the very top).

Incidentally, it's Primus Pilus that's held for a single year, and this is securely attested. Praefectus Castrorum (Prefect of the Camp) was probably held for a term of a few years, but others might know more about this one. These men could, at times of emergency, command their legion (as Poenius Postumus, unluckily, did during the Boudica revolt) when the legate was absent.

As for women on campaign - the legion base would be at their 'home' fortress, and it's very likely that centurion's wives would have had quarters there (soldiers below centurion, and perhaps even some centurions, were forbidden to marry during this period). That being so, wives would probably have remained behind when the legion departed on campaign - but as you say, armies throughout history have had 'followers', and doubtless some were taken along. 'Unofficial' soldiers' wives may have had no choice but to follow their 'husbands' - married centurions and other officers would presumably have had to shift for themselves, but these were comparatively wealthy men with entourages of slaves to assist them, so may well have been able to accomodate their wives in suitable nearby places.

Hope that helps a bit - Nathan

(edit - cross posted with Quinton! Sorry to repeat some of the same stuff...)

[Kate Quinn]

Thank you all for taking the time to answer so thoroughly - I am scribbling notes as fast as I can.

[Paul Elliott]

Yes, I'm reading a series of novels now, set on Hadrian's Wall, and the author easily promotes the primus pilus up to command of a legion. OK in wartime, but anathema for anything longer than a short-term measure for the class-conscious Romans. Its the 'Gladiator' problem. Modern army sensibilities slapped onto the ancient world. It helps if you think of a legion as a 'government department', commanded by a political appointee. Of course this appointee has lots of life-long civil servants (soldiers and centurions) to do the work. In a couple of years the appointee will be in some other government department, diplomacy, foreign affairs or policing the capital!

[Nathan Ross]

I'm reading a series of novels now, set on Hadrian's Wall, and the author easily promotes the primus pilus up to command of a legion. OK in wartime, but anathema for anything longer than a short-term measure for the class-conscious Romans.

Is that Anthony Riches' series? I've only read the first two so far (too busy reading hefty novels about India!), so I can't comment on the accuracy of his rank structures. But, as you say, Primus Pilus to Legatus would be unorthodox at best...

However, there is the example of the (in)famous L Artorius Castus - probably late 2nd century, so OK for Anthony but not for Kate! He served at Praefectus (Castrorum, presumably, although these were changing times) of VI Victrix in Britain, and was then appointed Dux Legionum, a rather mysterious position but one that suggests the temporary command of one or more legions or (more probably) vexillations for some specific campaign. Dux is usually considered a later Roman term, but I wonder whether Marcius Turbo might also have held this post in his Egyptian command - it may have connoted a degree of authority above a mere praepositus, and allowed him to effectively take command of the forces in Egypt after the death or disgrace of the sitting Praefect.

[Paul Elliott]

Yes, the Empire series. I've had to give up on book 3, though. All these Tungrian's have suddenely been recruited into a cavalry wing and are now charging around on horseback. Maybe I'm just a dyed in the wool infantryman, but cavalry has always been a big turn-off for me. I just can't read any further! :o

I'm reading a series of novels now, set on Hadrian's Wall, and the author easily promotes the primus pilus up to command of a legion. OK in wartime, but anathema for anything longer than a short-term measure for the class-conscious Romans.

Is that Anthony Riches' series? I've only read the first two so far (too busy reading hefty novels about India!), so I can't comment on the accuracy of his rank structures. But, as you say, Primus Pilus to Legatus would be unorthodox at best...

[Robert Vermaat]

Maybe I'm just a dyed in the wool infantryman, but cavalry has always been a big turn-off for me. I just can't read any further! :o

Personally I love to see cavalry... from a safe distance, and on terra firma.

[Sardaukar]

Yes, the Empire series. I've had to give up on book 3, though. All these Tungrian's have suddenely been recruited into a cavalry wing and are now charging around on horseback. Maybe I'm just a dyed in the wool infantryman, but cavalry has always been a big turn-off for me. I just can't read any further! :o

I'm reading a series of novels now, set on Hadrian's Wall, and the author easily promotes the primus pilus up to command of a legion. OK in wartime, but anathema for anything longer than a short-term measure for the class-conscious Romans.

Is that Anthony Riches' series? I've only read the first two so far (too busy reading hefty novels about India!), so I can't comment on the accuracy of his rank structures. But, as you say, Primus Pilus to Legatus would be unorthodox at best...

Well, if I recall correctly, auxiliary cavalry was better paid than auxiliary infantry...so those troops would have an incentive to serve in cavalry... But that'd probably mean permanent transfer and not temporary assignment like in book.

[Kate Quinn]

Thanks so much to everyone who chimed in with answers to my questions - you've given me a lot to work with, and I'm glad I'll be able to get the little details right. The only question I've got left is about the sack of Sarmizegetusa: does anyone have more info on what kind of end the siege had, i.e. a rape-and-pillage operation, or a fairly controlled surrender?

I'd also like to list you all in my acknowledgements page as research sources - of course I'll be mentioning RAT as a whole but I'd like to list individually the people here who took time to answer my questions. Mostly all I have is your online handles (Mithras, Nathan Ross, Quintius Clavus, M. Caecilius). If you would like to post your names here or message them to me privately, I'd love to list you individually by name. My copyedited manuscript is due back to the publisher this Monday, so I'd need names by then.

Thanks again, everyone!

[Nathan Ross]

The only question I've got left is about the sack of Sarmizegetusa: does anyone have more info on what kind of end the siege had, i.e. a rape-and-pillage operation, or a fairly controlled surrender?

The only evidence we have, as far as I know, (sadly Trajan's own account of the campaign is lost...) is Book 68 of Cassius Dio and Trajan's Column.

Dio says very little about the second campaign, only a couple of anecdotes. The Dacian capital was captured, but we don't learn how.

Interpreting the column is a fun game, and its reliability is questionable, but with nothing to contradict it, plates LXXXIII - XCV from the Cichorius plates, showing the siege and capture of large Dacian fortification, may well represent the fall of Sarmezigetusa. The defenders sally out, engines are used against the defences, and finally (it appears) the Dacians themselves set fire to their own city to prevent it falling to the enemy. That doesn't stop the Romans looting the place at their leisure though (Plate XCIV). After this there are further scenes, but these appear to represent the flight and capture of Decebalus and the final subjegation of Dacia.

So it's up to you, really - if the Romans stormed the city, it probably did turn into the customary bloodbath. But if the Dacians surrendered first (perhaps with a hardcore setting fire to the place before the Romans could occupy it) there might not have been that much left anyway. The column depicts a number of Dacians killing themselves - perhaps some Masada-type situation?

Thanks for the offer of acknowledgement, btw. Personally speaking, my 'online handle' is fine!

- Nathan

[Kate Quinn]

Thank you all for your help! The details you were able to give me have helped tremendously. My book is off to production with the publisher, and I'm glad I could get all your names into the acknowledgments. "Empress of the Seven Hills" (titled "Empress of Rome" in the UK) will be released in the US on April 3, 2012.

Thanks again!