11-20-2011, 11:05 PM
Quote:Can we prove that a legion was split up and each tribune assumed command over a new part of 1.000 men? No we can't, as we do not have a letter from HQ to command this.This was more or less my point, Robert -- that we would normally wait for some scrap of evidence to suggest that a legion could be divided up amongst the tribunes, before proposing it as a general rule. Or again, some evidence that legions were reduced to 1,000 men, before proposing that a tribune might be an appropriate commander for such a size of unit.
I totally agree that Mommsen was trail-blazing. For that reason, we should be willing to question his theories, while being thankful that he formulated them in the first place.
Quote:But we know more or less who commanded smaller legions and units, and therefore it's perhaps logical to assume that, in the very case of a split-up of such a legion (and we can't tell exactly how that went about), these tribune retained command of such units.Aren't the ND legions commanded by praefecti?
