Zodiac and Late Roman Army Organisation

[Robert Vermaat]

One of the references to the Theban legion also numbers 6600 men. Roth in his paper on the size of the Imperial legion quotes a fragment of Suetonius claiming a legion numbered 5600 men. The common denominator is all of these examples is the number 600

Which Theban legion? The hagiographic unit of Christian martyrs? That’s no information about a real legion but a Christian fairy-tale – besides, the number of that unit is far more often given as 6666, not 6600. The information about the several Late Roman units of that name is consistent with all of them being much smaller Diocletianic legions. That 5600 of Suetonius is a typo? If not 5600 is not a denominator of 600.

I’ve already in this posting shown that Isidore’s claim of a 6000 man legion numbering 12 cohorts of 500 men is correct. All legions have more than one organisation. Isidore’s statement a legion numbered 60 centuries and 30 maniples is quite feasible. Isidore also adds that a maniple numbered 200 men. Therefore, 6000 men equates to 30 maniples at 200 men, with a maniple consisting of two centuries of 100 men. Now, to back this up, I’m sorry but I have to use the zodiac. In the 4800 man legion, which would equate to 30 maniples at 160 men (two 80 man centuries) I showed that a tribe consisting of 9600 men (4800 iuniores and 4800 seniores).

But you have not.
1) In Isidore’s time, such old-style limitanei legions did not exist anywhere near him, the closest, if still organised like that, being in Egypt. His theoretical knowledge must go back on documents perhaps over a century old.
2) It’s already been mentioned here that Isidore used more than one source, with conflicting information.
3) The maniple is not a sub-unit known after the 3rd century. Ammianus uses archaizing words throughout his work: his swords are gladii, his Persians are Parthi, etc. But we lack any evidence for the maniple as a sub-unit, in contrst with the legion, the cohort, the cuneas, the numerus, etc.
4) Seniores and iuniores did not serve in one unit, as I told they didn’t. You made that up.

Concluding: you did not prove that Isidore was right, and you are making up what the Late Roman Army organisation looked like. It’s OK to ask for information here on this forum, but if you consistently ignore all the information that you receive, why would you or anyone of us bother?