Zodiac and Late Roman Army Organisation

[Nathan Ross]

Nicasie claims that there is evidence for the number of contubernia being reduced from ten in the principiate to six in the later empire.

I think your haste got the better of you. :wink: Nicasie is in full support of the 8-man contubernium throughout his book. He discusses and dispills Vegetius 10-men contubernium as a mistake, but never advocates a drop to 6 men.

Hasty... but not that hasty! I meant (as did Nicasie, I think) the number of contubernia (plural*) in a centuria, not the number of men in a contubernium (singular). The eight-man contubernium seems to be the only stable numerical unit. Beyond this we have only various multiples of eight, not including officers, up through the legion structure...

* this could well be my faulty latin causing the confusion!