11-29-2011, 01:55 AM
Quote:It's often claimed that the auxilia units in the Late Roman army were only 500 men strong...Silvanius took 8000 auxilliaries with him on a journey in Gaul according to Ammianus. Now, if these auxilliaries are not mercenary Franks then this would have added upto an astonishing 16 units of auxilia!!!It might be worth considering that the situation was the same under the principiate - cohors quingenaria were (supposedly) 500 strong, and if the auxiliary force was intended to match the legion strength in an army (which is debatable, I know), that would involve a lot of different individual units: four legions, for example, would need to be supported by 48 cohors quingenaria! Even allowing for the probable use of vexillations rather than full legions, and cohors millaria, that's still a lot of cohorts.
Also, wasn't Silvanius the Magister Equitum for Gaul? The N.D. gives, I think, almost exactly 16 auxilia palatina units under his command. This might be a coincidence, but suggests that he could have had such a force available to him...
Nathan Ross
