The Dacians: Rome\'s Greatest Enemy?

[Nathan Ross]

Is very possible that after Caesar's death those 10 legions from Illyria to be called back in Italia, disbanded, send to other areas, took over by one or others from the camps that was formed.

Unlikely, I think. Such a large force would need a commander appointed by the senate, even to disband them, and such an individual would have been very powerful if the legions in question were anywhere close to Italy. No such person is mentioned in the sources. Antony, too, would have been keener to get his hands on ten legions rather than six!

More likely, then, that such a force, if it existed in a cohesive group, was too far away to be useable in an Italian conflict (already in Syria, for example), or, as Syme suggests, that it was split up all over the eastern empire and only the six legions in Macedonia were kept together.

Of course, there's still the possibility of a transcription error in Appian - the first 'sixteen legions' sent out should have been the 'six legions' that returned...

(and sorry RAT, for me the reply system look a little awkward

It might be neater if you just quoted the part(s) of other people's posts you were replying to, rather than the whole thing! ;-)