The Dacians: Rome\'s Greatest Enemy?

[diegis]

Large scale troop movement by sea was very rare - navigation was difficult or impossible for half the year anyway, and the risks were immense: just look at the trouble Caesar had conveying his army from Sicily to north Africa, a voyage of only a few days. A voyage to Syria could have taken weeks, and many vessels would have been lost or scattered on the way.

The usual way to send troops eastward was by land, precisely as Appian describes. A short sea crossing of the Adriatic from Brundisium, then a march across Macedonia by the via Egnatia and the Bosphorus and down through Asia. Roman armies took this route repeatedly. If Caesar wanted an army in Syria ready for the campaigning season of 44BC, sending them by the land route early in the year would have them in place when they were needed.

So, if we have sixteen legions 'sent on ahead', and six later based in Macedonia, it seems clear that the remaining ten were marched straight down to the eastern front in preparation for the Parthian war, and the six in Macedonia were kept back for the campaign against the Getae.

I believe you might be right about Romans marching across Macedonia by the via Egnatia and the Bosphorus and down through Asia.
However, I still dont see what Syme said as something realistic. First, because he mention them all over eastern provinces, Egypt, Syria, Bythinia, and so on. Thats not something one will do for a campaign, when forces are concentrated in war zone or operations area and not spread all over 3 continents.
And second, I think Caesar was killed 4 days after he send those 16 legions over Adriatic, hardly a time long enough for 3 legions to reach Egypt or even Syria.

So I dare to disagree with this idea, and I think part of the army come back to Italy, some remain in Macedonia, maybe some was taken by Dolabella in east and so on. But for sure the 16 legions was send and based in Illyria and Macedonia, and not in Egypt or Bythinia, that have no logic from a military pov