11-04-2016, 10:53 AM
Robert wrote:
There's someone who insists that all 5500 Sarmatians taken to Britain were one numerus.
It would be funny if a commander had requested a numerus of Sarmatians (following the principle of a numerus having no fixed number), and hoping for 500 Sarmatians, ends up with 5500 Sarmatians.
You believe too many organisations in a legion would make matters complicated. Once I would have agreed with you. According to Varro, a cohort was a coupling of several maniples. Notice that Varro does not give a fixed number. There is a reason for this. Following Varro this would means that any unit that had a number of maniples could be termed a cohort. Therefore, a cohort could vary in size depending on the number of maniples it was allocated. However, the Romans are not stupid and do have fixed sizes for the various cohort organisations within a legion. As I have found there are two cohort organisations. I call them cohorts because the primary sources use that term. One cohort organisation is commanded by a military tribune and the other is the standard 10 cohorts. So there are 6 tribune cohorts in a legion, which being less in number than the 10 cohort system, is larger in size. The tribune cohort system is the one that takes precedence on the battlefield and governs how the legion fights. The 10 cohorts system is applicable to the camp organisation. However, it is a flexible organisation and both systems can be employed on the battlefield if need be. Sulla at Chaeronea comes to mind.
So far the Late Roman legion is following these two cohort systems.
There's someone who insists that all 5500 Sarmatians taken to Britain were one numerus.
It would be funny if a commander had requested a numerus of Sarmatians (following the principle of a numerus having no fixed number), and hoping for 500 Sarmatians, ends up with 5500 Sarmatians.
You believe too many organisations in a legion would make matters complicated. Once I would have agreed with you. According to Varro, a cohort was a coupling of several maniples. Notice that Varro does not give a fixed number. There is a reason for this. Following Varro this would means that any unit that had a number of maniples could be termed a cohort. Therefore, a cohort could vary in size depending on the number of maniples it was allocated. However, the Romans are not stupid and do have fixed sizes for the various cohort organisations within a legion. As I have found there are two cohort organisations. I call them cohorts because the primary sources use that term. One cohort organisation is commanded by a military tribune and the other is the standard 10 cohorts. So there are 6 tribune cohorts in a legion, which being less in number than the 10 cohort system, is larger in size. The tribune cohort system is the one that takes precedence on the battlefield and governs how the legion fights. The 10 cohorts system is applicable to the camp organisation. However, it is a flexible organisation and both systems can be employed on the battlefield if need be. Sulla at Chaeronea comes to mind.
So far the Late Roman legion is following these two cohort systems.
