Late Roman Legion size based on the Perge Inscription

[FlaviusB]

FabiusB wrote:
I never claimed the size of the Legion wasn't fixed... in the Principate. I was speaking of the early Republic, not the Principate, but thank you for misquoting me!

You did write that that Republican Legions between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC rose from 4-4200 to 52-5600, and that the Legions varied in size based on available manpower and campaign demands." That is what I was referring to. However, my next line was a change of thought, or a jump in time to the principate, so I do apologize for the confusion I caused.

FabiusB wrote:
Whether or not 5600 is a rounded number is inconsequential…

Well, I strongly disagree, as knowing whether it is rounded makes a big difference. The problem I have with these discussions, and academia in general, is no one seems interested in gathering up all the army and unit numbers for the principate, so as to better make conclusions. The most common method is cherry picking the data to suite one’s sensibilities. If all the data from the principate was correlated, Seutonius’ claim of 5,600 men is not alone.

So, does Seutonius’ figure of 5,600 include cavalry? In 67 AD, to suppress an uprising from spreading in the district of Samaria, Vespasian sent Cerealius, the legate of the fifth legion with a force of 3,000 infantry and 600 cavalry. In 70 AD, the Roman commander Titus, when surveying the fortifications of Jerusalem was accompanied by 600 selected cavalry.

FabiusB wrote:
It doesn't require a huge logical leap to conclude that if there are 60 centuries in a legion and 6 centurions are grouped together in a cohort, then 60/6 gives us 10 cohorts.

I’m completely at a loss here. Have I disputed a legion having 10 cohorts, or are you disputing Isidores’ comment that a legion had 12 cohorts?

This was your quote from a previous post in this thread:

"When in camp, the 10 cohorts of 600 infantry in a 6,000-infantry legion are rearranged into 12 cohorts each of 500 infantry. Isidore states the 6,000-man legion has 60 centuries, 30 maniples and 12 cohorts. Oh, cried academia, Isidore does not know what he is talking about, a legion does not have 12 cohorts.
 
Oh yes it does! When in camp, cohort 11 is distributed amongst the 10 cohorts, thereby allocating each cohort 50 infantry, bringing the total of cohorts 1to 10 to 550 infantry per cohort, organised into five centuries each of 110 infantry. Interestingly, in his account of the siege of Hatra in 199 AD, Cassius Dio mentions a body of 550 European men. That would make a legion of 5,500 infantry."

I could easily have misinterpreted your comment about a Legion having 12 cohorts by distributing the 11th and 12th ones among the rest of the cohorts while in camp, and I apologize if that's the case. Other wise I dislike being led in circles by disingenuous arguments, so I'll ask you this: regarding my original post that began this thread, what issue do you have with the idea that, under Constantine, the Roman Legion was reconfigured into smaller Legions about 1/3rd the size of their Principate counterparts, that is from 4800 to 1600 rank-and-file soldiers, excluding officers, slaves, non-legionary cavalry, etc.?