Roman Military Intelligence

[Sassanid.Red]

I was wondering if anyone could give me information on intelligence officers in the Roman Legions: their function, recruitment, training? I'm aware of Roman espionage, is this different? Presumably they recruited people who had a knowledge of the area.

[Jon Eaton]

There are two good books on this subject.

(1) Exploratio: Political and Military Intelligence in the Roman World From The Second Punic War to the Battle of Adrianople by N.B. Rankov & N.J.E. Austin (1995)

(2) Trust in the Gods but Verify: Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome by
R.M. Sheldon (2005)

Hope this helps.