> I am not an expert in these matters (Martin, Roderick?), but this
> number seems to me far too low. How is this rate calculated? What
are
> the sources and the hypothesis behind this estimate? What is the
> period of reference and the region of reference?
>
> I mean: Rome had a number of battles and campaigns in which the
> historians state legions took large casualties. Many times Rome had
> to hire mercenaries or enrole even plebaeii and slaves in order to
> meet the army requirements. Add to this the diseases and natural
> attrition of *active* legions.
Gian,
I think that these numbers relate to a Legion on a regular day to day basis averaged out over periods that include both campaigning and garrison duty.
Recently I started looking into the day to day life of the legions and their recruitment to see how I could use this in Glorantha and I was struck time and time again by the references to the quality of Roman military healthcare both in terms of prventative care (very unusual in pre-modern times) and in terms of curative care. I posted a link to a paper that has a section on this earlier.
The other thing that I noted about the army was it's method of recruitment and the difficulty during the Principate period of joining the Legions, particularly if you were not the son or nephew of a veteran. To join you needed letters of recommendation and introduction, preferably more than just one, and often needed to bribe the recruiter to join. There was NO press ganging into the Legions.
To me this adds a lovely element into my Glorantha in the difference between the various units of the Lunar army. I see units such as the Granite, Marble Phalanxes, etc. and the other units of the Heartland Corps as being difficult to join, having a higher esprit de corps and more disciplined, whereas other Native units are less disciplined and more prone to arbitrary killing and looting.
However, as far as the Sartarites are concerned a Lunar soldier is a Lunar soldier and the more disciplined Heartland units get blamed for the actions of the (Tarshite) auxiliary units, etc.
Cheers,
Ed
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