Conor Whately - An Introduction to the Roman Military: From Marius (100 BCE) to Theodosius II (450 CE)

1. Chapter 5

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15

Conor Whately

This edition first published 2021
2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Name: Whately, Conor, author.
Title: An introduction to the Roman military : from Marius (100 BCE) to Theodosius II (450 CE) / Conor Whately.
Other titles: From Marius (100 BCE) to Theodosius II (450 CE)
Description: Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020015673 (print) | LCCN 2020015674 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119139799 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119139874 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119139881 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: RomeHistory, Military30 B.C.476 A.D. | RomeArmy. | Military art and scienceRome.
Classification: LCC U35 .W57 2021 (print) | LCC U35 (ebook) | DDC 355.00937dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015673
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015674

Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: Nastasic/Getty Images

This book has been a long time coming. You could say it started when I first wrote an essay on a Roman military topic as an undergrad back in the 20002001 academic year. In two classes, both taught by Bernard Kavanagh (at Queens in Kingston), I first did an essay on the Third Servile War (of Spartacus) and subsequently on Marcus Aurelius wars with the Marcomanni. Flash forward nearly twenty years, and Ive now taught a course on the Roman military three times, twice within the first twelve months of my move to Winnipeg, and a third not long after the birth of my second daughter (Penny), whos now two at the time of writing. Im also now in my eleventh year in Winnipeg, which is the longest Ive every lived somewhere continuously. In short, it has occupied most of my professional career, in one way or another. To each of the students who took this class, and to all of those who will take future classes on the subject and find this book of use, you have my thanks. I hope that this book will appeal to those who wouldnt ordinarily find themselves reading something about the Roman army, whether willingly or unwillingly.

I must thank the initial editor at Wiley, Haze Humbert, for her interest in the subject, then subsequently, Todd Green, Sakthivel Kandaswamy, and Ajith Kumar, also at Wiley, for seeing this out. Thanks also to Mary Malin, Transtyoe for copyediting. The army of reviewers at all stages deserve my gratitude for making this book a far better product than it would have otherwise been. I should also thank, however, all those scholars who have contributed to our expanding knowledge of the Roman military in some way or other. New and exciting things continue to be published, which push our understanding in stimulating directions. I have no hope of reading it all, or even most of it. Without them, writing something like this would have been that much more difficult.