When in Rome...
 

A typical roman legion had 4,200 men in it, but I can't find anywhere how many legions the Roman army had. Anybody know?

http://pub45.ezboard.com/fromanarmyt...picID=52.topic


About halfway down the page, there's a comment about there being 300,000-500,000 men total in the Roman army. So at the highest, 500,000/4200 = approximately 120 or so legions.

The number of legions in the Roman army changed all the time.

At the start of the Second Punic War (218-202BC) for example, there were 6 legions.

After the complete defeat of the Romans at the Battle of Cannae in 216BC, the gates of Rome were open. Hannibal refused to follow up and Rome desperately began a recruitment program. Within a couple of years there were 25 legions.

In 27BC when Octavian took the name Augustus and became the first Roman Emperor he later reduced the number of legions from 50 to 25.

In other words, the number changed depending upon circumstances. Legions were destroyed, like the three under Varro in the Teutoberg Forests, or disbanded like those who fought badly during the Punic Wars and sent to Sicily. Legions were also raised in times of crisis or civil war.

It should also be noted that the actual number of men in a legion also changed overtime. The Marian reforms during the Republican Civil Wars also had an effect.

Let me know if you would like more details or links posted.

Mr Mephisto

Yes please. and thanks. Rome has always been an interest to me but i can never find good info.

Try any of the following sites:

Roman Army Page: http://members.tripod.com/~S_van_Dorst/legio.html
Roman Arms & Armour: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nantiq/arma/
Hannibal & the 2nd Punic War (excellent): http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/home.htm
Roman Army: http://www.roman-empire.net/army/army.html
Roman Army bulletin board (like TFP): http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk
Roman army details, battles etc (excellent but some dead links): http://webpages.charter.net/brueggeman/


Hope this helps mate. If you want some book titles let me know.


Mr Mephisto

Coolness, this stuff is really good. Many thanks.

wow mephisto, i'm decent w/history... but that some i've never heard before. impressive. did that come from the top of your head?