I'm interested to know more about Roman army. Does anyone has information about roman military? What are its units like and what are the weapons used?

For weapons and armor go here

http://www.romancoins.info/MilitaryEquipment.html

My suggestion would be to watch Desicive Battles, which used to be on the history cahnnel. It was simple, but informative.

Then again he could start by reading this http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~madsb/home/war/vegetius/ and by going here http://members.tripod.com/%7ES_van_Dorst/legio.html

General,

One of the best sites out there for your inquiries would be www.RomanArmy.com. They also have a forum that is very informative and the folks there are quite nice.


Regards,
DRleungjan

Salve

Xander van dorst is quite expert in this area and nice too and he's not a reinactor as far as I know.

HUH??? Where did my other posts go....did I do or say anything wrong?


DRleungjan

Lol<you're correct it is Sander not Xander. Here's a link to a very good link page

http://intranet.dalton.org/groups/rome/RMil.html

My favourite source on Roman stuff.

http://www.roman-empire.net/index.html

CHF was hacked yesterday and the database that was restored reverts to an older backup (Saturday). Thus, if your posts dated to Sunday and Monday, it simply was lost. [Note that they were not deleted. A hacker doesn't come in to CHF to delete posts]

Anybody has also seen HBO series 'Rome'? I would suggest it to anyone interested in Roman history or just like a good TV drama.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_(TV_series)#Series_history
http://www.hbo.com/rome/
Some readers' comments from Amazon

'Rome, the HBO series, was a joy to watch, not only for its mostly accurate depiction of life in the latter Roman Republic, but for its standout performances. It is filled with fascinating charecters, from the depraved Attia, to the earthy Titus Pullo, to the magnificent Julius Caesar himself. One could only wish that the some of the battles, like Pharsalus, could have gotten a bigger budget so we could see thousands of legionaries clashing in full CGI glory. Still, I eagerly await the second season, whenever it's going to happen.'

'An HBO/BBC production that took 14 months to film and 100 million $, "Rome" is an ambitious project that succeeds as great entertainment, with a good slice of history thrown in. The re-creation of the city is magnificent, full of filth and poverty, ghastly pagan rituals, lots of coitus between all and sundry, all wrapped in a rich palette of rusty dark reds and shades of brown. Every week I marveled at the beauty of Jeff Beal's score, and it was great to see the talents of actors like Ciaran Hinds. The 12 episodes have 9 directors and 6 writers, and one can detect the subtle differences in their work. The nudity and violence are quite explicit, and "Rome" is not recommended for those who have qualms about watching "life as it was" (and is...and ever shall be). This series leaves us wanting more, and looking forward to the next installment, for some of the most riveting television since the 1975 series "I, Claudius." '

My comment is that I will give the show 100 out of 100 if they have as much making battle scenes as making love scenes. I'm kind of disappointed when I didn't see Roman legions clash in the battle between Ceasar and Pompey. But whatever the show is very well written and directed. The final scene is magnificent. It's amazing to see they exploit so much surprise and drama out of a very famous scheme, the murder of Ceasar.

Make me thinking why China never made a historical drama like that. So much money wasted on 'ROTK'(boring) 'Han Wu Da Di'(tolerably good)'Hero'(tolerably good) and 'The Promise'(junk).
A must see for history buffs.

A big CAVEAT must be taken when watching any sort of historical drama, especially when it comes to Rome. Hollywood LOVES to bastardize Roman history. Although documentaries and dramas can give you a sense for the times they don't replace books read or research done on one's end. Other than that they are always a good starting point for further research and definitely good entertainment.


DRleungjan

The best source I have found about the Roman Army, in this case the Imperial Roman Army, is the following book.

The Roman Imperial Army of the First and Second Centuries AD by Graham Webster

The copy I own is the 3rd Edition. Here is a brief rundown from the Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 - Introductory
Chapter 2 - Frontier Systems
Chapter 3 - The Composition of the Army (The Roman Cohorts, The Legions, The Auxilia, The Navy)
Chapter 4 - Camps and Forts
Chapter 5 - The Army in the Field (Tactics, Transmission of Information by Signals, Medical Services, Soldiers' Pay)
Chapter 6 - The Army in Peaceful Activities (Religion, Civilizing Activities)
Bibliography
Indices (Latin Words and Terms, Classical Works Cited, Army Units, General)

Throughout this work there are diagrams and illustrations, as well as photographs from archeological evidence.

The Above book is the Source on the legions (both the late Manipualr and Cohort)
Another oft cited source is
* The Imperial Roman Army
By Yann Le Bohec

And J.E. Lendon gives a treatment of the legions in the last half of
Soldiers & Ghosts A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity

If you want to know more about how the legions impacted Roman Politics I would look at
*Swords Against the Senate The Rise of the Roman Army and the Fall of the Republic
By Erik Hildinger

*Storming the Heavens Soldiers, Emperors, and Civilians in the Roman Empire
By Antonio Santosuosso

If you wanted to look at an argument for a uniqueness to western warfare (and one that is well cited and hard to find flaws in) I would look at

*Carnage and Culture Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power
By Victor Davis Hanson

Do you folks mind if I copy and paste these titles to the recommended reading for European History?