[What Ethnic Group Are You From?]

I live in Ireland, but my family was originally from Scotland. 100% Celtic either way. We remained unconquered!

[After The Charge!?]

What would happen to a cavalry rider who was unhorsed during the charge? Would he have been able to get to the main battle, or would he have been trampled? And once there, what would he have done?

[Rome & Christianity]

Thanks! Those articles look really interesting; I've only read the first one but I'll have a look at the others now.

[Rome & Christianity]

First the Romans crucified Christ, then they persecuted Christians, then the official religion of the Empire became Christianity. Why did attitudes change so dramatically? Why did Christianity spread so rapidly despite persecutions? Did the persecution of Christians in fact help it spread? Why has Christianity stayed when so many other religions in Roman times died out? Why did the Church stay even when Rome fell? I'd love to know what you think about Christianity and other religions in Roman times generally.

[Army Superstitions]

Thanks, that's all really helpful! The book also looks good, I'll see if it's available in the UK.

[Army Superstitions]

Hi! Just wondering about superstitions they had in the army. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that they thought seeing an eagle was lucky because it was their standard, but I'm not sure if that's right or not. Do you know of any others?

 

After a long search, I have finally found a map of Roman Britain! Unfortunately, I don't think half the towns marked on it were around by 60AD. Any websites I could get the dates of town developments?

 

And finally, I've also been looking for books on the Roman army and Roman Britain. Are there any you can recommend?

 

Thanks for all your help, it's invaluable!

[Legion - Good And Bad!]

You're probably right - I don't really know much about them except for a bit of passing research on British legions. I've never really looked into them in detail - the site I was reading seemed to think they'd been cursed by Boudicca or something, so your explanation seems a lot more likely!

[Fire]

This page has loads about lighting fires:

http://www.greencastlemuseum.org/Special_E...e_and_light.htm

[Reinforcements]

Most of them were Tribunes, but apparently some rich parents wanted their kids to be Centurions. Maybe they didn't like them much and wanted them killed off...

JOT, what did tribunes actually do?

[Legion - Good And Bad!]

I reckon the Ninth too. For the worst, I mean. They marched into Valencia and never came back, as far as I can remember. I gather it was a pretty bad legion to begin with, and they probably mutinied.

[Reinforcements]

He comes from an equestrian class family, and apparently they used to get appointments in high ranks to start off with, so their military record looked good.

[Roman Questions]

Here's another couple of random questions:

 

What were Roman books like? I assume they were scrolls, but how were they stored if there were lots of them? I'm thinking of stuff like the Odyssey, Iliad etc.

Also, what about letters, like Paul's ones in the Bible?

 

The other thing was, how did people store their things, like money and other personal belongings? Some books I've read say 'in the breast of their tunics' - how does that work? Did they just stuff things down their shirts?

[Welcome and Introduce Yourself Here]

Hi! I found this site while researching Roman history for a novel I'm trying to write, about a Roman soldier in Britain at the time of the Boudiccan Revolt. It's been invaluable for answering questions about Roman Britain at the time, and I hope I don't annoy everyone by asking reams of questions...

[Reinforcements]

Thanks, that's really helpful! Thanks also for the site, it looks incredibly useful!

[Reinforcements]

I know it's probably unlikely that Paulinus got reinforcements from Rome, but for the sake of the story, my Centurion needs to be a new recruit at the time of the Anglesey battle And he needs to be from Rome, which complicates the whole thing further.

 

A legionary cohort could not be raised without the order of the emperor

 

 

Darn, that sounds complicated. Maybe I could just leave that whole bit out...

 

You may have to do a bit of research, but you should be able to find some actual auxilia and or legionary units that may have been arriving about the time period you are looking for.

 

 

They all seem to have come over in the Claudian force. I'm going to have to make an entire Cohort up, which is incredibly bad from a historical point of view.

 

A good start is The Roman Army at War: 100 Bc-Ad 200 by Adrian Goldsworthy

 

 

Thanks, I'll have a look for it.

 

I doubt transfers of legionaires was a common practise, they would probably be mustered for the occasion.

 

 

How would you get the legionaries to form a cohort? Would there be a station you could sign up at or something?

 

The likely transport route from the continent to Britain was probably Gesoriacum (modern Boulogne, France) to Ritupiae.

 

 

Great, that's what I thought! What sort of ships would they be transported in? I've done a bit of research and can't find anything on Roman transports - all there seems to be is on slave galleys.

 

Also, I assume that the journey to their posting would be the same as any other march. They slept in tents, didn't they? If they were passing through a fort though, would they have slept there or what? Just wondering because my Cohort is in Rutupiae in the bit I'm writing at the moment, having just got off the ship, and they're staying there for the night. Would this have happened? Would there even have been somewhere for them to sleep?

 

Thanks guys for all your help, it's been invaluable! :notworthy:

[Reinforcements]

Hi, it's me again, come to annoy you all by asking stupid questions about Romans because I'm such an ignoramus myself. Hope you don't mind and will bear with me in my quest to write a historically accurate Roman novel.

Basically I want to have a new Roman Cohort sent to Britain to reinforce the XIV Gemina in about 60AD, i.e. just before the attack on Anglesey and the subsequent Boudiccan revolt. Would this have been, if not likely, at all possible?

Also, I don't really know much about how the Cohort would get to Britain (if indeed it would be a cohort that would be formed). I assume it would be requested by Paulinus, and then somehow it would be formed (or taken from somewhere else?) in some manner. I then assume that the Cohort would be trained, and sent to Britain, where they would receive their posting to a specific fort. However, this is all pure assumption on my part and it probably would happen nothing like this.

If possible, it would be great if someone could give me information on:

- how reinforcements would be requested

- what type of troops would be requested (eg. a regular legionary Cohort/an auxiliary Ala, etc)

- how the Cohort would be formed

- how it would be trained

- how it would get to Britain

- when it would get its specific orders

Thank you in advance! I really appreciate it because I do want to be as historically accurate as I can, and I know you guys would want a Roman book to be accurate as well.

Thanks!

Aquilifer

[Auxiliaries]

Thanks! What I'm interested in is auxiliary cavalry mainly. I was wondering if there would have been any Romans in the cavalry at all, as commanders or something.

[Auxiliaries]

Hi, I have a couple of questions about auxiliary forces in the first century AD. When auxiliaries were recruited, were they given the same training as Roman forces? Also, would the commander of an auxiliary cohort also be an auxiliary, or would he be a Roman who had been delegated this responsibility?

[Uniforms]

I am certainly not an expert on tunic colours, but I always assumed they were red. They are in any pictures I have ever seen. But after reading all this it does make sense that there may have been different colours.

[Reenactors]

I would dearly love to be in a re-enactment group, but I don't think there are any in Ireland. Maybe we could be the Celts? Although I don't know anyone who goes in for full-body tattoos or that sort of thing! The Romans didn't even get here, which is a bit pathetic. I mean, they were just across the Irish Sea! Although they did trade with the Hibernians, I think.

[Joining The Legions]

OK thanks! Will look up some books. If it would help, it's around the first century AD.

[Roman Britain]

So would there be any chance at all that a soldier fighting in the attack on Anglesey would be in his first battle? Or would that require an inordinate amount of artistic license and some Hollywood-esque rewriting of history? And would you be able to stretch the bounds of possibility even further and say that there might have been a Roman cavalryman in the battle? I know it was all auxiliary cavalry and no self-respecting person from Rome would be in the cavalry, but would there be any way one could be for the sake of my story? Involving some sort of convoluted an extrememely unlikely coincidences in the name of historical accuracy? My little knowledge of Roman times can't stretch to it...

[Joining The Legions]

How would your average Roman citizen sign up to a legion?

How soon would you be posted out?

Could you decide what legion you joined?

Did you have to buy your own equipment?

How were reinforcements sent out to legions in the provinces?

Thanks!

[Roman Britain]

Thanks, that's another great site! Would any Roman soldiers in Britain at that time have come over with Claudius, or is it likely that there were other postings there? The only ones I can find seem to have been with Claudius, but I would have thought more troops would be sent as they expanded into Wales and Scotland.

[Roman Britain]

Thanks, that site's really useful! All of the cavalry in Britain would have been auxiliaries then? Would there have been any Romans at all in the cavalry? Also, Primus Pilus said that there would have been Celtic cavalry involved? Any idea which other provinces cavalry in Britain would have come from? I was thinking maybe Gaul or Spain, and maybe some Thracians as well?