Early Garrisons

[Pompieus]

Volume VII of the Cambridge Ancient History (pg 655 of the 1954 edition) says that when Tarentum was taken at the end of the Pyrrhic War (272 BCE) a legion was "permanently" stationed in the citadel.

 

It also says (pg 798) that after the First Punic War, when a Praetor was finally assigned as governor of Sicily (227 BCE) he had a legion as a garrison.

 

Polybius (vii.24) when enumerating the forces available to the Republic in the Gallic War of 225 says that legions were in garrison at Tarentum and in Sicily.

 

I can't find any reference to these first garrisons in a primary source prior to Polybius or in any modern work. the CAH doesn't give a source. Polybius and Livy don't mention them in the first year of the Second Punic War (218 BCE). Is it aknowledged by those that know these things that the Romans kept garrisons in Sicily and Tarentum (in addition to the two "urban legions" raised each year) from 272 and 227 BCE? Did they exist in 218 BCE?

[caldrail]

I've tried to find some references to this but so far the best I've come up with is a remark that a garrison was put in place at around that time when it could have been more usefully employed elsewhere. Its clutching at straws but the impression I get is that they were posted there as an emergency measure at the start of hostilities.

 

Sorry, thats sicily I was talking about, not the other location.

Edited June 11, 2007 by caldrail

[Pompieus]

Odd, considering all the ink spilled on the "professionalization" of the army, that Brunt ("Italian Manpower"), Parker ("Roman Legions"), Keppie ("Making the Roman Army") et al don't touch on this as these are (if they were maintained) the first "semi-permanent garrison units the Romans had - prior even to those in Spain.

[Kosmo]

Some time ago I posted a question about roman garrisons that were placed in the greek cities of South Italy. The presence of this garrisons sparked the war with Tarentum and Pyrhus. I've found no answer yet but I'm convinced that Rome had already permanent forces. If this were profesional soldiers or a form of rotating conscripts I can't tell as I found no primary or secundary source.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

It was most probably a form of rotating conscripts ( like it later was in Spain ) or a band of mercenaries, for the idea of a professional state corps of soldiers was not yet born in Rome at the time. From what we can see from the sources I think that only a few soldiers like the famous Spurius Longinus can be called professionals because their main activity is war and even these manage to father many childrens ( 5 in Longinus' case if I remember well ).

 

Also remember that outside of those small forces the main way for the romans to guarison an area was called a colony...