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  1. #23
    Bibliophilic Member Atilius's Avatar
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    Default Re: No reforms at all?

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
    Isn't Scipio credited with transforming the Roman Legion from a pretty rigid 3-line manipular formation with a strict straight-ahead attack vector into a more flexible force based around the cohort capable of outflanking, double envelopments and semi independent maneourvre and engagement?
    Not really. It's clear that at the battle of the Great Plains, Scipio opened with a perfectly standard quincunx formation. Polybios 13.8:

    Scipio simply adopted the regular Roman formation, placing maniples of hastati in the front rank, then behind them the principes and last of all the triarii.
    His disposition at Zama (Polybios 15.9) is similar except he places the maniples of principes immediately behind the hastati rather than behind the gaps between the hastati. This created channels intended to draw an elephant charge safely through the army.

    His major tactical innovation was to hold the enemy front with the hastati, move the principes and triarii out to opposite sides and use them to flank and envelop the enemy. It should be noted however, that this tactic could only be executed if the enemy flanks were stripped of their cavalry. Scipio was fortunate that he had overwhelming superiority in horse. And we never hear of this tactic being executed after Zama, so this can't be called a reform even in a purely tactical sense.

    There is no evidence that Scipio's legions maneuvered in cohorts. Livy (30.33) seems to use the words cohors and manipulos interchangeably in his description of Scipio's disposition before Zama. It should also be remembered that the word cohors was frequently applied to allied contingents of the Roman army long before Scipio's time (e.g. Livy 10.33 in 294 BC).

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
    Also didn't he increase the standard size of his legions by about 10%?
    I can't recall a specific reference to Scipio doing so. He was permitted by the Senate to call for volunteers during his first term as Consul to supplement his forces. However, according to Polybios (6.20), the size of a legion was routinely increased from about 4,500 men to 5,000 men in times of particular danger. In fact, during the Gallic invasion of 225 BC (Polybios 2.23), eight of the 10 legions in service numbered 5500 men. Scipio was 11 at the time.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
    Also didn't he introduce spanish cutlery?
    I believe there is a reference to Scipio bringing Spanish smiths back to Italy when he returned in 205 BC. However, the Romans were already using weapons patterned on the gladius hispaniensis, and probably had been since the 1st Punic War. The idea that an army of 150,000 to 200,000 men who were responsible for providing their own weapons and equipment was re-armed by a few Spanish smiths is simply not plausible.

    Though I've dwelled on them at length, these are all tangential points. The Polybian army is simply the successor to the Camillan army. It is characterized by sword-armed skirmishers (the velites, replacing the leves, rorarii, and accensi), sword-armed hastati and principes, the complete disappearance the hoplite shield in favor the scutum, and the introduction of mail. The earliest likely date for this change in organization and equipment is the Pyrrhic War (280-275 BC), the latest plausible date is 211 BC, based on a passage in Livy concerning the velites. Even the latest date is too early for Scipio to have had any influence upon the process.
    Last edited by Atilius; 08-06-2009 at 05:59.
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