Legions of Rome: The definitive history of every Roman legion

No book on Roman history has attempted to do what Stephen Dando-Collins does in Legions of Rome: to provide a complete history of every Imperial Roman legion and what it achieved as a fighting force. The author has spent the last thirty years collecting every scrap of available evidence from numerous sources: stone and bronze inscriptions, coins, papyrus and literary accounts in a remarkable feat of historical detective work. The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 provides a detailed account of what the legionaries wore and ate, what camp life was like, what they were paid and how they were motivated and punished. The section also contains numerous personal histories of individual soldiers. Part 2 offers brief unit histories of all the legions that served Rome for 300 years from 30BC. Part 3 is a sweeping chronological survey of the campaigns in which the armies were involved, told from the point of view of particular legions. Lavish, authoritative and beautifully produced, Legions of Rome will appeal to ancient history enthusiasts and military history buffs alike.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. Part One - The Men: Where It All Began; Soldiering for Augustus; Enlisting and Retiring; Special Duties; Discipline and Punishment; Legionary Pay; Comparative Buying Power of a Legionary's Income, First-Second Centuries AD; Military Decorations and Awards; Legionary Uniforms and Equipment; The Legionary's Weapons; Legionary Training; Legionary Rations and Diet; Furloughs and Furlough Fees; Legion Musicians; The Standard-Bearer, Tesserarius and Optio; The Decurion; The Centurion; The Camp-Prefect; The Tribunes; The Prefect; The Quaestor; The Legate; The Praetor; Senior Officer Rank Distinctions; Senior Officers of the Late Empire: Prefects, dukes and counts take command; Auxiliaries; The Use of Multipart Names by Roman Auxiliaries and Sailors; Numeri; Marines and Sailors. Part Two - The Legions: Legion Organization; Lawrence Keppie's Legion Number Formula: Explaining the origins of the 5th to 10th legions; The Legion Camp; Watchwords and Trumpet Calls; On the March; Baggage Trains and Non-Combatants; Artillery and Siege Equipment; Legion, Praetorian Guard and Auxiliary Standards; The Vexillum; The Draco, or Dragon Standard; The Commander's Standard; Legion Emblems and Birth Signs: Caesar's bulls and other myths; The Triumph; Unit Histories: Rome's imperial legions and guard units; The Emperor's Household Cavalry; The Imperial Bodyguard: The German Guard and its successors; Legions of the Late Empire; Cavalry; Cavalry of the Late Empire; Camels and War Elephants; The Evocati; The Palatium. Part Three - The Battles: Routing the Scythians; The Cantabrian War; Rome Invades Ethiopia; Second Cantabrian War; The 5th Alaudae Loses its Eagle; Conquering Raetia; At the Altar of Peace; The Pannonian War; The Varus Disaster; The Struggle at Fort Aliso; Invading Germany; Battle of Long Bridges; Battle of Idistavisus; Battle of the Angrivar Barrier; Tacfarinas' Revolt; Scribonianus' Revolt; Invading Britain; Corbulo's First Armenian Campaign; Rioting in Jerusalem; Boudicca's British Revolt; Corbulo's Second Armenian Campaign; First Jewish Revolt; Vespasian Takes Command; The Roxolani Battle; Year of the Four Emperors; The Civilis Revolt; Losing the Rhine; Rome's Rhine Response; Battle of Rigodulum; Battle of Trier; Battle of Old Camp; Besieging Jerusalem; Machaerus and Masada; The 6th Ferrata Takes Commagene; The Chattian War; Battle of Mons Graupius; Decebalus the Invader; Saturninus' Revolt; Retreat from Dacia; First Dacian War; Overrunning Dacia; Between the Dacian Wars; Second Dacian War; Trajan Annexes Arabia; Trajan's Parthian War; Disappearance of the 9th; Second Jewish Revolt; Arrian Against the Alans; A Legion Destroyed; Cassius' Parthian War; Marcus Aurelius' Danube War; The Thundering 12th; Blood on the Ice; Challenging for Marcus' Throne; Marcus Aurelius' Last Campaigns; Severus Versus Niger; Battle of Lugdunum; Severus' Parthian War; Severus' Scottish Invasion; Executions at York; Killing Caracalla; Macrinus Against Elagabalus; For and Against Maximinus; Valerian Captured; The Palmyran Wars; Constantine Fights for the Throne; Battle of the Milvian Bridge; Constantine Against Licinius; Julian Against the Germans; Battle of Argentoratum; Surviving the Siege of Amida; Losing Mesopotamia; Battle of Adrianople; Stilicho Saves Italy; The Fall of Rome; Why Did the Legions Decline and Fall? Key to Sources. Bibliography. Index.

About the Author :
Stephen Dando-Collins is a novelist and historian. He is the author of several highly acclaimed works on ancient history including Cleopatra's Kidnappers, Nero's Killing Machine, Mark Antony's Heroes, Caesar's Legion and, most recently, Blood of the Caesars. He lives in Australia.