Taelactin Posted August 29, 2005 Report Share Posted August 29, 2005 I was just wondering, kinda a practical question... When Carrhae was given orders to govern Syria, how did he probably get there? Probably by boat, right? But just wondering, if he DIDN'T go by boat, how else would he have gotten there? I'm wondering the same thing with the seven legions he had. I doubt he enlisted them all from Syria, and probably got a couple of the 20,000 legionaires from some of the other areas under the control of the Roman Republic at the time (Italia, Sicily... Gaul maybe?) So when these legionaires were being enlisted, I'm thinking something like they just went to the Roman Headquarters in their town, enlisted, were then sent to Syria and THEN trained at Syria, then they were off to be crushed by the Parthians... But if they had no boat to get to Syria... could the fellas being enlisted from Italy take a short boat trip to Africa, then walk through all the provinces up there to Syria? For example, would they be able to go through Egypt? I just want to know more about this entire enlisting process if citation of it exists, and just more specifically-- would the legions from Italy be able to go thru Africa and walk all the way up to Syria? Sorry if I'm being confusing... Thanks in advance! -Taelactin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Artemis Sertorius Posted August 30, 2005 Report Share Posted August 30, 2005 I believe alot of the travel to Syria was from Brundisium in Italy across the Adriatic to Greece, and then by land to the Hellespont, across the strait, and then down across Asia Minor. I'm not quite sure, but i think the Cilician Gates and the syrian gates will eventually lead out to the Parthian kingdoms. Of course, when Sulla invaded the East, he went by ship to Tarsus and then through the cilician gates and north into central Asia Minor and then east across the Euphrates to the Tigris. The only thing stopping you from going by boat other than the availability of a fleet is the season. Not sure when they blow, but at one time of year the winds are predominately east-west, and at another they are West-east. The Romans had names for those winds, but again, not sure what they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taelactin Posted August 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2005 Thanks a lot for the help! Do you know any links where I can read up more about that? I can't find it anywhere... I have some other questions I was wondering about now as well... primarily about Crassus and Syria, where did he hang out in Syria before deciding to attack Parthia? When legions moved from, for example, the city of Appolonia (I'm guessing that's the port they came to after leaving Brundisium) to whatever place in Syria they went to, did they make a lotta stop overs at the cities on the way? Or did they just generally march straight and pitch camps a lot? And where can I find a good map of the ancient mediterranean WITH the names of important cities at that time??? Sorry about the detail of my questions... I'm just writing something and want to try to be as realistic as possible... Thanks! -Taelactin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Artemis Sertorius Posted August 30, 2005 Report Share Posted August 30, 2005 I'm not real sure where you can find such info on the internet. one site i like is at www.ancienthistory.about.com. it gives some good general information, and gives lots of links to places with more detailed stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taelactin Posted August 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2005 Finally found pretty much the answer to all my questions embedded in one paragraph of Plutarch's biography of Crassus. He did indeed follow the same path as you said he probably would've! But one question I still have, and I **think** it should be one that I could find somewhere but I can't, maybe in Vegetius' text about the roman army or something... when legions travelled around, did they make a lotta stopovers at the cities they passed? Or did they generally always build a camp outside the city walls, or something like that...? Thanks again! -Taelactin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taelactin Posted August 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2005 Sorry for all these questions... but also, anybody know where I can find a good map for Roman Roads? Particularly ones in Asia Minor. Thanks! -Taelactin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Artemis Sertorius Posted September 1, 2005 Report Share Posted September 1, 2005 In regards to whether the army stopped in cities along the way i would think they stopped nearby them at least. Usually Roman armies would construct a marching camp every night when they stopped. i'm guessing that crassus would stop nearby any city on the way in order to gather supplies and more money as crassus loved money. i'm sure many cities lost their food reserves because its usually easier and cheaper to buy the food off a city than it is to carry enough to feed a legion for months at a time. i'm not sure where you can find this info though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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