Roman Legions:
Roman Legions in action. Red shields and armor.
The history of the Roman legions have changed from time to time. The format of the legions, how many men, how many cohorts and officers. But in the end, the legion in general consisted of 6,000 men, each in a different body of the legion. The legion generally was made up of 10 cohorts, 2 praetors and 10 contubernium per centuria.
Legions were the largest and most powerful fighting force during the times of the Romans. When they went to war, imagine having 24-28 legions coming at you, each filled with about 6,000 men. Any enemy would be smart enought to run!
However, in the beginning, during Augustus' time, there were 28 legions. And by the Middle Empire, several legions had been either lost or disbanded and replaced and there were 30 legions.
However, it is said that is quite rare for a legion to move around. In 395 A.D., 58 years after the death of Constantine, there were only 24 legions remaining, none of which had moved in the past 180 years. The only legion to withdraw was Legion VI or Legion 6 in 406 A.D. from Lower Britain. The other legions remained for as long as possible. A listing of the last 24 legions has been provided:
Legions were the largest and most powerful fighting force during the times of the Romans. When they went to war, imagine having 24-28 legions coming at you, each filled with about 6,000 men. Any enemy would be smart enought to run!
However, in the beginning, during Augustus' time, there were 28 legions. And by the Middle Empire, several legions had been either lost or disbanded and replaced and there were 30 legions.
However, it is said that is quite rare for a legion to move around. In 395 A.D., 58 years after the death of Constantine, there were only 24 legions remaining, none of which had moved in the past 180 years. The only legion to withdraw was Legion VI or Legion 6 in 406 A.D. from Lower Britain. The other legions remained for as long as possible. A listing of the last 24 legions has been provided:
Legion I
Legion I Legion I Legion II Legion II Legion II Legion II Legion III |
Legion III
Legion III Legion IV Legion IV Legion V Legion VI Legion VII Legion VII |
Legion X
Legion X Legion XI Legion XII Legion XIII Legion XIV Legion XV Legion XVI |
As you can see, there were tons of legions and each of them were important in a war. Each carried a legend behind them. The creation of them, formation and how some were lost or disbanded. But one thing was for sure in the end, the final 24 legions tried to keep the original traditions for as long as possible even as the world around them changed.
***NOTE: The remaining 24 legions had several names that were the same like Legion I or Legion II. They were either the original three legions or they were legions needed instead for just different areas.