SimonBurchell
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2001
- Messages
- 2,724
- Location
- Somewhere in the labyrinth
Just found this:Mainly Gaul. They had to be from Northern territories to be able to withstand our climate.
Diversity in the Roman Army, specifically about Roman soldiers in Britain:
Until the second quarter of the second century when British recruits became more common, legionaries came initially mainly from Italy (81%), but by the end of the first century were mainly from North Africa and the western provinces of Hispana, Gallia, Germania, Raetia (an Alpine province) and Noricum (roughly modern Austria/Slovenia). By this time Italian recruits constituted only about 20% of the number. Thus the army was ethnically highly diverse. Auxiliary troops introduced an even greater ethnic diversity, with men from Batavia (part of the modern Netherlands), Tungria (part of modern Belgium) and Thrace (roughly modern Bulgaria).
Although at the beginning of the occupation there were mass conscriptions in Batavia, Tungria and Thrace to raise units of auxiliaries, over time these units were supplemented not only by British recruits, but also by recruits from elsewhere in the empire. Mattingly cites examples of three men who served in a Tungrian unit but whose origins were in Germania Inferior (the west bank of the Rhine) and the Alpine province of Raetia. It appears however, that a unit’s fighting history and traditions were important factors in creating a ‘unit identity’ irrespective of the soldiers’ ethnic origins. He also notes that where there were large numbers of men broadly of one ethnicity in a unit or garrison, variants of the military identity formed by common training, living routines and religious practices might emerge. Thus, amongst a large group of third century Germanic recruits at Housesteads on Hadrian’s Wall, Germanic deities were celebrated in addition to those in the official army calendar of religious practice, and Frisian pottery was also found there.