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Hail PorthoniansJust on the weekend the weather was terrible and decided to get some videos to rent. We got a movie Called Augustus starring Peter Otoole. It was an Italian biopic about Augustus. One scene was kind of funny. He was comming to power and reliant on some legions. It was suggested he got hold of the Macedonian Legions when mentioned we got a drum rol as if these were the best. I doubt there was ever a Macedonian Legion as such.But what I noticed with this theme and a lot of Roman movies is when theres a threat or Romans are fighting an enemy its more often than not Macedonian. In Ben Hur the Roman Naval commander was out to destroy a Macedonian fleet that had threatened Roman Shipping. I just wonder how its the Macedonians that seem to get a Mention is it that Macedonian and its heritage shows the Roman power with some substance in the movies.RegardsKenny

sNOBalls you are the prince of the sofa king S---! hessemo@aol.com
mono lave etan e epitas

Hi Kenny,I don't know the film, but as it was about Augustus, I assume that what was actually meant was the legion(s) that were based in Macedonia, which had been a Roman province for nearly 200 years by that point. Many (although not all) the legions were identified by the area for which they were raised, as well as by a number.So I fear you might have slightly misunderstood what was meant in the film - it wasn't a legion of Macedonians, but the Roman legion stationed in Macedonia.ATBMarcus

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Hi Kenny, And what did you cook up in your kitchen? Something good I just bet. Weather here in sunny Arizona may finally end our drought which has gone on for 141 days now, but promises to end this weekend. We are getting a cold snap finally. How long was Alexander's trek across the desert?

But the truth is, that there NOT any ROMAN LEGIONS AT ALL.The TRUE Romans were very few in order to create their own legions, each one made up usually by about 6,100 men + their families and servants.There were at LEAST FIVE MAKEDONIAN LEGIONS, named as such PRECISELY because the people they were made from, they were Makedonians.At LEAST two Legions from Aetolia-Acarnania.At LEAST ONE OR TWO from Illyria.The FIFTH MAKEDONIAN LEGION, or QUINTA, is well known that served till the times of JUSTINIAN if not also a little later till the times of HERAKLIUS.A small search on line will convince you.
(Search for ROMAN LEGIONS, MAKEDONIAN LEGIONS, ILLYRIAN LEGIONS, and so on.)Regards to all........L.
George Sofoklis Tsapanos
Visalia, Ca."Vlachs, the autochthonous
of the Hellenic peninsula".

G'day George.I think you'll discover that - as Marcus says - these legions were named for where they served rather that for where they were recruited.One of those "Macedonian" legions was the one taken to Macedonia by Caeasar during the civil war.Paralus.

Is he really saying something like that ?
If thats truth, and if the Great Gibbon is right, giving us the number of each Roman-Non Roman legion as 6100 + family + auxilliaries, then we have at LEAST 10,000 persons per legion.
Multiply this by 20 legions (at least) and you have a number of 200,000 ROMANS according to you roaming left and right !!!!!!!!!!!!I am sorry, the Romans after they made FREE CITIZENS the people of the conquered lands, they made them ROMANS and then placed them in their Legions. Here few examples:Legio IIII Macedonica
Its name means 'the legion from Macedonia'. This legion was probably founded in Italy in 48 BCE by Julius Caesar, who needed it in his war against his ...http://www.livius.org/le-lh/legio/iiii_macedonica.html
Legio V Macedonica
Its name means 'the legion from Macedonia'. This legion was probably recruited by consul ... Between 30 BCE and 6 CE, the fifth legion served in Remember now, the fact that maybe were RECRUITED here and there, does NOT mean that ETHNICALLY they were from here and there.Rome did not have ENOUGH people for her Legions.
They made soldiers out of the Roman CITIZENS of the Empire and then they were naming them according to the place of their origins.Let alone of course that Rome did NOT HAVE A GOOD LATIN LANGUAGE during those days, until the CHRISTIAN CHURCH in 235 A.D. switched from GREEK into LATIN and FINALLY a DECENT Latin language was developed all the way to our days.
The one at the times of Caesar and Cicero was just a bright moment in the Latin litterature, after AUGUSTUS we have a total decay of the language, which was re-born in Northern African.Regards to all.........L.
George Sofoklis Tsapanos
Visalia, Ca."Vlachs, the autochthonous
of the Hellenic peninsula".

G'day Lyngos.I disagree. The legion you refer to was formed in Italy. It served (Caeasar) in Macedonia. I doubt that a legion formed to fight in Macedonia would be composed of (conscripted?) Macedonians, brought to Italy to be trained (formed) and then sent back.Unless I'm reading you incorrectly??Paralus

Again, the Roman Legions were made up by ROMAN FREE CITIZENS, however they were NOT ROMANS, but ETHNICS of the various lands that Rome conquered.After 25 years in service, the legionaires were given a piece of land, of their preference, and they were retiring.There was a constant replacement of the Legions.If indeed the Legions were given their names from the lands they arrived at, then.........where are Legions like a SCOTISH one? Two or three or ten ENGLISH ones?A PALESTINIAN one ?What about a KORINTHIAN or even a GREEK one?A DACIAN one maybe?A GETIAN ?Listhen what the Great GIBBON has to say (Volume One , page 10, the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, deluxe edition).".......In the purer ages of the commonwealth , the use of arms was reserved for those ranks of CITIZENS WHO HAD A COUNTRY TO LOVE, A PROPERTY TO DEFEND, AND SOME SHARE IN ENACTING THOSE LAWS WHICH IT WAS THEIR INTEREST, AS WELL AS DUTY, TO MAINTAIN.............
THE LEGIONS THEMSELVES, EVEN AT THE TIME WHEN THEY WERE RECRUITED IN THE MOST DISTANT PROVINCES, WERE SUPPOSED TO CONSIST OF ROMAN CITIZENS........."The key words are ROMAN CITIZENS, and DISTANT PROVINCES.The Romans were making FREE the people they were conquered after Caracallas if I remember correctly, and from there, they were making them, ROMAN CITIZENS, and once they were ROMAN CITIZENS, they had the right to serve in the legions.
Regards to all........L.
George Sofoklis Tsapanos
Visalia, Ca."Vlachs, the autochthonous
of the Hellenic peninsula".