Pollard, Nigel /Berry, Joanne Die Legionen Roms

Roman legionaries have a large and loyal following. Their weapons, enemies, missions, triumphs and defeats are of great interest to many experts and amateur historians, who study them in minute detail. Re-enactments by Roman groups, exhibitions, themed festivals and markets attract large audiences. The troops not only subjugated a vast empire and determined the fortunes of power-hungry generals in the struggle for supremacy, they also built roads, bridges, aqueducts and buildings, thereby contributing to the Romanisation of the provinces and the empire?s heyday. The military was omnipresent in Roman life: only after 25 years of military service in the disciplined, intensively trained troops were legionaries granted a plot of land as a severance payment and permitted to marry. The authors profile all 45 legions of the Imperial era, for example the troops that were disbanded in 70 AD for cowardice, or the vast force that fell into the Parthians? trap at Carrhae, or Legio VII ?Gemina?, which Emperor Galba raised for the march on Rome.