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Book Review - "Caesar's Legion"

From N.S. Gill,
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The Bottom Line

A thorough text about Roman military life in the time of Caesar, a legionary's point of view about Caesar's Gallic and the civil wars, and what happened to the legions following Caesar's death.
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Pros
  • Well researched
  • Easy prose style
  • Good glossary, notes, and appendix
Cons
  • Factual Errors
  • Exhausting -- packed with detail upon detail
  • Stretches subject to fit book length

Description

  • Details expectations and occupations of the Roman legionaries.
  • History of the civil and Gallic wars in Rome from the perspective of the Roman legionaries.
  • Explains the changing composition of the legions, their formation, and discharge.
  • Provides modern military equivalents of ancient ranks.
  • Gives the history of the tenth legion to about A.D. 233.
  • After Caesar's death the focus changes so it appears to be two books in one or one stretched.

Guide Review - Book Review - "Caesar's Legion"

Dando-Collins' "Caesar's Legion" is a goldmine of information about the Roman military. A vivid episode shows just how important the eagle standard was to the Roman legionaries. Notes provide further reading and explain that the "miles classicus" is the equivalent of a modern marine, the "primus pilus" of a captain, etc. Dando-Collins explains almost every mile of Caesar's adventures in Britain and Gaul.

However, the book is so densely packed with detail that within a line the legions may have traveled several hundred miles. Constant referring backwards or to the opening maps to visualize the troops' swiftly changing locations make it a difficult book to read carefully. For the military historian, occasional errors may be annoying.

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