by Alan Smale
Weapons and armor barely changed either. The Roman pilum endured unaltered for six hundred years, and swords and daggers for almost as long. By the third century A.D. helmets were evolving to provide more protection, based on innovations copied from the barbarians. But it took a long time for those changes to manifest. Back in Urbs Roma, the same thing. Cowell’s Life in Ancient Rome reports that the main elements in Roman clothing “remained practically unaltered throughout almost the entire thousand years of Rome’s history.” Rome was already well into its decline by the time major sartorial changes kicked in. Housing styles, likewise.
And why? Underlying it all, Roman society was based on a system of patronage, a vertical patron-client relationship that defined Rome from top to bottom and was strongly resistant to change: “the web of interlocking obligations was tightly woven and made change difficult” (Everitt, The Rise of Rome). Keeping their society stable was job one, and by and large the Romans did an outstanding job for centuries.
Unlike our own society, in ancient Roma change was not a given. It came slowly and at a cost.
Some of those slow changes are evident in the 33rd Hesperian Legion of Gaius Marcellinus. The legions are certainly recognizable but by no means identical to their third-century counterparts. By 1218 A.D. tribunes have more direct responsibility for specific cohorts than they did in ancient Rome, and auxiliary forces are an integral part of the legion rather than being treated as a separate unit. (Over the long haul, such assimilation would be essential for efficient command and control.) In the Clash of Eagles trilogy soldiers are allowed to marry while in the army and take furloughs between campaigns. Neither was permissible in ancient Rome, and both improve morale. Most crucially, promotion in the Roman army is now essentially merit-based. Although there’s still a tendency for some tribunes to be political appointees, skilled and determined men such as Marcellinus and Aelfric can and do work their way up the ladder to prominent leadership positions. The shapes and functions of Roman weapons—gladius, spatha, pilum—have not changed, but in the thirteenth century they are made of steel rather than iron.
And so, in the Clash of Eagles series, the Empire marches on.
We see the world of Clash of Eagles from the close point of view of Gaius Marcellinus, who doesn’t spend a whole lot of time pondering history. He has other things to worry about. But if these books were set in Europe or Asia rather than North America, a number of other differences in society and technology would be apparent. If I get the opportunity to write further in this universe, maybe we’ll get to see more of the slow but steady changes time has wrought across the Roman world.
APPENDIX V
TRAVELS IN NOVA HESPERIA: GEOGRAPHIC NOTES
In Eagle and Empire, Gaius Marcellinus and his allies and enemies rove extensively across Nova Hesperia. This section is for readers who may want to follow these travels on a map of modern-day North America. However, if you’re coming to this appendix before reading the book, you should note that it contains significant plot details and spoilers.
After conquering the western coast of Nova Hesperia, Chinggis Khan splits his army into several parts to subdue and explore the region and make plans for his eastward expansion into the continent. This division into several units was a common Mongol strategy. In addition to allowing the plunder of a greater expanse of territory, it helped ensure sufficient grazing for the horses. Grass was always a limited resource for a mounted force the size of the Khan’s.
The army of Chagatai takes a northern route. With the help (willing or otherwise) of the Tlingit, the Haida, and the peoples of the inland plateau, his army follows the Columbia, Snake, and Clearwater rivers east and crosses the Continental Divide at what is now known as Lemhi Pass, on the border between Idaho and Montana. Lemhi Pass was a major route across the mountains for the Blackfoot and other tribes and is the pass that was traversed by Lewis and Clark in their westward exploration. Lewis described it as a “large and plain Indian road,” but it would be no picnic for an army the size of Chagatai’s. In Eagle and Empire, Chagatai drives the defeated Shoshoni ahead of him. It is they who hurry down the Missouri River into Blackfoot territory and ultimately provide Tahtay and the Cahokians with their first warning of the Mongols’ advance.
Meanwhile, the army of Chinggis Khan crosses the Rockies much farther south in Colorado via the Monarch Pass route, and the forces under Subodei Badahur and Jebei Noyon travel far down the Pacific coast to the Oaxaca region of Mexico. There, with extensive help from the People of the Sun—otherwise known as the Maya of the Postclassic period—they arrange to portage the battle junks overland to the Gulf of Mexico. Once passage across the isthmus is assured, Subodei Badahur returns to the Khan’s camp to brief him and get his orders for the eastward assault.
The expedition to the southwest led by Marcellinus and Sextus Bassus takes them three hundred miles up the Missouri River by quinquereme to where the Kansas River flows into it at the confluence where Kansas City, Missouri, is today. From there they travel eight hundred miles overland by way of the Native American route now known as the Santa Fe Trail through Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. The trail leaves the Missouri River and drops down to the Arkansas River (known as the Kicka River in Eagle and Empire). They follow the Arkansas River, and where the Santa Fe Trail splits, they take the so-called Mountain Route rather than the more hazardous Cimarron Crossing to Santa Fe. From there it’s less than two hundred miles to Chaco Canyon.
The People of the Hand are of course the Ancestral Pueblo People, historically known as the Anasazi, although that word stems from a term of abuse in Navajo and is not now favored. Yupkoyvi is Chaco Canyon, and Pueblo Bonito is the Great House that Bassus’s men attempt to defend. Marcellinus’s expedition is arriving at the very tail end of the Chaco Culture, when many of the Great Houses were abandoned and occupation of the area was sparse, a mere shadow of its former glory. The Sentinel Rock, from which the alarm is belatedly given in the book, is known today as Fajada Butte. The town of Tyuonyi lies within Bandelier National Monument. The massive band of warriors of the Hand who later come to Cahokia to join the Hesperian League assembles from Tawtoyka—our Mesa Verde—and other extensive cliff dwellings that existed all across the Four Corners area that included parts of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.
After the massacre at Yupkoyvi, Marcellinus and his meager group of survivors are taken on a forced march of some four hundred miles to a plains area in southern Colorado. The Mongol great camp where Marcellinus first has the pleasure of making Chinggis Khan’s acquaintance is situated close to the Colorado–New Mexico border.
After tea and murder with the Khan, Marcellinus returns eastward down the (terribly named) Canadian River through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma to the Arkansas (Kicka) River. The Arkansas flows into the Mississippi at Napoleon (now a ghost town) in Desha County, Arkansas. In the meantime, of course, Subodei Badahur has attacked the Legio VI Ferrata by sea and then devastated the Market of the Mud (in southern Louisiana, near New Orleans) before heading north up the Mississippi.
Once Marcellinus’s party joins the fleet of Calidius Verus, they travel some 85 miles north up the Mississippi to Shappa Ta’atan, which is situated where Helena, Arkansas, is today. There they battle Badahur’s river fleet. From Shappa Ta’atan back to Cahokia is about another 350 miles.
The Khan’s army rides east toward Cahokia along the Platte River (called the Braided River in Eagle and Empire) and eventually meets up with the army of Chagatai to do battle with the Romans. Forward Camp, where the Romans prepare for the final confrontation, is in the rolling tallgrass prairies of eastern Nebraska at the confluence of the Platte and Wemissori rivers, not far from where Omaha is today.
APPENDIX VI
GLOSSARY OF MILITARY TERMS FROM THE ROMAN IMPERIUM
A glossary of Roman terms, Latin translations, and military terminology appears below, along with a few Mongol terms.
Many aspects of Roman warfare have remained un
changed since classical times, but language evolves, and in a few cases the meanings of words have migrated from their original usage in the Republic and the early Empire.
Ala: Cavalry unit or “wing.” An ala quingenaria consists of 512 troopers in sixteen turmae; an ala milliaria consists of 768 troopers in twenty-four turmae (plural: alae).
Animus: Martial spirit.
Aquila: The Eagle, the standard of a Roman legion; often golden or gilded and carried proudly into battle. The loss of an Eagle is one of the greatest shames that can befall a legion.
Aquilifer: Eagle bearer; the legionary tasked with carrying the legion’s standard into battle (plural: aquiliferi).
Arban: Unit of ten warriors (Mongol).
Auxiliaries: Noncitizen troops in the Roman army, drawn from peoples in the provinces of the Imperium. Career soldiers trained to the same standards as legionaries, they can expect to receive citizenship at the end of their twenty-five-year service. Originally kept in their own separate units, auxiliary infantrymen have been integrated into the regular legionary cohorts.
Ballista: Siege engine; a tension- or spring-powered catapult that fires bolts, arrows, or other pointy missiles of wood and metal. Resembles a giant crossbow and often is mounted in a wooden frame or carried in a cart (plural: ballistae).
Barding: Armored protection for horses, constructed of hinged metal plate or scale, chain, leather, or cloth.
Caligae: Heavy-soled military marching boots with an open sandal-like design.
Cardo: Colloquial term for the wide main street oriented north-south in Roman cities, military fortresses, and marching camps (more formally known as the Via Praetoria for the southern part and the Via Decumana for the northern part).
Castra: Military marching camp; temporary accommodation for a legion, often rebuilt each night on the march.
Cataphractaria: Armored heavy cavalry, with both horse and rider protected by metal plate or scale armor. Riders generally are armed with a heavy spear similar to a lance (see also barding, chamfron, contus).
Centurion: Professional army officer in command of a century.
Century: Army company, ideally eighty to a hundred men.
Chamfron: Armored facial protection for horses, generally extending from the ears to the muzzle and constructed of metal plate or scale, or leather.
Close order: Infantry formation, with men massed at a separation often as small as eighteen inches, making a phalanx or another close formation difficult to penetrate or break up.
Cohors equitata: Mixed unit of cavalry and infantry that trains together, generally consisting of six centuries and four turmae, ten centuries and eight turmae, or some other combination with a similar ratio of foot soldiers to cavalrymen (plural: cohortes equitatae).
Cohort: Tactical unit of a Roman legion; each cohort consists of six centuries. Sometimes the First Cohort in a legion is double-strength.
Contubernium: Squad of eight legionaries who serve together, bunk together in a single tent (in a castra) or building (in a fortress barracks), and often are disciplined together for infractions (plural: contubernia).
Contus: Heavy wooden cavalry lance, typically around twelve feet in length, wielded two-handed or couched under the arm (plural: conti).
Cornicen: Junior Roman officer who signals orders to centuries and legions with a trumpet or cornu.
Cornu: Horn used to communicate signals and instructions to troops, carried and blown by a cornicen. A brass instrument around ten feet long, curved into a G shape, and looped around the head (plural: cornua).
Corvus: Literally, “crow”; a wide gangplank or rotating bridge that anchors a Roman warship to the bank with a heavy metal spike or can be embedded into the deck of an enemy vessel so that it can be boarded.
Cuneus: Literally, “wedge” or “pig’s head”; dense military formation used to smash through an enemy’s battle line or break through a gap.
Cymba: Boat.
Damnatio Memoriae: A drastic punishment, the ultimate condemnation for a legion or individual who brings discredit to Roma. The name of the legion or individual would be erased from the historical record, expunged from lists and monuments as if it had never existed.
Decurion: Professional army officer in command of a turma of cavalrymen. Roughly equivalent in rank to a centurion.
Dignitas: Dignity.
Drekar: Dragon ship, Viking longship (Norse).
Duplicarius: Decurion’s deputy, second in command of a turma.
Forum: Public square or plaza, often a marketplace.
Gladius: Roman sword (plural: gladii).
Greek fire: Liquid incendiary, probably based on naphtha and/or sulfur, although the recipe was lost in Europa and is a closely guarded secret in Nova Hesperia.
Harpax: Harpoon, naval grapnel fired by a ballista, that allows an enemy vessel to be secured and winched alongside for boarding.
Hasta: Heavy thrusting spear used by infantry. Generally around six feet long (plural: hastae).
Imago: Image, copy, ancestral likeness. The image of the current Imperator displayed on a standard or banner.
Imperator: Emperor; Roman commander in chief.
Imperium: Empire; executive power, the sovereignty of the state.
Jaghun: Unit of one hundred warriors, or ten arbans (Mongol).
Knarr: Cargo ship; high-sided and broader, deeper, and not as long as a longship (Norse).
Lancea: Short javelin (plural: lanceae).
Lares: Roman household gods, domestic deities, guardians of the hearth.
Legate: Senior commander of a legion, more completely known as legatus legionis. By the thirteenth century, “legate” and “Praetor” are synonymous.
Legion: Army unit of several thousand men consisting of ten cohorts, each of six centuries.
Legionary: Professional soldier in the Roman army. A Roman citizen, highly trained, who serves for twenty-five years.
Medicus: Military doctor, field surgeon, or orderly (plural: medici).
Mingghan: Unit of one thousand warriors, or ten jaghuns (Mongol).
Navis: Ship.
Onager: Siege engine; torsion-powered, single-armed catapult that launches rocks or other nonpointy missiles. Literally translates to “wild ass” because of its bucking motion when fired. Often mounted in a square wooden frame.
Open order: Infantry formation, with soldiers in battle lines separated by up to six feet and often staggered, providing room to maneuver, shoot arrows, throw pila or swing gladii, and switch or change ranks.
Optio: Centurion’s deputy, second in command of the century (plural: optiones).
Orbis: Literally, “circle”; a defensive military formation in the shape of a circle or square, adopted when under attack from a numerically superior force.
Patrician: Aristocratic, upper-class, or ruling-class Roman citizen.
Phalanx: Mass infantry formation, generally rectangular and in very close order. A solid block of soldiers.
Phalera: Military decoration awarded for distinguished conduct, usually a sculpted disk of gold, silver, or bronze. Worn by an individual legionary or cavalryman or paraded by a military unit on the staff of the unit’s standards (plural: phalerae).
Pilum: Roman heavy spear or javelin (plural: pila).
Porta Praetoria: South gate of a legionary fortress or castra, leading onto the Via Praetoria (or Cardo).
Praetor: Roman general, commander of a legion or of an entire army. In the Republic and early Empire the term also was used for some senior magistrates and consuls; the latter usage has died out by the time of Hadrianus III, and only legionary commanders are referred to as Praetors.
Praetorian: A special force of elite troops who served as the Imperator’s personal guard and often trained with him or were trained by him. May also serve as shock troops.
Praetorium: Praetor’s tent within a castra or residence within a legionary fortress, situated at the center of the encampment.
Primus pilus: See senior centurion
.
Principia: Legionary headquarters building, situated at or near the center of a legionary fortress.
Pugio: Dagger carried by legionaries; Roman stabbing weapon.
Quinquereme: Heavy Roman warship with five banks of oarsmen on three levels, one above the other, in a two-two-one pattern.
Roma: The city of Roma, capital of the Roman Imperium, although often used as shorthand to mean the Imperium as a whole.
Sagum: Military cloak made of a rectangular piece of heavy wool and fastened with a clasp at the shoulder.
Scorpio: Torsion crossbow that fires metal bolts; a small Roman artillery piece built on the same principles as a ballista but designed to be used by a single legionary.
Scutum: Roman legionary shield (plural: scuta).
Senior centurion: Also known as the primus pilus. The most experienced and highly valued centurion in the legion, he commands the first century within the First Cohort.
Signifer: Standard-bearer; the legionary tasked with carrying a signum for a century (plural: signiferi).
Signum: A century’s standard, usually consisting of a number of metal disks and other insignia mounted on a pole (plural: signa).
Spatha: Roman long sword, often used by cavalry (plural: spathae).
Testudo: Literally, “tortoise”; Roman infantry formation in which soldiers in close order protect themselves by holding shields over their heads and around them, enclosing them within a protective roof and wall of metal.
Trebuchet: Siege weapon designed to fling large nonpointy projectiles using a lever arm; the Mongol trebuchets are traction trebuchets, powered by large teams of soldiers pulling ropes in unison, rather than counterweight trebuchets that take advantage of gravity.
Tribune: Roman officer, midway in rank between the legion commander and his centurions. Originally a more generalized military staff officer; by 1218 A.D. the tribunes have administrative and operational responsibilities for specific cohorts within their legions.