The Magnificent 7 Plus One Part 1 - Legio Palatinae
I've been redoing the romans again for the coming final release of IJ3.0 to be known as IJ4.0.
So I thought I would bring you an example. These are the magnificent 7 plus one, the elite troops of the late roman empire, the legio palatine and domestici troops.
From left to right are the:
Armatus Invicti Iulianus; Herculiani Juniores; Herculiani Seniores; Domesticorum Pedites East; Domesticorum Pedites; Joviani Seniores; Jovianii Juniores; Lanciarii Seniores
The Domesticorum Pedites shields and armour textures are courtesy of leif_erikson. The other shield designs come from Razor, Lusted and Atilla Reloaded.
Bodies have been adapted from Ramon y Garcia's designs and helmets by Razor.
Information on the units:
The Herculianii and Jovianii Legios were created by the Emperor Diocletion as guard units for himself and co-emperor Maximian in the end of the 3rd century and were still in service at the beginning of the 5th century. The cognomen of the legion refers to Hercules, to whom Diocletion's colleague, Maximian (also known as Herculius, "the man like Hercules") was devoted. This Palatini unit was drawn from the VI Herculia which was stationed, together with her sister legio V Iovia, in Pannonia Secunda, a new province created with the segmentation of the old Pannonia province. The legio received the ordinal "Fifth" because there were already four legios. The purpose of the legio was to protect the imperial residence of Diocletian in Sirmium. These legios had fought well for Diocletian and were thus rewarded with his favour. They were renowned for their use of the lead-weighted darts plumbarati. They carried 5 of these in the hollow of their shields and were thrown prior to contact with the enemy. They had a longer range than conventional javelins and pila. They were part of the original five Palatina Legio’s, the first of which may go back to Gallienus. These were the Lanciarii, Ioviani, Herculiani, Divitenses and Tungricani. The unit size of the Palatina would have been similar to the Comitatenses, between 1000 to 1500 men. After the permanent split of the empire in 365AD all existing units were split into Seniores and Juniores with Seniores belonging to the Western Empire and Juniores to the Eastern Empire.
The Lanciarii Legio is one of the earliest guard units probably created around the time of Gallienus. It was one of the original five Palatina Legio’s, the first of which may go back to Gallienus. These were the Lanciarii, Ioviani, Herculiani, Divitenses and Tungricani. The use of the term lanciarius to cover any member of the imperial bodyguard first appeared during the Tetrarchy, even if such men were not armed with the lancea. It has been suggested that under Constantine, all lanciarii were grouped together to form a single elite legio, possibly the original legio Lanciarii. Others have stated that the lanciarii comes from the legio Parthica II which later became the Domestici Pedites. Either way, it seems that the lanciarii started off as guard troop. \n\n This guarding function led in the late 3rd century to the term lanciarius connotating 'Imperial guard' in much the way 'scutarius' came to, so that the term came to embrace non-legionary guards as well. In the 4th century, most of these lanciarii units were no longer employed as guards. \n\nThe Notitia Dignitatum lists a number of units styled lanciarii. In the west: the Lanciarii Sabarienses, the Lanciarii Gallicani Honoriani (or Lanciarii Honoriani Gallicani), the Lanciarii Lauriacenses and the Lanciarii Comaginenses; and in the east, the Lanciarii seniores, the Lanciarii iuniores (two different units), the Lanciarii Stobenses and the Lanciarii Augustenses. All are legionary infantry units.\n\nThe Lanciarii came to be one of the senior field legios with the Herculiani and Joviani which were created later by the Emperor Diocletion as guard units for himself and co-emperor Maximian in the end of the 3rd century and were still in service at the beginning of the 5th century. This legio was probably created out of the lanciarii troops of the II Parthica legio.
After the permanent split of the empire in 365AD all existing units were split into Seniores and Juniores with Seniores belonging to the Western Empire and Juniores to the Eastern Empire.\n\nThese legionaries are armed with a long hasta (spear) and spatha, very effective against enemy cavalry. The size of palatina varied from 1000 to 1500 men.\n\nThis unit is particulary heavily armoured. He has leg protection as well as a long mail coat. He is also armed with a long thrusting spear or hasta and a sword. This unit would normally be in the front line against enemy cavalry using his long spear to halt a cavalry charge then following up with the sword. But he is easily fatigued in desert regions and so will tire quickly.
The domestici were guard units along with the scholae and candidati, consisting both of horse and foot units who were stationed at Rome and Constantinople. These units came under the command of the comites domesticorum and were often sent on special duties.
The full title of the Domestics was protectores et domestici. The name protectores derives from the second half of the third century there existed protectores of two kinds: protectores Augusti, and protectores of the prætorian prefect. The latter ceased when, under Constantine’s new régime, the prætorian prefect ceased to have military functions. The domestici or Houseguards, which was designed to admit nobles and sons of senators to a career in the army. Thus there were now two corps of palace guards, that of the Protectors who were enrolled for distinguished service, and were consequently veterans, and that of the domestics who were admitted nobilitate et gratia, through birth and interest. But the two were closely connected and jointly commanded by the comites domesticorum; and the two names came to be interchangeable and used indifferently of one or the other.
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Originally Posted by legio_XX
) but that would mean using my computer not my phone when im on the forums. I do realize my Grammer and spelling is horrid when I use my phone im not sure why...
