The history of the thirty-odd Roman Imperial legions has always fascinated, but reconstructing their individual story is not easy. H.M.D. Parker's concise history is the first study in English to attempt to do so. Despite it's age - it was first published in the 1920s - it is still a good starting point for further study, especially when combined with the Legio article from the Realenzyklopädie by Emil Ritterling.

ISBN 0-89005-356-1
296 pages 
Paperback

The history of the Roman legions seems to have attracted more attention on the Continent than in this country, and the absence of any comprehensive work in English on the subject may perhaps justify the appearance of this book. The period selected for study starts with the Marian army reforms and ends with the accession of Septimius Serverus.

The main purpose of The Roman Legions is to examine the internal organization of the legions, the areas from which they drew their recruits, and the conditions under which their soldiers served and were discharged. An attempt has also been made to trace; the movements of the legions in the first two centuries of the Principate, the circumstances in which new units were raised and the normal orders of battle and march, while in the Introduction the stages by which the army developed in the pre-Marian Republic have been sketched in outline.

Reviewed in CJ 1929.