Hadrian's Consolidation - reboot
- Thread starter Hecatee
- Start date
Hecatee
Donor
Thanks to all who made wishes for my Bday !
My pleasure
Merci, and thanks for the language help as usual
Dank u wel voor u wensen, ik hoop inderdaad van deze jaaren te genieten
Muchas gracias senor !
Merci pour ces voeux !
Gratiam tibi habeo !
Thank you for gif you gave us for your birthday.
My pleasure
Merci, and thanks for the language help as usual
Dank u wel voor u wensen, ik hoop inderdaad van deze jaaren te genieten
Muchas gracias senor !
Merci pour ces voeux !
Gratiam tibi habeo !
Olbia Pontica, on the Euxine sea shore, August 180
Hecatee
Donor
Olbia Pontica, on the Euxine sea shore, August 180
Olbia was not an ideal spot for defense. The town was built on a stone ledge on the coast but dominated largely by higher hills that allowed someone to look into the walls at the defenders’ moves or even to put artillery able to destroy beyond the walls in total impunity. Only on one side did its wall have a commanding position on a plain, and of course it had the advantage that the sea side was never threatened by any steppe tribe : only the Romans or, in the olden days, the diadochoi, could have attacked from the sea.
Yet not all was bad : the walls were high and wide, with a good stone facing and recently reinforced with a covered walkway to protect from arrows. Numerous towers strengthened them, with arrow slits at regular intervals to make sure one was able to shoot at the enemy while making return fire uneffective.
It also had the advantage it could be resupplied by sea, meaning it never needed to fear famine. The presence of the Roman fleet had also allowed to move most of the women, children and elderlies to safety in Kalos Limen, in the Chersonesus peninsula, far from the conflict.
The arrival of the men of the I Italica legion had led to a flurry of activity : in three months a number of secondary forts had been built on the ridges outside of the walls, connected by a classical roman vallum system. Lack of wood had prevented the building of a normal palissade, so they had used stones and bricks to build a wall of an height of three men, preceded by a number of traps. In three months they had managed to make Olbia a much stronger place but the plan was not complete : while the front of the new defense seemed solid, the interior was not yet completed and the bastions were not completely protected on all sides despite the fact that an enemy could get between the city walls and the new defenses…
But now time had run out for the Gothii main army had arrived. Tubae had called the men to man their defensive positions and close the doors. Time for battle had arrived. Of course work would keep going on, but it would be slower with the need to keep men on guard or on rest…
--
King Filimer and his ally Gtolos looked at the defenses. While Gtolos had seen cities in his life, and even the great wall of Chersonesus, what they saw now defied their entendment. Oh they understood the principle, but the size of the effort, and the amount of men it must have required, was staggering. And yet they had no choice : they had to find a place for their people, and the land here seemed better than any other for growing wheat.
But it seemed the people from the south, the Romans, did not want them here, preferring the weak Bastarnae tribes to a vigorous neighbor… His Sarmatians allies had inflicted thousand of cuts on their army, killing many of their warriors, but still they kept following the tribe south. And now there was this wall, strong and seemingly impossible to pass…
According to Gtolos this wall was nothing in comparison with the great wall of Chersonesus, and indeed it seemed that determined warriors would be able to cross it easily. Some captured Romans had given information on how it was to be done, with material to fill pits and trenches and scaling ladders to reach the enemy. A number of chariots had already been dismantled to provide the wood for the ladders while women wove baskets that were to be filled with earth, so as to fill in the trench in front of the wall.
He did not know how many soldiers were on the other side but it could not be that many, and so moral was probably low and ready to crumble… The Gods would provide the Gothii with victory, it could not be otherwise… Food was growing somewhat scarce, and only victory would ensure the survival of his people…
Filimer had no choice. The harassment techniques had slowed down the army at his back, which was carefully making its way toward the main Gothii army, but they were no more than five or six days away, progressing faster than the tribe had and walking in a week what his people had taken a month to cross…
Prisoners had told him that the first ambush had had an huge impact on the morale of their pursuers for their commander, son of their king, had been killed. But it had not prevented them from keeping at their pursuit, skirmishing with the Sarmatians all the way. The Romans’ cavalry was good, meaning that the losses were probably light, although they did not have as many horses as their foes and so each dead animal was one cavalryman less for their tribes, which they seemed to call legions.
From what he understood the Romans had sent five of their main tribes against him, identified by totems and all following the emblems of an eagle. A number of smaller tribes, their vassals, were the main providers of their cavalry and seemed loyal to their masters : given the wealth of metal they did carry it made sense to stay with those giving all that iron and gold…
Since neither the vassals collectively known under the name of “auxiliarii” nor the main tribes had any women with them, Filimer supposed they had put their wives and children behind the walls he now faced : taking the town was imperative to take them hostage and negotiate peace and territories with the Romans before their host could crush his Gothii between the wall and their shields…
--
As always the legions walked onward, following the Gothii to the sea. Moral was fluctuant : it had been the normal spirit of an army on the march for the first few weeks, then the maddened anger of grief after the death of the Caesar, and now it was more anger due to fatigue and a somewhat defaillant logistic. Eating the same gruel every day, without variations, and in diminishing rations, was not how to keep an army happy. The legate of the XIII Gemina legion, senior in experience and thus in command of the expedition, knew well that his soldiers could well turn sour against him like legions had done against Lucullus in the far east almost three hundred years before…
But the end was in sight, and he’d told his to his men : in two weeks at most they would be at Olbia Pontica, where battle and food awaited them. Until then he would slow the march down so as not to arrive exhausted, with a large part of his cavalry roaming in front of the rest of the army to prevent foraging by the barbarians, whom he hoped were already hungry…
Olbia was not an ideal spot for defense. The town was built on a stone ledge on the coast but dominated largely by higher hills that allowed someone to look into the walls at the defenders’ moves or even to put artillery able to destroy beyond the walls in total impunity. Only on one side did its wall have a commanding position on a plain, and of course it had the advantage that the sea side was never threatened by any steppe tribe : only the Romans or, in the olden days, the diadochoi, could have attacked from the sea.
Yet not all was bad : the walls were high and wide, with a good stone facing and recently reinforced with a covered walkway to protect from arrows. Numerous towers strengthened them, with arrow slits at regular intervals to make sure one was able to shoot at the enemy while making return fire uneffective.
It also had the advantage it could be resupplied by sea, meaning it never needed to fear famine. The presence of the Roman fleet had also allowed to move most of the women, children and elderlies to safety in Kalos Limen, in the Chersonesus peninsula, far from the conflict.
The arrival of the men of the I Italica legion had led to a flurry of activity : in three months a number of secondary forts had been built on the ridges outside of the walls, connected by a classical roman vallum system. Lack of wood had prevented the building of a normal palissade, so they had used stones and bricks to build a wall of an height of three men, preceded by a number of traps. In three months they had managed to make Olbia a much stronger place but the plan was not complete : while the front of the new defense seemed solid, the interior was not yet completed and the bastions were not completely protected on all sides despite the fact that an enemy could get between the city walls and the new defenses…
But now time had run out for the Gothii main army had arrived. Tubae had called the men to man their defensive positions and close the doors. Time for battle had arrived. Of course work would keep going on, but it would be slower with the need to keep men on guard or on rest…
--
King Filimer and his ally Gtolos looked at the defenses. While Gtolos had seen cities in his life, and even the great wall of Chersonesus, what they saw now defied their entendment. Oh they understood the principle, but the size of the effort, and the amount of men it must have required, was staggering. And yet they had no choice : they had to find a place for their people, and the land here seemed better than any other for growing wheat.
But it seemed the people from the south, the Romans, did not want them here, preferring the weak Bastarnae tribes to a vigorous neighbor… His Sarmatians allies had inflicted thousand of cuts on their army, killing many of their warriors, but still they kept following the tribe south. And now there was this wall, strong and seemingly impossible to pass…
According to Gtolos this wall was nothing in comparison with the great wall of Chersonesus, and indeed it seemed that determined warriors would be able to cross it easily. Some captured Romans had given information on how it was to be done, with material to fill pits and trenches and scaling ladders to reach the enemy. A number of chariots had already been dismantled to provide the wood for the ladders while women wove baskets that were to be filled with earth, so as to fill in the trench in front of the wall.
He did not know how many soldiers were on the other side but it could not be that many, and so moral was probably low and ready to crumble… The Gods would provide the Gothii with victory, it could not be otherwise… Food was growing somewhat scarce, and only victory would ensure the survival of his people…
Filimer had no choice. The harassment techniques had slowed down the army at his back, which was carefully making its way toward the main Gothii army, but they were no more than five or six days away, progressing faster than the tribe had and walking in a week what his people had taken a month to cross…
Prisoners had told him that the first ambush had had an huge impact on the morale of their pursuers for their commander, son of their king, had been killed. But it had not prevented them from keeping at their pursuit, skirmishing with the Sarmatians all the way. The Romans’ cavalry was good, meaning that the losses were probably light, although they did not have as many horses as their foes and so each dead animal was one cavalryman less for their tribes, which they seemed to call legions.
From what he understood the Romans had sent five of their main tribes against him, identified by totems and all following the emblems of an eagle. A number of smaller tribes, their vassals, were the main providers of their cavalry and seemed loyal to their masters : given the wealth of metal they did carry it made sense to stay with those giving all that iron and gold…
Since neither the vassals collectively known under the name of “auxiliarii” nor the main tribes had any women with them, Filimer supposed they had put their wives and children behind the walls he now faced : taking the town was imperative to take them hostage and negotiate peace and territories with the Romans before their host could crush his Gothii between the wall and their shields…
--
As always the legions walked onward, following the Gothii to the sea. Moral was fluctuant : it had been the normal spirit of an army on the march for the first few weeks, then the maddened anger of grief after the death of the Caesar, and now it was more anger due to fatigue and a somewhat defaillant logistic. Eating the same gruel every day, without variations, and in diminishing rations, was not how to keep an army happy. The legate of the XIII Gemina legion, senior in experience and thus in command of the expedition, knew well that his soldiers could well turn sour against him like legions had done against Lucullus in the far east almost three hundred years before…
But the end was in sight, and he’d told his to his men : in two weeks at most they would be at Olbia Pontica, where battle and food awaited them. Until then he would slow the march down so as not to arrive exhausted, with a large part of his cavalry roaming in front of the rest of the army to prevent foraging by the barbarians, whom he hoped were already hungry…
Wow. Is there any reason his Sarmatian allies aren't explaining to him how things actually work in the empire, or is this just the result of miscomunication?
Hecatee
Donor
I'm not sure those Sarmatians understand it much better. I mean, the steppe way of life is radically different from the Roman's way of life, and the Sarmatian don't really understand it either even if they sometime visit cities such as Olbia but that's not enough to understand something as Rome... Add to that the fact that the Gothii don't speak the same language as the Sarmatians, and so that translation is also an issue.
The fact that the legions walk along each other as if they were separate forces under their own "kings" also reinforce the misunderstanding : to Filimer's mind what he sees are a number of tribes and vassals walking together against him...
I'm not sure I agree on that. While I understant Filimer and the Gothii ignorance, since they are newcomers to the region after all, and the "every Legion is a different tribe" thing could be explained as a miscomunication due to the language barrier, I find it dificult to believe that the Sarmatian king didn't see a problem with Filimer's plan:
I mean, the Sarmatians have lived at the borders of the Empire for quite a time at this point. Surely, they could see that Olbia is not as important to the Romans as Filimer is assuming. Not to mention his assumption that the women and children of the roman "tribes" being in that city.
Hecatee
Donor
Those Sarmatians don't understand the way of life of the "city dwellers" that much better than the Gothii, especially as those are Sarmatians who had to flee from the Romans who invaded their lands, they never lived under the Romans but fled far to the east where they mixed with the local plain tribes, Scythians who did not know much about cities either... True Gtolos knows all the civilians for the "tribes" of the Romans may not be in the city, but he has a bad idea of how many people may live in a city for to him they live in crowded conditions and he has no idea how many can live in such conditions, he knows how to estimate a plain tribe's size but not a city... And now in Olbia they see more "tribesmen", with their distinctive armor of the lorica segmentata type, manning a wall that protects the city so they believe it is the place the Romans tried to protect when attempting to intercept them on the plain.
Volubilis, Mauretania, August 180
Hecatee
Donor
sorry for the delay, real life caught me
Volubilis, Mauretania, August 180
Gallienus, imperial doctor, rubbed his neck. He had spent the day in a cow shed and in a temple of Isis with a colleague, investigating a medical mystery.
His emperor had arrived three days before in Volubilis, the south-western most city of the empire. The city was rather isolated at the end of a large plain and was the last outpost of civilization before the lands of the nomadic tribes of the desert. Most trade was going from the city toward the north or the coast : olive oil and grain were the major export of the city.
While Volubilis had briefly been a royal capital some two centuries before, it was now simply a provincial town. A temple had recently been built atop an old tumulus that dominated the center of the city. A new basilica had been erected in the last year, dedicated to the upcoming imperial visit : the building, bordering the forum, was sumptuous. Richly painted, it was dedicated to official public functions such as trials, but also hosted a number of tables for money changers or lawyers ready to draft contracts.
Of course the basilica had hosted a large banquet given by the city to the emperor and its entourage, including Gallienus. The thoughtful city decurions had placed the imperial physician next to the city physician. The man was in charge of the local valetudinarium, which had been gifted to the city some ten years before.
During the meal the two professionals had talked shop. Gallienus was most interested by the description of a plague that had run through the city and justified the building of the valetudinarium. One of the first tasks of the local doctor had done had been to study the sickness through the testimonies of the survivors. To his surprise three elements had come to light : firstly it seemed the plague had started in families living near the main grain granaries. Secondly two areas of the city seemed to have been less afflicted : one was next to the temple of Isis and the second was near a stable in which some sick animals were being tended.
The working theory was that the sickness might have been carried by fleas on rats, which the cats of the sanctuary of Isis might have hunted, protecting the neighboring houses. On the other hand there were no cats in the area near the stable, so another factor must have been at hand.
The next day Gallienus and his colleague had visited the stable and interviewed those who lived there, asking about the sickness of the animals. They were shown a pair of cows with ulcers on their udders. Both physicians moved away in fear. Varus varius ! Yet the caretakers did not seem afraid… Curious but careful, both physicians came back to observe the cows. Gallienus noted the scared hands of the cow’s caretaker. The man explained the sickness, similar to the one that had killed so many others in the city.
Now remained the mystery of why those workers who lived near an animal version of the sickness had not caught it...
Volubilis, Mauretania, August 180
Gallienus, imperial doctor, rubbed his neck. He had spent the day in a cow shed and in a temple of Isis with a colleague, investigating a medical mystery.
His emperor had arrived three days before in Volubilis, the south-western most city of the empire. The city was rather isolated at the end of a large plain and was the last outpost of civilization before the lands of the nomadic tribes of the desert. Most trade was going from the city toward the north or the coast : olive oil and grain were the major export of the city.
While Volubilis had briefly been a royal capital some two centuries before, it was now simply a provincial town. A temple had recently been built atop an old tumulus that dominated the center of the city. A new basilica had been erected in the last year, dedicated to the upcoming imperial visit : the building, bordering the forum, was sumptuous. Richly painted, it was dedicated to official public functions such as trials, but also hosted a number of tables for money changers or lawyers ready to draft contracts.
Of course the basilica had hosted a large banquet given by the city to the emperor and its entourage, including Gallienus. The thoughtful city decurions had placed the imperial physician next to the city physician. The man was in charge of the local valetudinarium, which had been gifted to the city some ten years before.
During the meal the two professionals had talked shop. Gallienus was most interested by the description of a plague that had run through the city and justified the building of the valetudinarium. One of the first tasks of the local doctor had done had been to study the sickness through the testimonies of the survivors. To his surprise three elements had come to light : firstly it seemed the plague had started in families living near the main grain granaries. Secondly two areas of the city seemed to have been less afflicted : one was next to the temple of Isis and the second was near a stable in which some sick animals were being tended.
The working theory was that the sickness might have been carried by fleas on rats, which the cats of the sanctuary of Isis might have hunted, protecting the neighboring houses. On the other hand there were no cats in the area near the stable, so another factor must have been at hand.
The next day Gallienus and his colleague had visited the stable and interviewed those who lived there, asking about the sickness of the animals. They were shown a pair of cows with ulcers on their udders. Both physicians moved away in fear. Varus varius ! Yet the caretakers did not seem afraid… Curious but careful, both physicians came back to observe the cows. Gallienus noted the scared hands of the cow’s caretaker. The man explained the sickness, similar to the one that had killed so many others in the city.
Now remained the mystery of why those workers who lived near an animal version of the sickness had not caught it...
Thomas Wilkins
Banned
Ooooooh, we're finding a cure for future plagues now. I bet the population will keep on rising like china.
Mice spreading smallpox? Has that ever happened?
And if not Smallpox, then what disease do the cows have that protects against that plague?
And if not Smallpox, then what disease do the cows have that protects against that plague?
Apparently the working theory is that smallpox evolved from a rodent virus during the stone age, so maybe it could spread from them.
Hecatee
Donor
Ok first I must admit : i'm currently reading Kyle Harper's great book "The Fate of Rome : Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire" (which in French is translated as "Comment l'Empire romain s'est effondré. Le climat, les maladies et la chute de Rome", which is much closer to the translated title of Gibbon) so the themes of that book may come up into the timeline in the next few weeks (and by the way it is a GREAT reading, well worth the time, for it is very clear even for non specialists)
second : i stayed deliberatelty vague in the update about the exact nature of the sickness.
Asian smallpox was of course OTL the cause of the Antonine plague which did not happen in this timeline, although there were also West-African variants of the sickness (that's one element that steered me toward Volubilis, which is also in the general direction where I wanted Marcus Aurelius and thus Gallien to be at this time).
What Gallian and his colleague have stumbled upon is indeed the begining of the idea of vaccination, which they can have because microscops have made them aware of microorganisms even if they don't understand what they are or how they work. But they will create at best crude vaccination techniques that still kill up to 1% of vaccinated people... Still an incredible progress when we know that smalpox probably killed around 7% of the roman population during the rule of Marcus Aurelius ! Of course this idea of mine is not very original, something similar is depicted in Harry Turtledove's stories published under the title "Agent of Byzantium" if I recall correctly.
The case of the Isis sanctuary is of course linked to cats but also to the cleanliness of the priests so it is not really pertinent to the case but will make cats a mandatory addition to every city, especially near the grain granaries, which will later help control rodent and especially rats population in the cities. And beside, who does not love an imperial mandated cat in every building of the empire ?
second : i stayed deliberatelty vague in the update about the exact nature of the sickness.
Asian smallpox was of course OTL the cause of the Antonine plague which did not happen in this timeline, although there were also West-African variants of the sickness (that's one element that steered me toward Volubilis, which is also in the general direction where I wanted Marcus Aurelius and thus Gallien to be at this time).
What Gallian and his colleague have stumbled upon is indeed the begining of the idea of vaccination, which they can have because microscops have made them aware of microorganisms even if they don't understand what they are or how they work. But they will create at best crude vaccination techniques that still kill up to 1% of vaccinated people... Still an incredible progress when we know that smalpox probably killed around 7% of the roman population during the rule of Marcus Aurelius ! Of course this idea of mine is not very original, something similar is depicted in Harry Turtledove's stories published under the title "Agent of Byzantium" if I recall correctly.
The case of the Isis sanctuary is of course linked to cats but also to the cleanliness of the priests so it is not really pertinent to the case but will make cats a mandatory addition to every city, especially near the grain granaries, which will later help control rodent and especially rats population in the cities. And beside, who does not love an imperial mandated cat in every building of the empire ?
Well apparently research disagrees with you: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/237229-overview
Also apparently two related diseases to smallpox, cowpox and camelpox, can spread through rodents, so perhaps this ancient ancestor of smallpox would still be able to do the same.
Outskirts of Olbia Pontica, on the Euxine Sea shore, August 180
Hecatee
Donor
Outskirts of Olbia Pontica, on the Euxine Sea shore, August 180
The Roman cavalry had been the worst hit by the constant harassment from the Sarmatian light cavalry, but it had done its main job of protecting the main body of infantry and keeping the army safe from any devastating ambush. And while they had taken casualties they had taken less than one would have thought, thanks to the armor they wore : horses had been the main fatalities, while men were usually just wounded.
But now the cavalry was happy for their were no place where to flee for their enemy : the final battle was at hand. The legions had deployed in a simple formation a small distance west of the city, with the auxiliary infantry in the front of the line, slightly stronger on the wings than in the center, the heavy infantry some paces behind, ready to intervene once the auxiliaries had taken the brunt of the Gothii assault.
It was the first large battle with the reorganized centuries that included archers , and it had been decided that the archers would be in the back of the auxiliary formations but the front of the legionary ones, maximizing their fire. The artillery had also been deployed on its carts, ready to fire its darts above the heads of the soldiers into the enemy mass.
The cavalry was on the wings, ready to contain the Sarmatians and pursue those who fled. The field would not allow an attack on their back for space was lacking. It would not ready matter as the guarison of Olbia Pontica was ready to sortie when the time was right.
They had suffered rather light losses during the attempted storming of the outer wall, killing or wounding some 4000 barbarians before they had retreated. Luckily most had been from small tribes or groups living on the path Filimer and his men had taken that had aggalmated to the Gothii while not being members of the tribe itself : they had been expendable…
The Sarmatians had concentrated on the right side of the Gothic formation, on the north of the field, making a strong punch with heavy cataphract units, two thousand men strong, in front. The months of battle had been heard on the sea of grass and many warriors, sometime whole clans or tribes, of scythians had joined the barbarian host : they were now close to fifteen thousand horsemen, alongside some fifty thousand infantrymen ready to fight to defend about two time as many women and children who had stayed with the bagages and field defenses surrounding the city.
The battle started with the barbarians walking toward their enemies, who did not move. Then some of the auxiliaries started to make a strange sound, like a wave of noise coming and going again and again, increasing in strength… The Gothii, while being long accustomed to many of the Germans way of war, had never heard the barytus before and the auxiliaries of the Batavii and Treverii cohorts gave a splendid display of this art, which culminated just as the first arrows were fired by their archers.
Most Gothii did not have a shield and the strong points of the roman arrows burrowed deep into their skin, wounding remorselessly while the infantrymen took some elan to throw their pila, adding to the confusion. One unit on the southern end of the roman line also threw weighted darts they called martiobarbules and which they carried inside their shields, each auxiliary soldier adding five projectiles to the chaos. They were an innovation of one of their tribune who had looked for a way to provide his men with short range projectiles they could use in the deep german forests in which they were often forced to operate…
The results were spectacular, creating great gaps in the enemy ranks. Filimer himself got wounded , although not grievously.
While the infantry started to engage in earnest, Gtalo ordered the scythians mounted archers forward to disperse the much smaller cavalry force in front of them. Thousands rode forward in ten waves, bow at the ready : soon they started to receive as good as they gave, the better armor of the Romans being of great help here. Moving away from the battle, the Scythians managed to drag the Romans in pursuit toward the north and open a breach between them and the infantry, giving the cataphractii a spot to hit…
Charging, those had good hope of disrupting the roman line. But Gtalo made a mistake : in order to help the infantry he decided to aim for the space between the rear ranks of the auxiliaries and the front of the legions…
The Romans officers had not had time to prepare the land with much more than a few caltrops, insufficient to block a charge even if it could blunt one. But the officers were well aware of the risk and had planned a contingency plan.
Orders had been given to the archers and artillery : if the signal was given they would have to stop targeting the mass in front of the auxiliaries. Instead, switching their fires, they would make the place between the auxiliaries and the legions a killing field while the three rear ranks of the auxiliaries and the first three ranks of the legion would take defensive positions to repel the enemy cavalry…
Gtalo led his men into the breach, going deep between the lines before turning on the back of the auxiliaries so that as many as possible of his men would hit the enemy at once, hopefully dislocating their formation.
It was a textbook attack… and a textbook failure. The clouds of arrows that slammed into the flank of the cataphractii were deadly, as only arrows fired from close range can be. Horses tumbled on the grass, throwing their riders off, when it was not the riders themselves that were turned into instant porcupines…
Gtalo was amongst the first to die, alongside his close guard. The arrow fire was so dense and so lethal that the archers did not even need to retreat behind the infantrymen : the bone and horn armors of men and especially of horses was not designed to sustain such attack at such an angle : in the steppes the arrow threat came mainly from the sky, shoot from short bows, and the armor was made to deflect them, but not close range lateral fire from powerful infantry bows…
It did not take long for the cataphractii at the back of the formation to see what happened in front, and they choose to flee, warning the scythians horse archers that the battle was lost. The rumour spread like fire in dry summer grass, and soon the whole barbarian cavalry fled. They had not chosen the right side of the battlefield for nothing : it was also the only way toward safety in case of defeat… Unknown from their allies they had also ordered their slaves and retainers to bring the remount horses behind a hill near the fight once the battle began, just so that they may flee if needed…
The auxiliary infantry had a hard time against the Gothii. The barbarians were courageous and the stopping of the rain of arrows gave them renewed spirit that countered the traditional roman advantages of discipline and tactics. This was especially true on the roman left, taken between the charging cavalry on their flank and read and the infantry in front of them. Still they held, centuries switching line once and then a second time. They knew the legions had to cut through the cavalry to reach and help them, so they kept holding their ground…
On the right of the Roman line, the left of the Barbarians, the situation was different : no barbarian cavalry was present and part of the Roman cavalry was able to support their parent auxiliary units with archer fire, although they were forbidden to attempt shock contact with their foe. The goal was to make as many barbarians as possible captive : the hungry slave markets of the Empire needed new energies…
The situation was now a race : would the Gothii be able to break through the center of the Auxiliaries, isolate the roman left and crush it before the second line could react or would the cavalry fight be finished before then, allowing the extraction of the hard pressed cohorts ?
Meanwhile, behind the fight and hidden from sight, the legion in Olbia had sortied on the south of the city, moving to get into a blocking position between the field army’s left and the city’s outer wall, which was defended by the local guarison and civilians wearing helmets and lances to make their enemy believe the legion was still defending the walls.
Their arrival on the battlefield caused great consternation amongst the Gothii, who still kept fighting. To them it was the survival of their tribe that was at stake. They had fled their lands, walked for months, years even, in search of a new land, and they were not going to fail their families who had endured so much !
Filimer and his close guard were seemingly everywhere, giving courage back to faltering warriors, pushing his men to heroic deeds. Bigger men than the romans, more energic than them, his warriors were terrifying but the roman army was worse. Its men had endurance, and left emotions behind as the rhythm of combat entered into them, born of hundreds of hours of drilling and training at the post or against their peers.
The gladii cut, the scutii deflected the swords or hit the faces and shins of their opponents, the men feeling their comrades and the threats more than they saw or heard them. Invisible communication tied the auxiliaries together, making living organisms out of the units. It did not prevent individual heroism and feats of courage and heroism, such as that centurion that covered two of his wounded men in the midst of a group of barbarians until the rest of his men freed him and took the wounded back, or the moment when a contubernia of archers walked directly in front of horsemen to launch a devastating set of arrows, with four of the men being crushed by the dying mounts of their targets…
On the other side too there was heroism, such as when a large warrior, truly a giant in the Romans’ eye, grasped the shield of a roman and used it as a battering ram to open the line of his foes, giving space to his comrades to attack in the gap…
But despite their courage the Gothii could not hope to win. Their left, pushed by the fresh legion from the city, started to break, their fear soon contaminating the center and then the right, which had been so close to winning its part of the battle. Everyone fled either north, leaving family behind, or east to the illusive safety of their camp.
The legions had already started to move, the city guarison mopping up the battlefield, two units moving against the Gothii camp, and the last two full legions pursuing the fugitive with the help of the cavalry.
As the sentries of the city started to cheer for the victory they saw something else appear on the horizon on the seaside : another Roman fleet was coming.
The Roman cavalry had been the worst hit by the constant harassment from the Sarmatian light cavalry, but it had done its main job of protecting the main body of infantry and keeping the army safe from any devastating ambush. And while they had taken casualties they had taken less than one would have thought, thanks to the armor they wore : horses had been the main fatalities, while men were usually just wounded.
But now the cavalry was happy for their were no place where to flee for their enemy : the final battle was at hand. The legions had deployed in a simple formation a small distance west of the city, with the auxiliary infantry in the front of the line, slightly stronger on the wings than in the center, the heavy infantry some paces behind, ready to intervene once the auxiliaries had taken the brunt of the Gothii assault.
It was the first large battle with the reorganized centuries that included archers , and it had been decided that the archers would be in the back of the auxiliary formations but the front of the legionary ones, maximizing their fire. The artillery had also been deployed on its carts, ready to fire its darts above the heads of the soldiers into the enemy mass.
The cavalry was on the wings, ready to contain the Sarmatians and pursue those who fled. The field would not allow an attack on their back for space was lacking. It would not ready matter as the guarison of Olbia Pontica was ready to sortie when the time was right.
They had suffered rather light losses during the attempted storming of the outer wall, killing or wounding some 4000 barbarians before they had retreated. Luckily most had been from small tribes or groups living on the path Filimer and his men had taken that had aggalmated to the Gothii while not being members of the tribe itself : they had been expendable…
The Sarmatians had concentrated on the right side of the Gothic formation, on the north of the field, making a strong punch with heavy cataphract units, two thousand men strong, in front. The months of battle had been heard on the sea of grass and many warriors, sometime whole clans or tribes, of scythians had joined the barbarian host : they were now close to fifteen thousand horsemen, alongside some fifty thousand infantrymen ready to fight to defend about two time as many women and children who had stayed with the bagages and field defenses surrounding the city.
The battle started with the barbarians walking toward their enemies, who did not move. Then some of the auxiliaries started to make a strange sound, like a wave of noise coming and going again and again, increasing in strength… The Gothii, while being long accustomed to many of the Germans way of war, had never heard the barytus before and the auxiliaries of the Batavii and Treverii cohorts gave a splendid display of this art, which culminated just as the first arrows were fired by their archers.
Most Gothii did not have a shield and the strong points of the roman arrows burrowed deep into their skin, wounding remorselessly while the infantrymen took some elan to throw their pila, adding to the confusion. One unit on the southern end of the roman line also threw weighted darts they called martiobarbules and which they carried inside their shields, each auxiliary soldier adding five projectiles to the chaos. They were an innovation of one of their tribune who had looked for a way to provide his men with short range projectiles they could use in the deep german forests in which they were often forced to operate…
The results were spectacular, creating great gaps in the enemy ranks. Filimer himself got wounded , although not grievously.
While the infantry started to engage in earnest, Gtalo ordered the scythians mounted archers forward to disperse the much smaller cavalry force in front of them. Thousands rode forward in ten waves, bow at the ready : soon they started to receive as good as they gave, the better armor of the Romans being of great help here. Moving away from the battle, the Scythians managed to drag the Romans in pursuit toward the north and open a breach between them and the infantry, giving the cataphractii a spot to hit…
Charging, those had good hope of disrupting the roman line. But Gtalo made a mistake : in order to help the infantry he decided to aim for the space between the rear ranks of the auxiliaries and the front of the legions…
The Romans officers had not had time to prepare the land with much more than a few caltrops, insufficient to block a charge even if it could blunt one. But the officers were well aware of the risk and had planned a contingency plan.
Orders had been given to the archers and artillery : if the signal was given they would have to stop targeting the mass in front of the auxiliaries. Instead, switching their fires, they would make the place between the auxiliaries and the legions a killing field while the three rear ranks of the auxiliaries and the first three ranks of the legion would take defensive positions to repel the enemy cavalry…
Gtalo led his men into the breach, going deep between the lines before turning on the back of the auxiliaries so that as many as possible of his men would hit the enemy at once, hopefully dislocating their formation.
It was a textbook attack… and a textbook failure. The clouds of arrows that slammed into the flank of the cataphractii were deadly, as only arrows fired from close range can be. Horses tumbled on the grass, throwing their riders off, when it was not the riders themselves that were turned into instant porcupines…
Gtalo was amongst the first to die, alongside his close guard. The arrow fire was so dense and so lethal that the archers did not even need to retreat behind the infantrymen : the bone and horn armors of men and especially of horses was not designed to sustain such attack at such an angle : in the steppes the arrow threat came mainly from the sky, shoot from short bows, and the armor was made to deflect them, but not close range lateral fire from powerful infantry bows…
It did not take long for the cataphractii at the back of the formation to see what happened in front, and they choose to flee, warning the scythians horse archers that the battle was lost. The rumour spread like fire in dry summer grass, and soon the whole barbarian cavalry fled. They had not chosen the right side of the battlefield for nothing : it was also the only way toward safety in case of defeat… Unknown from their allies they had also ordered their slaves and retainers to bring the remount horses behind a hill near the fight once the battle began, just so that they may flee if needed…
The auxiliary infantry had a hard time against the Gothii. The barbarians were courageous and the stopping of the rain of arrows gave them renewed spirit that countered the traditional roman advantages of discipline and tactics. This was especially true on the roman left, taken between the charging cavalry on their flank and read and the infantry in front of them. Still they held, centuries switching line once and then a second time. They knew the legions had to cut through the cavalry to reach and help them, so they kept holding their ground…
On the right of the Roman line, the left of the Barbarians, the situation was different : no barbarian cavalry was present and part of the Roman cavalry was able to support their parent auxiliary units with archer fire, although they were forbidden to attempt shock contact with their foe. The goal was to make as many barbarians as possible captive : the hungry slave markets of the Empire needed new energies…
The situation was now a race : would the Gothii be able to break through the center of the Auxiliaries, isolate the roman left and crush it before the second line could react or would the cavalry fight be finished before then, allowing the extraction of the hard pressed cohorts ?
Meanwhile, behind the fight and hidden from sight, the legion in Olbia had sortied on the south of the city, moving to get into a blocking position between the field army’s left and the city’s outer wall, which was defended by the local guarison and civilians wearing helmets and lances to make their enemy believe the legion was still defending the walls.
Their arrival on the battlefield caused great consternation amongst the Gothii, who still kept fighting. To them it was the survival of their tribe that was at stake. They had fled their lands, walked for months, years even, in search of a new land, and they were not going to fail their families who had endured so much !
Filimer and his close guard were seemingly everywhere, giving courage back to faltering warriors, pushing his men to heroic deeds. Bigger men than the romans, more energic than them, his warriors were terrifying but the roman army was worse. Its men had endurance, and left emotions behind as the rhythm of combat entered into them, born of hundreds of hours of drilling and training at the post or against their peers.
The gladii cut, the scutii deflected the swords or hit the faces and shins of their opponents, the men feeling their comrades and the threats more than they saw or heard them. Invisible communication tied the auxiliaries together, making living organisms out of the units. It did not prevent individual heroism and feats of courage and heroism, such as that centurion that covered two of his wounded men in the midst of a group of barbarians until the rest of his men freed him and took the wounded back, or the moment when a contubernia of archers walked directly in front of horsemen to launch a devastating set of arrows, with four of the men being crushed by the dying mounts of their targets…
On the other side too there was heroism, such as when a large warrior, truly a giant in the Romans’ eye, grasped the shield of a roman and used it as a battering ram to open the line of his foes, giving space to his comrades to attack in the gap…
But despite their courage the Gothii could not hope to win. Their left, pushed by the fresh legion from the city, started to break, their fear soon contaminating the center and then the right, which had been so close to winning its part of the battle. Everyone fled either north, leaving family behind, or east to the illusive safety of their camp.
The legions had already started to move, the city guarison mopping up the battlefield, two units moving against the Gothii camp, and the last two full legions pursuing the fugitive with the help of the cavalry.
As the sentries of the city started to cheer for the victory they saw something else appear on the horizon on the seaside : another Roman fleet was coming.