[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: orion-list 1QM Col. ix.3-5; Origins of different workinghypotheses .

   Dierk van der Berg raises a number of points I will briefly discuss.

   Dierk questions whether column 9 describes the seventh lot of battle.  
These seven stages (generally following Yadin's analysis) consisted of an 
advance phase and retreat phase of each of the three divisions of skirmishers 
in succession, each throwing their missiles at the enemy line.  That occupied 
the first six lots (column 8, though the "lot" terminology is not explicit).  
The final, seventh stage was the clash of infantry seen in column 9.  This 
was the normal course of battle for both Roman and Hellenistic armies.  This 
over-all outline of the course of battle is explicit in col. 8-9, whether or 
not one applies the "lot" terminology to this section.

   Dierk assumes an arrangement wherein there are seven legions on _each_ of 
the four sides of the camp, not seven legions altogether.  In both 
Hellenistic and Roman armies, there was a camp for the entire army in a 
defensible position near the anticipated battle site (within a mile or two if 
possible).  When the time for battle came, the army left the camp and arrayed 
itself for battle.  The battles were not at the camp location itself.  
Unfortunately, 1QM also uses "camp" terminology for the army as a whole 
arrayed for battle, i.e. all seven legions.  This is clear e.g. at 1QM 
vi.8-10, where the heavy cavalry take up defensive positions on "all the 
flanks of the camp," i.e. "on the right and on the left of the [front] 
line,... on one side and the other, seven hundred on one flank and seven 
hundred on the second flank."  Here "all the flanks of the camp" [Martinez] 
are simply the left and right flank of the seven legions deployed on the 
battle field -- not, as Dierk maintains, "all the (four) flanks of the camp." 
 
   But since Dierk conceives of seven legions on each side of the 
[stationary] camp, he suggests that 1QM describes a battle in which only "the 
first (and best) of seven chiliarchies of one of the four corps of the camp, 
e.g. the North-Corps" participates. (Please correct me if I've got this 
wrong.)  
   I cannot agree with this, as (1) the battle arrangement of legions on each 
side of the stationary camp, seven on each side, is unprecedented in ancient 
military history so far as I am aware.  _All_ legions resided _in_ the camp 
prior to battle, and left the camp to another location _for_ the battle.  (2) 
That the commanders should employ only 7 out of 28 legions for battle, 
leaving the other 21 out of the action, is again without any precedent in 
ancient sources.  What is the strategic logic behind bringing 21 legions to 
the field that one does not intent to use in battle?    

    By the way, Livy's account of the battle at Zama in 202 BCE between the 
Roman general Scipio and the Carthagian Hannibal contains a specfic parallel 
to my interpretation of 1QM column 9.  As I explained in my last posting, 1QM 
ix.3-6 describes how the priests utilize the "rallying trumpets" to maintain 
order (i.e. an even advance) in the infantry lines during the final clash of 
the heavy infantry.  At Zama, after the Romans defeated the Punic cavalry and 
broke up the enemy's front line, there was similar difficulty in keeping 
ranks during the final infantry clash.  The problem at Zama was that there 
were such heaps of dead bodies that the Roman "hastati of the front line 
broke up their maniples and ranks to pursue the enemy where they could over 
the piles of bodies and arms and through pools of blood.  Then the maniples 
of the principes [the second line] also began to break up, as they saw the 
first line losing formation.  As soon as Scipio saw this, he called the 
recall to be sounded..." (Livy xxx.34)  Scipio's use of trumpet-signals to 
maintain order and discipline at the "pursuit" phase exactly parallels 1QM.  
Livy later comments on the great importance the Romans attached to "following 
their standards and keeping their ranks," a concern also reflected in the War 
Scroll.  

   Russell Gmirkin
For private reply, e-mail to RGmyrken@aol.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from Orion, e-mail to majordomo@panda.mscc.huji.ac.il with
the message: "unsubscribe Orion." For more information on the Orion Center
or for Orion archives, visit our web site http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il.