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87-537: The veterans of two Roman legions under Augustus were established in the city (the fifth Macedonian and the third Gallic ), that afterward quickly became Romanized . It was the only fully Latin-speaking city in the Syria-Phoenicia region until the fourth century. Although Berytus was still an important city after earthquakes, around 400 CE Tyre was made the capital of the Roman province of Phoenicia . "Of

174-512: A constitutional crisis . This crisis and the civil wars which followed brought an end to the Republic and led to the foundation of the Empire under Augustus in 27 BC. Generals, during the recent Republican civil wars, had formed their own legions and numbered them as they wished. During this time, there was a high incidence of Gemina (twin) legions, where two legions were consolidated into

261-555: A "country district" called Pagus Augustus , where are located the famous Niha temples with Latin inscriptions. Agrippa greatly favoured the city of Berytus, and adorned it with a splendid theatre and amphitheatre, beside baths and porticoes, inaugurating them with games and spectacles of every kind, including shows of gladiators. Now only minor ruins remain, in front of the Catholic Cathedral of Beirut. Four large bath complexes as well as numerous private baths increased

348-622: A Germanic alliance led by Arminius in the Varian Disaster (September 9, AD 9) and never raised again by the Romans thereafter. Quintili Vare, legiones redde! ( Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions! ) Almost nothing is known about the legion of the Roman Kingdom period that could have included 1000 men from each of the three original Roman tribes . The earliest surviving detailed description comes from Polybius , who

435-410: A Roman legion. This was later changed to nine cohorts of standard size (with six centuries at 80 men each) with the first cohort being of double strength (five double-strength centuries with 160 men each). By the fourth century AD, the legion was a much smaller unit of about 1,000 to 1,500 men, and there were more of them. This had come about as the large formation legion and auxiliary unit, 10,000 men,

522-607: A bad omen to Palmyra and the surrounding lands. Eusebius records that the Emperor Constantine destroyed a temple of Venus 'on the summit of Mount Lebanon.' and probably it was this pagan temple dedicated to Venus. During the 1970s Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur lived in Yammoune whilst receiving military training at a Fatah camp. He later held a number of senior posts in the Iranian government. He wrote about

609-591: A crushing defeat at the Battle of the Allia , in 387 BC the military structure was reformed. Under the Camillan system the legions were initially structured based on social class, with the poorest being the first line of the formation. The legionaries most often fought with hastae (spears) and scuta (large rectangular shields) in a checkered maniple formation with assistance from skirmishers. The exception to this

696-399: A legion was known as the primus pilus ( lit. "first maniple " ), who directly commanded the first century of the first cohort and commanded the whole first cohort when in battle. Within the second to tenth cohorts, the commander of each cohort's first century was known as a pilus prior and was in command of his entire cohort when in battle. The seniority of the pilus prior centurions

783-482: A military career; they were not paid well, their primary form of income being what they could loot from the battlefield, and were simply called upon when needed and returned to their civilian lives when they were no longer required. In terms of organization and function, the early Republican era military was inherited from the Etruscans and seemingly influenced by the ancient Greek and Macedonian phalanx . After

870-751: A number of organisational changes, the legion system survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire . It was continued within the Eastern Roman Empire until the 7th century, when reforms begun by Emperor Heraclius to supply the increasing need for soldiers resulted in the Theme system . Despite this, the Eastern Roman armies continued to be influenced by the earlier Roman legions, and were maintained with similar levels of discipline, strategic prowess, and organization. Aside from

957-472: A part of the empire. ...(Berytus) was made a Roman colony about 14 B.C. Herod the Great, Agrippa I and II, and Queen Berenice built exedras, porticos, temples, a forum, a theater, amphitheater, and baths here. In the 3d c. A.D. the city became the seat of a famous school of law and continued to flourish until the earthquake of A.D. 551 ravaged the city....Its streets, laid out on a grid plan, are spaced at roughly

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1044-452: A single organisation (and was later made official and put under a legatus and six duces ). At the end of the civil war against Mark Antony , Augustus was left with around fifty legions, with several double counts (multiple Legio Xs for instance). For political and economic reasons, Augustus reduced the number of legions to 28 (which diminished to 25 after the Battle of Teutoburg Forest , in which three legions were completely destroyed by

1131-546: A single pantheon from a single culture. There is evidence that indicates that gods of many cultures were all worshipped in their own pantheons. Berytus had a closer relationship with Poseidon , who was the chief god of the city. He was especially revered by the Berytian merchants, who would call themselves "Poseidonistes". Up until the third century CE, Poseidon was commonly depicted on coins minted in Berytus. On these coins, he

1218-462: A sizeable supplement to their regular pay. All legionary soldiers would also receive a praemia ( veterans' benefits ) on completion of their term of service of 25 years or more: a sizeable sum of money (3,000 denarii from the time of Augustus ) and/or a plot of good farmland (good land was in much demand); farmland given to veterans often helped in establishing control of the frontier regions and over rebellious provinces. Later, under Caracalla ,

1305-411: A small ala , or cavalry unit. By the third century AD, the legion was a much smaller unit of about 1,000 to 1,500 men, and there were more of them. In the fourth century AD, East Roman border guard legions ( limitanei ) may have become even smaller. In terms of organization and function, the republican era legion may have been influenced by the ancient Greek and Macedonian phalanx . For most of

1392-408: A year. However, the soldiers did not receive all the money in cash, as the state deducted a clothing and food tax from their pay. To this wage, a legionary on active campaign would hope to add the booty of war, from the bodies of their enemies and as plunder from enemy settlements. Slaves could also be claimed from the prisoners of war and divided amongst the legion for later sale, which would bring in

1479-527: Is a lake , nature reserve , village and municipality situated 27 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of Baalbek in Baalbek District , Baalbek-Hermel Governorate , Lebanon . The village has a few hundred inhabitants. There are the ruins of a Roman temple (possibly with phoenician-greek origins) in the village that are included in a grouping of Roman Temples of the Beqaa Valley . It

1566-521: Is said to be dedicated to Venus (or possibly also Astarte , before the Roman era in the region). Part of two enclosure walls and the temple foundations remain intact. Many inscriptions, written in Latin were found at the temple site. A few Ancient Greek inscriptions were also found. It is considered likely to be initially very small and of Phoenician origin, but it was greatly enlarged and improved by

1653-453: Is situated on a hill, approximately 300 metres (980 ft) from the main spring in the area, the Naba al-Arbain . It lies next to the lake where it is considered ancient worshippers took pilgrimage from the temple at Afqa to purify themselves in the temple waters. Michael Alouf found a statue of Adonis in the temple, carrying an ear of corn in one hand and a quivver and a lamb in

1740-425: Is undocumented and shrouded in myths, but those myths tell that during the rule of Servius Tullius , the census (from Latin : censeō – accounting of the people) was introduced. With this all Roman able-bodied, property-owning male citizens were divided into five classes for military service based on their wealth and then organised into centuries as sub-units of the greater Roman army or legio (multitude). Joining

1827-546: The accensi , rorarii , and leves were replaced by the velites . Unit sizes were also expanded. Non-citizens or peregrini were also offered a position in the military as auxiliaries. The Republican legion evolved from 3,000 men in the Roman Republic to over 5,200 men in the Roman Empire , consisting of centuries as the basic units. Until the middle of the first century AD, ten cohorts made up

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1914-489: The 551 Beirut earthquake the students were transferred to Sidon . Since the third century, the city had an important law college. It was here that the great codification of Roman Law, which was to be propagated by emperors like Theodosius II and Justinian, was prepared. Under the Eastern Roman Empire, some intellectual and economic activities in Berytus continued to flourish for more than a century, even if

2001-618: The Bekaa valley and included Heliopolis ; it was the only area mostly Latin-speaking in the Syria-Phoenicia region, because of the Roman colonists who promoted agriculture in the fertile lands around Yammoune . From the 1st century BCE the Bekaa valley served as a source of grain for the Roman provinces of the Levant and even for the same Rome (today the valley makes up to 40 percent of Lebanon's arable land ): Roman colonists created there even

2088-862: The Germanics ). Beside streamlining the army, Augustus also regulated the soldiers' pay. At the same time, he greatly increased the number of auxiliaries to the point where they were equal in number to the legionaries. He also created the Praetorian Guard along with a permanent Roman navy where served the liberti , or freed slaves. The legions also became permanent at this time, and not recruited for particular campaigns. They were also allocated to static bases with permanent castra legionaria (legionary fortresses). Augustus' military policies proved sound and cost effective, and were generally followed by his successors. These emperors would carefully add new legions, as circumstances required or permitted, until

2175-469: The Latin language started to be replaced by the Greek language and become Hellenised again. However, in the sixth century a series of earthquakes demolished most of the temples of Heliopolis (actual Baalbek ) and destroyed the city of Berytus, leveling its famous law school and killing nearly 30,000 inhabitants (according to Anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza ). Furthermore, the ecumenical Christian councils of

2262-613: The Notitia suggest that the process of creating new legions continued through the 4th century rather than being a single event. The names also suggest that many new legions were formed from vexillationes or from old legions. In addition, there were 24 vexillationes palatini, 73 vexillationes comitatenses ; 305 other units in the Eastern limitanei and 181 in the Western limitanei . A rare instance of apparent direct continuity between

2349-558: The fourth century resulted in new formations of around 1,000 men. The size of a typical legion varied throughout the history of ancient Rome, with complements ranging from 4,200 legionaries and 300 equites (drawn from the wealthier classes – in early Rome all troops provided their own equipment) in the Republic, to 5,500 in the Imperial period, when most legions were led by a Roman Imperial Legate. A legion had 4,800 legionaries (in 10 cohorts of 6 centuries of 80 legionaries) from

2436-418: The praemia increased to 5,000 denarii . From 104 BC onwards, each legion used an aquila (eagle) as its standard symbol. The symbol was carried by an officer known as aquilifer , and its loss was considered to be a very serious embarrassment, and often led to the disbanding of the legion itself. Normally, this was because any legion incapable of regaining its eagle in battle was so severely mauled that it

2523-562: The Anastasis cathedral, but they were restricted to an area of 316 square metres (3,400 sq ft) and failed to unearth the school. In the 5th century, Zacharias Rhetor reported that the school stood next to the "Temple of God", the description of which permitted its identification with the Byzantine Anastasis cathedral. Roman legion The Roman legion ( Latin : legiō , Latin: [ˈɫɛɡioː] ),

2610-505: The Elder , the only daughter of Augustus (according to Theodore Mommsen , Res gestae divi Augusti , II, 119). The veterans of two Roman legions were established in the city of Berytus by emperor Augustus: the fifth Macedonian and the third Gallic . The city quickly became Romanized, with two third of the inhabitants being descendants of the Roman veterans. Large public buildings and monuments were erected and Berytus enjoyed full status as

2697-586: The Forum or visiting temples and churches. In 1968 were discovered the "Roman Baths" Gardens, a landscaped public space that lies on the eastern slope of the Serail Hill . It consists of a garden and a set of uncovered ruins of the ancient Roman Baths (hence the name of the place). These ruins underwent a thorough cleaning and further excavation in 1995–1997. Designed by the British landscaping firm Gillespies,

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2784-586: The Gardens' layout is dominated by low-slung glass walls and lookout platforms that can be turned into concert venues, thus giving a 21st-century touch without harming the area's historical fabric. At the turn of the 20th century, the area where existed the famous school of Roman law at Berytus was identified. Archaeological excavations in the area between the Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral and Saint George Cathedral of

2871-628: The Imperial era, the legions played an important political role. Their actions could secure the empire for a usurper or take it away. For example, the defeat of Vitellius in the Year of the Four Emperors was decided when the Danubian legions chose to support Vespasian . In the Empire, the legion was standardised, with symbols and an individual history where men were proud to serve. The legion

2958-616: The Imperial period, consisted mostly of auxiliaries rather than legions. Many of the legions founded before 40 BC were still active until at least the fifth century, notably Legio V Macedonica , which was founded by Augustus in 43 BC and was in Egypt in the seventh century during the Islamic conquest of Egypt . On the other hand, Legio XVII ("Seventeenth Legion"), Legio XVIII ("Eighteenth Legion") and Legio XIX ("Nineteenth Legion"), founded by Augustus around 41 BC, were destroyed by

3045-530: The Later Roman Empire, the legion was reduced in size to 1,000 to allow for easier provisioning and to expand the regions under surveillance. Numbers would also vary depending on casualties suffered during a campaign; Julius Caesar 's legions during his campaign in Gaul often only had around 3,500 men. Tactics were not very different from the past, but their effectiveness was largely improved because of

3132-458: The Latin character of Berytus remained dominant until the fifth century: the city was a center for the study of Latin literature and – after Septimius Severus – of Roman Law . During the reign of Nero , the son of a Roman colonist, Marcus Valerius Probus (born in Berytus around CE 25), was known in all the empire as a Latin grammarian and literature master philologist . Roman emperors promoted

3219-538: The Maronites unearthed a funerary stele etched with an epitaph to a man named Patricius, "whose career was consecrated for the study of law". The epitaph was identified as being dedicated to the famous 5th-century law school professor. In 1994, archaeological diggings underneath the Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Beirut Central District 's Nejmeh Square identified structural elements of

3306-710: The NW side of the same hill. Some villas in a S suburb facing the sea had mosaic floors (now in the Beirut Museum).Some 12 km upstream on the Beirut river are the ruined arches of an aqueduct. Berytus was considered the most Roman city in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. It was one of four Roman colonies in the Syria-Phoenicia region and the only one with full Ius Italicum (meaning: exemption from imperial taxation). Its territory/district under Claudius reached

3393-403: The Republic, when warfare was mostly concentrated on raiding, it is uncertain if the full manpower of the legions was summoned at any one time. In 494 BC, when three foreign threats emerged, the dictator Manius Valerius Maximus raised ten legions which Livy says was a greater number than had been raised previously at any one time. Also, some warfare was still conducted by Roman forces outside

3480-576: The Roman Baths. Roman Berytus was a city of nearly 50,000 inhabitants during the reign of Trajan and had a huge forum and necropolis. The Hippodrome of Berytus was the largest known in the Levant, while literary sources indicate there was a theatre. Scholars like Linda Hall write that the hippodrome was still working in the fifth century. The gods worshipped by the Berytians were not limited to

3567-469: The Roman Imperial period, the legions formed the Roman army's elite heavy infantry , recruited exclusively from Roman citizens, while the remainder of the army consisted of auxiliaries , who provided additional infantry and the vast majority of the Roman cavalry (provincials who aspired to Roman citizenship gained it when honourably discharged from the auxiliaries). The Roman army, for most of

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3654-488: The Romans Ernest Renan visited the site and discovered sections of a frieze and parts of pediment attributed to the temple. A partly broken cockle shell with a figure of a goddess with outstretched arms was also found recently during ploughing by a tractor . The ancient name of Yammoune is not known however some have suggested that it was once the location of a Festival of Adonis . The temple

3741-734: The already Hellenised (and fully Christian) population and made it easy prey to the newly converted Muslim Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula . Eastern Roman Berytus -reduced to the size of a village- fell to the Arabs in 635 CE. Recently at the Garden of Forgiveness , the two main streets of Roman Berytus, the cardo and decumanus , were discovered in the Beirut Central District . Their shaded colonnades became busy markets on festival days. At other times, these streets would have been frequented by Law School students and citizens passing to

3828-408: The army was both a duty and a distinguishing mark of Roman citizenship; the wealthiest land owners performed the most years of military service. These individuals would have had the most to lose should the state have fallen. At some point after the overthrow of the Roman monarchy the legio was subdivided into two separate legions, each one ascribed to one of the two consuls . In the first years of

3915-478: The city's water consumption: the Romans constructed an aqueduct fed by the Beirut River whose main source was 10 km from the city. The aqueduct crossed the river at Qanater Zbaydeh and the water finally reached Riad Al Solh Square ; there, at the foot of the Serail Hill , it was stored in large cisterns . An intricate network of lead or clay pipes and channels distributed the water to the various pools of

4002-443: The consular armies (two per consul), other units were levied by campaign. Rome's Italian allies were required to provide approximately ten cohorts (auxilia were not organised into legions) to support each Roman Legion. In the middle of the Republic, legions were composed of the following units: Each of these three lines was subdivided into (usually ten) chief tactical units called maniples . A maniple consisted of two centuries and

4089-567: The development of high-level culture in the fully Romanized city (even in Greek language as with Hermippus of Berytus ). The Berytian law school was widely known in the Roman Empire ;: it was famous the Latin motto Berytus Nutrix Legum ("Beirut, Mother of Laws"). Indeed, two of Rome's most famous jurists, Papinian and Ulpian , both natives of Phoenicia , taught there under the Severan emperors. When Justinian assembled his Pandects in

4176-455: The elite palatini , other legions called comitatenses and pseudocomitatenses , along with the auxilia palatina , provided the infantry of late Roman armies. The Notitia Dignitatum lists 25 legiones palatinae , 70 legiones comitatenses , 47 legiones pseudocomitatenses and 111 auxilia palatina in the field armies, and a further 47 legiones in the frontier armies. Legion names such as Honoriani and Gratianenses found in

4263-434: The enemy. His comrades, fearing disgrace, 'with one accord, leapt down from the ship' and were followed by troops from the other ships. With the birth of the Roman Empire, the legions created a bond with their leader, the emperor himself. Each legion had another officer, called imaginifer , whose role was to carry a pike with the imago (image, sculpture) of the emperor as pontifex maximus . Yammoune Yammoune

4350-550: The engineers, record-keepers, the praefectus castrorum (commander of the camp) and other specialists such as priests and musicians. In the Later Roman Empire , the number of legions was increased and the Roman army expanded. There is no evidence to suggest that legions changed in form before the Tetrarchy , although there is evidence that they were smaller than the paper strengths usually quoted. The final form of

4437-476: The entire Roman army , but sources on this period are few and unreliable. The subsequent organisation of legions varied greatly over time but legions were typically composed of around five thousand soldiers. During much of the republican era , a legion was divided into three lines, each of ten maniples. In the late Republic and much of the imperial period (from about 100 BC), a legion was divided into ten cohorts, each of six (or five) centuries. Legions also included

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4524-562: The fault was discovered in 2010 by Ata Elias of the American University of Beirut . They studied samples from a trench in Marjahine that will allow them to improve dating on historical earthquakes and better predict future ones. Lake Yammoune is home to Lebanon's only endemic fish , Pseudophoxinus libani . In Phoenician Mythology , the goddess Astarte turned herself into a golden fish in Yammoune lake to escape from

4611-405: The fifth and sixth centuries CE were unsuccessful in settling religious disagreements within the surviving community. Berytus became a "Christian See" at an early date, and was a suffragan of Tyre in "Phoenicia Prima", a province of the "Patriarchate of Antioch". In antiquity its most famous bishop was Eusebius, afterwards Bishop of Nicomedia, the courtier-prelate and strong supporter of Arianism in

4698-477: The fourth century....In 450 CE Berytus obtained from Theodosius II the title of metropolis, with jurisdiction over six sees taken from Tyre; but in 451 CE the "Council of Chalcedon" restored these to Tyre, leaving, however, to Berytus its rank of metropolis (Mansi, VII, 85–98). Thus, from 451 CE Berytus was an exempt metropolis depending directly on the Patriarch of Antioch. This turbulent Byzantine period weakened

4785-639: The great law schools of Rome, Constantinople, and Berytus", the law school of Berytus stood "pre-eminent". The Code of Justinian (one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis , the codification of Roman law ordered early in the 6th century CE by Justinian I and fully written in Latin) was mostly created in this school. In 140 BCE the Phoenician village called "Biruta" was destroyed by Diodotus Tryphon in his contest with Antiochus VII Sidetes for

4872-565: The largest military unit of the Roman army , was composed of Roman citizens serving as legionaries . During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 infantry and 300 cavalry. After the Marian reforms in 107 BC, the legions were formed of 5,200 men and were restructured around 10 cohorts, the first cohort being double strength. This structure persisted throughout the Principate and middle Empire, before further changes in

4959-425: The late republic to the time of Julius Caesar . It expanded to 5,280 men plus 120 auxiliaries in the Imperial period (split into 10 cohorts, nine of 480 men each, with the first cohort being almost double-strength at 800 men). These are typical field strengths while "paper strength" was slightly higher (e.g. 600 and 1,200 respectively for Imperial cohorts). In the early Roman Kingdom the term legion may have meant

5046-410: The leader who had hired or raised them. Such independent organisation persisted until the 2nd century BC amongst light infantry and cavalry, but was discarded completely in later periods with the supporting role taken instead by allied troops. The roles of century leader (later formalised as a centurion ), second in command and standard bearer are referenced in this early period. Rome's early period

5133-450: The legion a formidable siege train of 59 ballistae and 10 onagers, each manned by 10 libritors (artillerymen) and mounted on wagons drawn by oxen or mules. In addition to attacking cities and fortifications, these would be used to help defend Roman forts and fortified camps ( castra ) as well. They would even be employed on occasion, especially in the later Empire, as field artillery during battles or in support of river crossings. Despite

5220-556: The legion originated with the elite legiones palatinae created by Diocletian and the Tetrarchs. These were infantry units of around 1,000 men rather than the 5,000, including cavalry, of the old legions. The earliest legiones palatinae were the Lanciarii , Joviani , Herculiani and Divitenses . The 4th century saw a very large number of new, small legions created, a process which began under Constantine II . In addition to

5307-509: The legionary structure, the most famous example being the campaign in 479 BC by the clan army of gens Fabia against the Etruscan city of Veii (in which the clan was annihilated). Legions became more formally organised in the 4th century BC, as Roman warfare evolved to more frequent and planned operations, and the consular army was raised to two legions each. In the Republic, legions had an ephemeral existence. Except for Legio I to IV, which were

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5394-535: The legions of the early Empire and those of the post-6th century army was Legion V Macedonica ; created in 43 BC, recorded in the Notitia Dignitatum as a legione comitatense under the title of Quinta Macedonica and surviving in Egypt until the Arab conquest of 637 AD. According to the late Roman writer Vegetius ' De re militari , each century had a ballista and each cohort had an onager , giving

5481-444: The many and varied duties of the Roman army. There were three pay grades within the rank of legionary: standard, one and a half, and twice the basic pay rate. Legionaries received 225 denarii a year (equal to 900 sestertii ) until Domitian , who increased it to 300 denarii . In spite of the steady inflation during the 2nd century, there was no further rise until the time of Septimius Severus , who increased it to 500 denarii

5568-414: The more prestigious legions and those stationed on hostile borders or in restive provinces tending to have more auxiliaries. By the time of the emperor Severus , 193–211, the auxiliaries may have composed 55 to 60% of the army, 250,000 of 447,000. Some legions may have even been reinforced at times with units making the associated force near 15,000–16,000 or about the size of a modern division . Throughout

5655-429: The old use of the legion drawn up in three lines of battle using three classes of soldier (each century would then hold a cross-section of this theoretical line, although these century titles were now essentially nominal). Each of the three lines is then sub-divided within the century into a more forward and a more rear century. The Roman army maintained a complex position and grading system for its soldiers that reflected

5742-411: The other. He stored the statue at a museum he founded in the ruins of Baalbek . Alouf also found a Roman road measuring 200 metres (0.12 mi), located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southeast of the lake. He also found another square building measuring approximately 12 square metres (130 sq ft) next to this road. The building was constructed of large stones and an Ancient Greek inscription

5829-480: The professional training of the soldiers. Throughout the history of Rome's Late Republic, the legions played an important political role. By the 1st century BC, the threat of the legions under a demagogue was recognised. Roman governors were not allowed to leave their provinces with their legions. When Julius Caesar broke this rule, leaving his province of Gaul and crossing the Rubicon into Italy, he precipitated

5916-400: The rank and file legionary (who received the base wage of 10 assēs a day or 225 denarii a year), the following list describes the system of officers which developed within the legions from the late republic (100s BC) until the military reforms of Diocletian ( c.  290 ). The rank of centurion was an officer grade that held much responsibility. The most senior centurion in

6003-564: The region of the Beqaa Valley around Baalbek. Marvin H. Pope (Yale University) identified the home of El in the Ugaritic texts of ca. 1200 BCE, described as "at the source[s] of the [two] rivers, in the midst of the fountains of the [two] deeps", with this famous lake and Afqa , source of the river Adonis on the other side of the mountain, which Pope asserted was closely associated with it in legend. The area has been classed as

6090-402: The same intervals as those of Damascus and Laodicea. The new Roman city spread farther S and W (of the port), with its Forum near the (actual) Place de l'Etoile. On its N side was a civic basilica 99 m long with a Corinthian portico of polychrome materials..., dating from the 1st c. A.D. Some large baths have been uncovered on the E slope of the (actual) Colline du Sérail, and the hippodrome lay on

6177-461: The sixth century, a large part of the "Corpus of Laws" -all in Latin- was derived from these two jurists, and in 533 CE Justinian recognized the school as one of the three official law schools of the empire. The law school of Beirut supplied the Roman Empire, especially its eastern provinces, with lawyers and magistrates for three centuries until the school's destruction in a powerful earthquake. After

6264-467: The strength of the standing army stood at around 30 legions (hence the wry remark of the philosopher Favorinus that It is ill arguing with the master of 30 legions ). With each legion having 5,120 legionaries usually supported by an equal number of auxiliary troops (according to Tacitus), the total force available to a legion commander during the Pax Romana probably ranged from 11,000 downwards, with

6351-639: The throne of the Macedonian Seleucid monarchy. Later it was rebuilt on a more conventional Hellenistic plan—the exact date is unclear but prosperous Berytian merchants were recorded in Delos by 110–109 BCE—under the name of Laodicea in Phoenicia ( Greek : Λαοδίκεια ἡ ἐν Φοινίκῃ ) or Laodicea in Canaan in honor of a Seleucid Laodice . During the late decades of the Roman Republic the city

6438-431: The vengeance of Adonis 's wrathful brother Typhon . The lake is filled from a water cavern to the west of the temple has only one outflow, through a big hole and Robert Boulanger suggested that it might dry up entirely at the end of summer. The valley of Ouyoun Ergush leads from Yammoune towards Marjhine . A network of rock-cut irrigation channels and watercourses lead from Lake Yammoune to provide irrigation for

6525-467: The village “Their men are courageous and mostly armed ... They don’t submit to government authority and don’t pay for water and electricity. They have fought several times with neighbouring Christian villages and have won. They like the [Shiite] clergy.” The village lies on the Yammoune Fault line, a geological fault responsible for several historical earthquakes in the area. A new section of

6612-410: Was also a reconnaissance squad of ten or more light mounted infantry called speculatores , who could also serve as messengers or even as an early form of military intelligence service. A typical legion of this period had 5,120 legionaries as well as a large number of camp followers, servants and slaves. Legions could contain as many as 11,000 fighting men when including the auxiliaries. During

6699-480: Was broken down into smaller units – originally temporary detachments – to cover more territory. In the fourth century AD, East Roman border guard legions ( limitanei ) may have become even smaller. In the period before the raising of the legio and the early years of the Roman Kingdom and the Roman Republic , forces are described as being organised into centuriae of roughly one hundred men. These centuries were grouped together as required and answered to

6786-458: Was commanded by a legatus or legate . Aged around thirty, he would usually be a senator on a three-year appointment. Immediately subordinate to the legate would be six elected military tribunes – five would be staff officers and the remaining one would be a noble heading for the Senate (originally this tribune commanded the legion). There would also be a group of officers for the medical staff,

6873-412: Was commanded by the senior of the two centurions . At this time, each century of hastati and principes consisted of 60 men; a century of triarii was 30 men. These 3,000 men (twenty maniples of 120 men, and ten maniples of 60 men), together with about 1,200 velites and 300 cavalry gave the mid Republican ("manipular") legion a nominal strength of about 4,500 men. Each century had its own standard and

6960-455: Was conquered by the Romans of Pompey in 64 BCE. It renamed "Berytus", as a reference to the name of the old original Phoenician port-village . The city was assimilated into the Roman Empire , many veteran soldiers were sent there, and large building projects were undertaken. In 14 BCE, during the reign of Herod the Great , Berytus became an important Roman colonia . The city was named Colonia Iulia Augusta Felix Berytus in honor of Julia

7047-412: Was followed by the five other century commanders of the first cohort, who were known as primi ordines . There is a story of one centurion, Petronius Fortunatus, making rank in four years, then spending the next forty-two years in twelve different legions never once serving in the primi ordines . The six centuries of a normal cohort, were, in order of precedence: The centuries took their titles from

7134-423: Was found inside. He considered it an ancient guardhouse or watchtower for protection of travellers. He suggested that oracles were consulted at the temple in connection with Queen Zenobia , who legend tells, sent offerings to the goddess by placing them on the lake. If the offerings sunk to the floor of the lake, then the goddess had accepted them. If the offerings floated, then they had been rejected and gave

7221-933: Was made up of ten units ( contubernia ) of eight men who shared a tent, a millstone, a mule and cooking pot . Full Roman citizenship was open to all the regions of Italy. At the same time, the three different types of heavy infantry were replaced by a single, standard type based on the principes : armed with two heavy javelins called pila (singular pilum ), the short sword called gladius , chain mail ( lorica hamata ), helmet and rectangular shield ( scutum ). The role of allied legions would eventually be taken up by contingents of allied auxiliary troops, called auxilia . Auxilia contained immunes (specialist units), engineers and pioneers, artillerymen and craftsmen, service and support personnel and irregular units made up of non-citizens, mercenaries and local militia. These were usually formed into complete units such as light cavalry, light infantry or velites , and labourers. There

7308-485: Was no longer effective in combat. In Gallic War (Bk IV, Para. 25), Julius Caesar describes an incident at the start of his first invasion of Britain in 55 BC that illustrated how fear for the safety of the eagle could drive Roman soldiers. When Caesar's troops hesitated to leave their ships for fear of the Britons, the aquilifer of the tenth legion threw himself overboard and, carrying the eagle, advanced alone against

7395-539: Was the triarii , the final line of the formation who instead fought as hoplites, using Greek clipei and whose wealth could afford them gladii in the case of a broken spear. By the 3rd century BC, this system was seen to be inefficient. Under the new Polybian system the ranks were no longer structured by wealth, and instead by age and experience. All legionaries had their hastae replaced by gladii , along with two pila , which were used as an opening volley before melee . The former classes of poor legionaries,

7482-530: Was usually depicted in a similar fashion to the Phoenician god Baal Berit. Poseidon was not the only Graeco-Roman god to be given Phoenician qualities. An inscription written in Greek and Latin gives Jupiter the Phoenician epithet "Baal". Berytus had a monumental "Roman Gate" with huge walls (recently discovered) and was a trade center of silk and wine production, well connected by efficient Roman roads to Heliopolis and Caesarea . According to Kevin Butcher,

7569-467: Was writing c.  150 BC and his account most likely was influenced by the organization of the Roman army after the defeat of Hannibal in the Punic wars some 50 years earlier. The legions of the Republic were only conscripted in times of conflict and usually limited to four legions, two to be commanded by each consul, though more could be levied if needed. Legionaries lacked the opportunity of

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