Legionaire of the month of December

The legionaire of the month of December is Jale Albatros!
Congratulations!

LEGIO XIII GLADIUS DEATHMATCH

I am proud to be the winner of that contest. I am not used to bragging about myself so I will speak about the event as a whole and it sure was exciting! I will, however, speak from my personal and emotional point of view.

First of all I must congratulate decanus Ragark Tiberius Julius, who organized the event, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of the greatest tournaments, worthy of the presence of our Emperor Julian Augustus. The duels took place in a suspended cage, so that duelists could not evade the blows and the public could easily follow the matches. The final duels were in a ring of evil spikes, so that the contenders had to avoid retreating too much or risk being wounded by them.

There was an outsider in the previsions of the bookmakers: the new recruit Tavros, from Hispaniensis. I had few matches with him before the event so I was a bit concerned meeting him. Another surprise was the former optio Alexius Sejanus Minotaur, possibly the best blade of Roma when he was in the legio. The gods were not with me on this one. But the real thrill for me was represented by Senator Enamabala who, in the two duels I had with him, came very near to killing me! The duel between our optiones, my cousin Revus and Megara, an equuis against an amazon, was really epic and sent the public in delirium! I am almost sure that duel actually helped me. When the time came for Megara to challenge me, she was already extremely tired from the previous fights (one of which was with the aforementioned Tavros) and so the gods favored my humble person.

All the duels were very remarkable in terms of style and courage and our glorious Legio well earned the praise of the Emperor and of the applause of the public.

LEGION TOURNAMENT @ SATURNALIA

at the legion gladius deathmatch we have been honored to award the following soldiers:

Decurio Petrus Cornelius (peter woody), 1st place: phalera, RAS badge, 2000 sestertii
Immunis Amazona Megara, 2nd place: 1000 sestertii

Ex Tiro Dragonofnight finished his recruitment and reached the status of Miles.

A special thank to the civilians (but not so civilians) Alexius Sejianus (Alekso Minotaur) and Senator Enamabala for partecipating the contest.

In behalf of the Centuriones I wish to tell to Decanus Ferox Ragark well done in directing the event.

Princeps Achilles Claudius (Achille Back)

CONGRATULATIONS

During the last training (11.12.2010) we had the honor to announce 3 happy news:


Decurio Petrus Cornelius Silvanus (peter Woody) earned a phalera (medal)


Miles Hywther earned a phalera (medal)


Ex-Tiro Jale got promoted to full Miles rank.


In behalf of the Centuriones I want to congratulate with you and wish you good luck for your future.


Princeps Achilles Claudius

Infos about counter

Hello to all visitors,
unfortunally the previous web counter that I had broke up; so I had to put a new one, but count restarts from 0.
We were at more than 3000 visits, last time that I checked.
Thanks for the attention

Pharsalus battle

The Battle of Pharsalus was a decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War, between Caesar and Pompeo, that were rapresenting the Populares and Optimates factions. The war was born to estabilish who will have to take the power in Roma. Infact, at the First Triumvirate’s end, the Roman Senate supported Pompey as sole consul; meanwhile, Caesar had become a military hero and champion of the people. Knowing he hoped to become consul when his governorship expired, the Senate, politically fearful of him, ordered he resign command of his army. Caesar wrote to the Senate agreeing to resign his military command if Pompey followed suit. Offended, the Senate demanded he immediately disband his army, or be declared an enemy of Roma. On 10 January 49 BC, leading one legion, the Legio XIII Gemina, General Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River, a legally-proscribed action forbidden to any army-leading general and challenged the Senate. Caesar’s March on Rome was a triumphal progress and so Pompey retreated to Brundisium from where he escaped to Epirus, in the Republic’s eastern Greek provinces. Before reaching Pompeo in Greece, Caesar went to defeat Pompey's army in Hispania.
Some days before the battle, some signs of good omen were noticed in favour of Caesar; for exemple a sound of drums was heard at Pergamus, in the private and retired parts of the temple, and at Tralles, in the temple of Victory, in which there stood a statue consecrated to Caesar, a palm-tree was shown that had sprouted up from the pavement and shot up above the roof.
On 9 August 48 BC at Pharsalus in central Greece, Gaius Julius Caesar and his allies was oppoused to the army of the republic under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great"). Pompey had the backing of a majority of senators, of whom many were optimates, and his army significantly outnumbered the veteran Caesarian legions. Mostly the army of Caesar was formed by veterans from the Gallic Wars and by Legions levied for the civil war. However, all of these legions were 'short', and did not have the requisite numbers of troops due partly to losses at previous battles and partly to Caesar's wish to rapidly advance.
When, finnally, the 2 oppent armies were one in front of the other, Pompey ordered his men not to charge, but to wait until Caesar's legions came into close quarters.
Pompey's advisor believed Caesar's infantry would be fatigued and fall into disorder if they were forced to cover twice the expected distance. But seeing that Pompey's army was not advancing, Caesar's men, without orders, stopped to rest and regroup before continuing the charge.
When the lines joined, Labienus ordered the cavalry to attack; at first they successfully repelled Caesar's horse and began to flank his legions. Then Caesar ordered his cavalry to withdraw, and partially-hidden light troops fiercely attacked Pompey's cavalry. The first line of the Pompeiian horse were panicked by the cohort's javelins and caused the entire cavalry to fall into disorder.
Caesar's men attacked Pompey's left flank and, rejoined by their cavalry, were able to get behind and attack Pompey's army from the rear. The battle was over.
Pompey fled from Pharsalus to Egypt, where he was assassinated on the order of Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII. Interestingly enough, Ptolemy XIII sent Pompey's head to Caesar in an effort to win his favor, but Caesar was not pleased about receiving the head of his son in law in a box.

Legionaire of the month October

Hello all,
as it was comunicated yesterday evening, the Legionaire of the month prize goes to Hywther Horngold! He was at about all the trainings, he did a good work on leading one and he shows good fighting abilities.
Congratulations and keep it up!