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In this live history documentary we bring to life the activities of a Roman Scout mission. This begins with an overview of Rome’s ancient intelligence services which was composed of three layers: the procursatores, the exploratores, and the speculatores.
We then recreate a possible scout mission carried out along the Roman frontier of the Rhine. Here a scout mission is prepared to explore the potential route of the main army which seeks to march out into the lands of Germania.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:18 Rome’s Intelligence Network
07:36 Planning a Scout Mission
10:52 Scouting the River
14:04 Scouting the Mountain Pass
16:32 Return to Base
Credits
Research: Chris Das Neves
Writing: Chris Das Neves
Narration: Guy Michaels
Reenactment: Veteres Milites
Sources and Suggested Reading
The Roman Army by Adrian Goldsworthy
Roman Warfare by Adrian Goldsworthy
Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome by Rose Mary Sheldon
Exploratio: Military & Political Intelligence in the Roman World from the Second Punic War to the Battle of Adrianople By N. J. E. Austin, N. B. Rankov
Spies and spying in Caesar’s “Bellum Gallicum” by Jane Crawford
The “Missing Dimension” of C. Julius Caesar by Amiram Ezov
The Scouts of the Late Roman Army and a Disputed Etymology by Philip Rance
#UnitsOfHistory
#Rome
#Scouts
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Super excited to cover the Roman Scouts!!! Veteres Milites did an amazing job bringing this episode to life and its one of my favorite Live History episodes we have done so far thanks to the stunning atmosphere they were able to capture. What should we cover next?
Great video! Not only the best video I've seen, but this best info on the subject I've come across anywhere. Thanks.
A excellent video
Excellent video!
This could certainly be a recon mission during earlier Roman operations. By the late empire, Vegetius writes in Vol III of De re militari:
The Commander would prioritize – " … the most important thing to be careful about is to preserve secrecy about the places and routes by which the Army is to travel"
The scouting mission would be planned together with the centurio exercitator, supported by the centurio speculatorum, centurio trecenarius, and the centurio speculatorum equitarum. Since it is a secret recon mission, the scouts (exploratores) would not wear Roman armor nor carry legion equipment or markings. No shiny things to glint in the sunlight. Dry provisions only, no fires. Their first duty would be to create detailed itinerary, listing distance, way points, points of interest, most likely on a wax tablet (cerae such as those found in Vindolanda) which could be quickly wiped clean. The equitarum would furnish horses for all exploratore per Roman doctrine. If they needed foot patrols once deployed, they would do so from their daily patrol base.
The speculatore would caution the exploratore about looking out for enemy scouts or spies, the first of which would be expected monitoring the river crossing points, perhaps disguised as men fishing in the river. The exploratore would pole their boat (picta) slowly past those points until the speculatore who previously swam across the river at night captured the enemy from behind with a sack over the head. Those captured would be interrogated by the speculatore.
Once enemy surveillance of the river crossing had been cleared, the exploratore would land on both sides of the crossing point and survey the crossing in detail and begin the itinerary. Only the leader of the exploratore would be aware that his recon force would be shadowed by two speculatore during their entire recon patrol. It is quite likely that the exploratore would leave part of their force hidden at the high vantage point and along hidden relay points until they were either recalled or the legion reached their OP. Pre-arranged fire and smoke would be used to signal critical alerts back along the itinerary. Once the recon was complete, the exploratore would send back a messenger group to the fort with the wax tablets and a qualified briefer. The watchers remaining in the field would expect to first see the legion-equipped extraordinarii, either mounted or on foot, or both, show up.
Where are the scenes filmed?
Rosemary Sutcliffe wrote an excellent novel on this topic.
EXCELLENT!!
I was a scout for Caesar’s Fifth Legion. It was hard work, but rewarding
Just wondering, but wouldn't the scouts be dressed as light infantry. They would have no need for the scutum or any large shield. Armor seems pointless because they would not be acting as a fighting force. I would have thought skirmisher garb would be more practical.
Great video
Thank you
With all we seemingly know about the Roman’s it is easy to forget that we really know very little about Romans besides the famous ones. So much about daily life we don’t know, we don’t know what a scout’s report looks like despite there probably being hundreds of thousands of such reports if not millions. Watching videos like these one hears often this or that little aside where the channel admits we really don’t know and this is just our best guess informed by a clue or two. I suppose any written word lasting two thousand years much of which were years of war is a small miracle.
Well done.
That was so inmersive I loved it!
WHERE WERE THE SCOUTS AT TEUTOBERG
Thanks for sharing very interesting subject
Sibiu 💪🏻🇷🇴
Having actors is a great addition.
Really great information and thanks to the reenactors
Their armor is like the one in The Witcher
Great info, lame advertisement for the intro
I didn't know Roman soldiers wore earings
Nice video as always! Keep up the great work!
I was attracted to this vlog, because I am a bit of a military nut first , and a Duke of Wellington Fan, His Scouting officers under Colquhoun(sorry to spell it longhand but it's a name of note in itself)Grant, Stopped him from making a pigs ear of Spain but let him down in the 100 days, So now Mac-Duff lead on
What's funny is that I'm a Cavalry Scout in the U.S Army and the mission the Roman scouts did is more or less what we do today our trucks are our horses and we kick out small dismounted teams to Scout even further ahead. So we can info the Division and Brigade Commanders of what's in front of them.
Given that scouting for an army is usually somewhat of a stealthy event l did spend a little time wondering as to just what type of mission required the use of a suit of bright red armour. Going undercover in a circus or Gypsy encampment perhaps or standing in the middle of a fire?😊
Incredible
Terrain or enemy based recon, push/pull, classifying routes, PIRs CCIRs, displacement criteria, Salute report. Same shit different day.
Were compasses used during Roman times?
Nostrovia 💋📿🧠🍽️🦞🫀🫁🔥🕜🗽🧹🧹🧹🇺🇦😇🎖️🪆🪖🧬🧬🧬🤟🤟🤟🎶🎶🎶🙀💯🩰🏥😜🩺💀💀💀⚰️🤕🎺🦇🩺💈🎙️🐱
Awesome!⚔
Balls of steel going into Caledonia 🫡
I wanted to watch the documentary not learn about silly AG 1 lol!!! Eat real fruit and veg it's healthier
Would the scouts really be wearing heavy metal armor and carrying the standard shields that immediately identify them as part of the legion?
🤩
I'd only heard of the scouts for one reason before: the protagonist of Lindsey Davis' great Flavian-era detective series, Marcus Didius Falco, is an ex-scout who served in Britain, and he references his past life quite a bit.
There was a cool novel about Speculatores abd scouts of the Roman Empire during the reign of Trajan, exactly during the conquest of Dacia, modern Romania.
Such passionate story.
"A Hero for the Roman Empire" of Andrea Frediani. A good author, not of the caliber of Valerio Massimo Manfredi, buy still a good one.
I advise it to those who likes the genre.
RoooooOOOOOOooooooMA!……RoooOOOOOoooooMA! AAAOOO!!!
I imagine the best scouts would be long experienced hunters.
How to set up your recce gladius probably was quite the devisive topic back then
Do we have sources which suggest that there was a dedicated recon detachment? I would have assumed that this role was adhoc filled by light auxiliary cavalry
In a time without precise maps I would claim that scouting was a highly qualified task. It needed intellectual, geographical, mathematical etc skills and of course experience.
A great choice of subject. Well done !
Loslos
Jowe micvh it cost. AG1
As a current 19D in the army, its really cool watching this video! Its interesting how these scouting missions and tasks have changed very little over the years
Very enjoyable
It's a bit strange that these Scouts in the video don't carry any long distance a weapon such as Bow and Arrow. If their diet consisted partially in foraging, Bow and arrow would be essential.
I truly enjoyed this short video. Based on the Roman Scouts a fascinating look into their daily lives. As a Scout one had to keep themselves constantly searching for clues. Lest they bump into enemy combatants. 💪🏻🙏🏻✨