Warrior 72: Imperial Roman Legionary AD 161-284

This essential Osprey Warrior title examines the Imperial Roman legionary from the ascension of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus in AD 161, to the rise of Emperor Diocletianus and the end of the Third Century Crisis in AD 284. The author takes the history, organization, and experiences of the Second Parthica Legion, founded in AD 194, as the foundation for much of his text. He uses the Sassanid siege of Dura Europos c. AD 251, as well as various late Classical accounts of 3rd Century battles in the Middle East, for examples of the legionary in action.
Since this book is something of a sequel to the previous legionary title by Cowan, it contains similar but even more concise information on the experiences of the soldier in the army, as well as the chain of command.
Overall, Cowan paints the image of the 3rd Century Roman legionary as a soldier perhaps even better than his ancestors of Early Imperial Rome. It was perhaps more the stupidity of their leaders, and the general chaos of the mid 3rd Century that gives these soldiers their undue reputation for lack of quality. These troopers, lighter in arms than their ancestors and still fighting with javelin, long sword, and dagger, faced enemies ranging from seething Gothic hordes to cunning Parthian and Persian horsemen, and often emerged victorious.
The eight full-color plates by Angus McBride are awesome, depicting troopers of various legions and posts in their typical clothing and armor. The main text and the plate commentary both look at the armor and clothing, but not with overmuch detail. The author does not dig into the debate as to whether or not the 3rd Century legionary typically wore armor. According to the idea of the lightly-armed lanciarii skirmishers, it would appear that armor or lack thereof would depend on the individual soldier's place in the battle-order.
The text draws from a variety of sources, from Classical to modern historians' work to legionary gravestones to weapon hoards from northern Europe, to paint a picture of the Roman legionaries from the mid 2nd Century to the late 3rd Century-some of ancient Rome's most skilled, versatile, experienced, and arrogant soldiers.

Most books about the Roman army tend to skip over the chaotic third century AD; everything seems to stop with emperor Severus (AD 193-211) and only pick up with Diocletian in AD 284. That's because the period is chaotic and confused: the legions lost as many battles as they won; the organisation of the legions was changing and ancient ranks were disappearing; legionaries added to the chaos by their willingness to revolt and engage in civil war. But Cowan paints a picture of resilience rather than decline. He highlights the rise of elite legionary corps, explains concisely the reasons for the decline of the traditional legion and rise of the smaller unit of the late empire, and shows how the legions emerged triumphant from the defeats of the mid-third century under the leadership of soldier-emperors like Aurelian (the book actually covers the period up to AD 285).

This is the most exciting book I've read about the Roman army in a long time. It is an essential addition to the library of anyone interested in the Roman army or military history in general.