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160-443: Hastati ( sg. : hastatus ) were a class of infantry employed in the armies of the early Roman Republic , who originally fought as spearmen and later as swordsmen . These soldiers were the staple unit after Rome threw off Etruscan rule. They were originally some of the poorest men in the legion, and could afford only modest equipment —light chainmail and other miscellaneous equipment. The Senate supplied their soldiers with only

320-450: A 90 cm (3 ft) wooden shaft the diameter of a finger, with a c. 25 cm (10 in) narrow metal point. Their numbers were swollen by the addition of allied light infantry and irregular rorarii . The Roman levy of 403 BC was the first to be requested to campaign for longer than a single season, and from this point on such a practice became gradually more common, if still not typical. A small navy had operated at

480-460: A civic responsibility and a way of advancing one's status within society. However, Rome's social classes were qualified rather than created by the census. It is perhaps more accurate to say therefore that the army's structure was slightly refined during this period rather than radically reformed. Prior to these reforms, the infantry was divided into the classis of rich citizens and the infra classem of poorer citizens. The latter were excluded from

640-515: A concurrent barbarisation of its command structure, with the Roman senators who had traditionally provided its commanders becoming entirely excluded from the army. By 235 AD the Emperor himself , the figurehead of the entire military, was a man born outside of Italy to non-Italian parents. The gradual inclusion of greater numbers of non-citizen troops into the military was taken a further step by

800-420: A crisis during the siege of Veii , the army urgently needed to deploy more cavalry, and "those who possessed equestrian rating but had not yet been assigned public horses" volunteered to pay for their horses out of their own pockets. By way of compensation, pay was introduced for cavalry service, as it had already been for the infantry (in 406 BC). The persons referred to in this passage were probably members of

960-670: A dedicated artillery crew of perhaps 60 men, who would operate devices such as ballistae . Each legion was normally partnered with an approximately equal number of allied (non-Roman) auxiliae troops. The addition of allied troops to the Roman army was a formalisation of the earlier arrangement of using light troops from the Socii and Latini , who had received Roman citizenship after the Social War . Auxiliary troops could be formed from either auxiliary light cavalry known as alae , auxiliary light infantry known as cohors auxiliae , or

1120-458: A defunct republican ceremony, the recognitio equitum (inspection of the equites ), in which equites paraded every five years with their horses before the consuls. At some stage during the early Principate, equites acquired the right to the title "egregius" ("distinguished gentleman"), while senators were styled " clarissimus " ("most distinguished"). Beyond equites with equus publicus , Augustus' legislation permitted any Roman citizen who

1280-581: A fairly low level after the Second Samnite War , but it was massively upgraded during this period, expanding from a few primarily river- and coastal-based patrol craft to a full maritime unit. After a period of frenetic construction, the navy mushroomed to a size of more than 400 ships on the Carthaginian pattern. Once completed, it could accommodate up to 100,000 sailors and embarked troops for battle. The navy thereafter declined in size. This

1440-464: A flexible mixture of the two known as cohors equitata . Cavalry types included mounted archers (Latin: sagittarii ) and heavy shock cavalry (Latin: cataphracti or clibanarii ). Infantry could be armed with bows, slings, throwing spears, long swords, or thrusting spears. Auxiliary units were originally led by their own chiefs, and, in this period, their internal organisation was left to their commanders. However, "the most obvious deficiency" of

1600-440: A further tripling of the cavalry. Yet this was probably anachronistic, as it would have resulted in a contingent of 1,800 horse, incongruously large, compared to the heavy infantry, which was probably only 6,000 strong in the late regal period. Instead, the additional 12 centuriae were probably created at a later stage, perhaps around 400 BC, but these new units were political not military, most likely designed to admit plebeians to

1760-416: A galea, and occasionally, greaves (shin guards). They carried an iron bossed wooden shield, 120 cm (4 ft) tall and rectangular in shape with a curved front to partially protect the sides. Traditionally they were armed with a sword known as a gladius and two throwing spears known as pila : one the heavy pilum of popular imagination and one a slender javelin. However the exact introduction of

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1920-433: A general, usually in the person of the reigning King. Mommsen uses philological arguments and references from Livy and others to suggest that the greater mass of foot-soldiers probably consisted of pilumni (javelin-throwers), with a smaller number possibly serving as arquites (archers). The cavalry was far smaller in number and probably consisted solely of the town's richest citizens. The army may also have contained

2080-402: A larger proportion of foot than horse troops: the cohors equitata quingenaria consisted of 380 foot and 120 horsemen, and the cohors equitata millaria consisted of 760 foot and 240 horsemen. The vitality of the empire at this point was such that the use of native auxilia in the Roman army did not apparently barbarise the military as some scholars claim was to happen in the late empire. On

2240-416: A martial society. For equites , a focus of the heroic ethos was the quest for spolia opima , the stripped armour and weapons of a foe whom they had killed in single combat. There are many recorded instances. For example, Servilius Geminus Pulex , who went on to become Consul in 202 BC, was reputed to have gained spolia 23 times. The higher the rank of the opponent killed in combat, the more prestigious

2400-520: A new Polybian system, infantry were sorted into classes according to age and experience rather than wealth, with the hastati being the youngest and least experienced. Their equipment and role was very similar to that which existed under the previous system, except they now carried swords, or gladii , instead of spears. Each hastatus also carried two pila , heavy javelins that, according to Goldsworthy "contrary to deeply entrenched myth" did not bend on impact to make any struck shield useless or prevent

2560-435: A practice that was to increase in the 2nd century. This is most likely in those provinces where the pool of Roman citizens was not large enough to fulfill the provincial army's recruitment needs. One possible example is Britain , where one estimate puts the citizen pool in the 1st century at only 50,000 out of a total provincial population of around two million. At the same time as the legions underwent these transformations,

2720-403: A province, detaching into smaller bodies of troops (Latin: vexillationes ) on demand. This policy eventually led to a split of the military's land-based forces into mobile and fixed troops in the later Empire. In general, the best troops were dispatched as vexillationes , and the remainder left to guard border defenses were of lower quality, perhaps those with injuries or near retirement. By

2880-489: A second similar formation were known as the Cohortes urbanae . The legions, which had been a mix of life professionals and civilian campaigners, was altered into a standing army of professionals only. The actual structure of the cohort army remained much the same as in the late Republic, although around the 1st century AD the first cohort of each legion was increased in size to a total of 800 soldiers. However, while

3040-480: A short stabbing sword, the gladius , and their distinctive squared shield, the scutum . The hastatus was typically equipped with these, and one or two soft iron tipped throwing spears called pila . This doubled their effectiveness, not only as a strong leading edge to their maniple , but also as a stand-alone missile troop. Later, the hastati contained the younger men rather than just the poorer, though most men of their age were relatively poor. Their usual position

3200-406: A similar fashion; the velites would gather at the front and fling javelins to cover the advance of the hastati . If the hastati failed to break the enemy, they would fall back on the principes , who had also been re-armed with swords. If the principes could not break them, they would retire behind the triarii , who would then engage the enemy. This order of battle was almost always followed,

3360-431: A small minority of the citizenry. (The lowest class, the proletarii , rated at under 400 drachmae , had just one vote, despite being the most numerous). As a result, the wealthiest echelon could ensure that the elected magistrates were always their own members. In turn, this ensured that the senate was dominated by the wealthy classes, as its membership was composed almost entirely of current and former magistrates. In

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3520-577: A tactical disadvantage, particularly in the East. After having declined in size following the subjugation of the Mediterranean, the Roman navy underwent short-term upgrading and revitalisation in the late Republic to meet several new demands. Under Caesar , an invasion fleet was assembled in the English Channel to allow the invasion of Britain ; under Pompey , a large fleet was raised in

3680-553: A theoretical compromise between the earlier class-based army and the class-free armies of later years. In practice, even slaves were at one time pressed into the army of the Republic out of necessity. Normally a single legion was raised each year, but in 366 BC two legions were raised in a single year for the first time. Maniples were units of 120 men each drawn from a single infantry class. The maniples were small enough to permit tactical movement of individual infantry units on

3840-490: A thrusting-spear and javelins. The third class stood behind the second class in battle formation, normally providing javelin support. The poorest of the propertied men of the city comprised the fifth class . They were generally too poor to afford much equipment at all and were armed as skirmishers with slings and stones. They were deployed in a screen in front of the main army, covering its approach and masking its manoeuvres. Men without property, who were thereby excluded from

4000-541: A transformation during this period, from the light, unarmoured horsemen of the early period to the Greek-style armoured cuirassiers described by Polybius. As a result of the demands of the Samnite hostilities, a normal consular army was doubled in size to two legions, making four legions raised annually overall. Roman cavalry in the field thus increased to approximately 1,200 horses. This now represented only 25% of

4160-463: Is also from this period that every Roman army that took the field was regularly accompanied by at least as many troops supplied by the socii (Rome's Italian military confederates, often referred to as "Latin allies"). Each legion would be matched by a confederate ala (literally: "wing"), a formation that contained roughly the same number of infantry as a legion, but three times the number of horses (900). Legionary cavalry also probably underwent

4320-409: Is by no means certain that this led to any reduction in the effectiveness of the legions, due to the greater ferocity and stature of the barbari recruits. The flavour of the Roman military, however, was now dictated by the increasing number of regional recruits, leading to a partial barbarisation of Rome's military forces beginning in this period. The barbarisation of the lower ranks was paralleled by

4480-490: Is correct, it implies that the cavalry was exclusively patrician (and therefore hereditary) in the regal period. (However, Cornell considers the evidence tenuous). It is widely accepted that the Roman monarchy was overthrown by a patrician coup, probably provoked by the Tarquin dynasty 's populist policies in favour of the plebeian class. Alfoldi suggests that the coup was carried out by the celeres themselves. According to

4640-458: Is more likely that changes were the product of slow evolution rather than singular and deliberate policy of reform. The manipular formation was probably copied from Rome's Samnite enemies to the south, perhaps as a result of Roman defeats in the Second Samnite War . During this period, a military formation of around 5,000 men was known as a legion (Latin: legio ). However, in contrast to later legionary formations of exclusively heavy infantry,

4800-850: Is some dispute about whether this new military structure was put into place under the Emperor Diocletian or Constantine since both reorganised the Roman Army in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries to some degree. Both Diocletian and even his predecessor of thirty years Gallienus may already have controlled mobile strategic reserves to assist the empire's border forces; either Diocletian or Constantine expanded this nascent force into permanent field armies. Equites The equites ( / ˈ ɛ k w ɪ t iː z / ; lit.   ' horse ' or ' cavalrymen ' , though sometimes referred to as " knights " in English) constituted

4960-488: The praefecti praetorio (commanders of the Praetorian Guard) who also acted as the emperor's chiefs of military staff. There were normally two of these, but at times irregular appointments resulted in just a single incumbent or even three at the same time. Equestrians also provided the praefecti classis (admirals commanding) of the two main imperial fleets at Misenum in the bay of Naples and at Ravenna on

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5120-502: The praefectus urbi (prefect of the city of Rome), who controlled the cohortes urbanae (public order battalions), the only fully armed force in the city apart from the Praetorian Guard. Nevertheless, a wide range of senior administrative and military posts were created and reserved for equestrians by Augustus, though most ranked below the senatorial posts. In the imperial administration, equestrian posts included that of

5280-429: The triarii of the third. In a pitched battle , the leves would form up at the front of the legion and harass the enemy with their javelins to cover the advance of the hastati . If the hastati failed to break the enemy during their engagement, they would fall back and let the heavier principes take over. If the principes could not break them, they would retire behind the triarii spearmen, who would then engage

5440-698: The Ramnians , Tities and Luceres . This army's exact structure is not known, but it is probable that it loosely resembled a warrior band or group of bodyguards led by a chieftain or king. Mommsen believes that Roman military organization of this period was regimented by the "Laws of [the apocryphal] King [V]Italus" but these laws, though referred to by Aristotle , have been lost. The army (Latin: legio ) consisted, according to Livy, of exactly 3,000 infantry and 300 horsemen, one third from each of Rome's three founding tribes. Warriors served under six "leaders of division" (Latin: tribuni ) who in turn served under

5600-504: The Roman magistrates , the executive officers of the state: consuls, praetors , aediles and quaestors . In the assembly, the citizen body was divided into 193 centuriae , or voting constituencies. Of these, 18 were allocated to equites (including patricians) and a further 80 to the first class of commoners, securing an absolute majority of the votes (98 out of 193) for the wealthiest echelon of society, although it constituted only

5760-657: The Samnite League led to the transformation of the Roman army from the Greek-style hoplite phalanx that it was in the early period, to the Italian-style manipular army described by Polybius. It is believed that the Romans copied the manipular structure from their enemies the Samnites, learning through hard experience its greater flexibility and effectiveness in the mountainous terrain of central Italy. It

5920-530: The Samnite Wars obliged Rome to double the normal annual military levy from two to four legions, doubling the cavalry levy from 600 to 1,200 horses. Legionary cavalry started to recruit wealthier citizens from outside the 18 centuriae . These new recruits came from the first class of commoners in the Centuriate Assembly organisation, and were not granted the same privileges. By the time of

6080-573: The Samnites and a crushing defeat at the hands of the Gallic warlord Brennus , who both used many smaller military units rather than a few larger ones, taught the Romans the importance of flexibility and the inadequacy of the phalanx on the rough, hilly ground of central Italy. By the 4th century BC the military the Romans had inherited from the Etruscans was still being used. Though its efficiency

6240-487: The Second Punic War (218–202 BC), all the members of the first class of commoners were required to serve as cavalrymen. The presence of equites in the Roman cavalry diminished steadily in the period 200–88 BC as only equites could serve as the army's senior officers; as the number of legions proliferated fewer were available for ordinary cavalry service. After c. 88 BC, equites were no longer drafted into

6400-588: The auxilia in fact outnumbered them by up to half as much again. Within the legions, the proportion of troops recruited from within Italy fell gradually after 70 AD. By the close of the 1st century, this proportion had fallen to as low as 22 percent, with the remainder drawn from conquered provinces. Since technically only citizens were allowed to enlist in the legions, where recruits did not possess citizenship then, at least in some instances, citizenship "was simply given [to] them on enlistment". During this time,

6560-587: The auxilia were reorganized and a number of allied troops were formalised into standing units similar to legions. Rather than being raised re-actively when required, the process of raising auxiliary troops was carried out in advance of conflicts according to annual targets. Whereas the internal organisation of the auxilia had previously been left up to their commanders, in the early empire they were organised into standardised units known as turmae (for cavalry alae ) and centuriae (for infantry cohortes ). Although never becoming as standardised in their equipment as

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6720-632: The battle of the Great Plains and the battle of Zama being among the few notable exceptions. At the Great Plains, Scipio , the Roman general, formed his men up in the usual manner, but once the hastati had begun to engage the enemy, he used his principes and triarii as a flanking force, routing the opposing Carthaginian troops. At Zama, Scipio arranged his men into columns, side by side, with large lanes in between. The opposing Carthaginian elephants were drawn into these lanes where many were killed by velites without inflicting many casualties on

6880-428: The gladius and the replacement of the spear with the sword as the primary weapon of the Roman legions is uncertain, and it's possible that the early manipular legions still fought with the hastati and principes wielding the hasta or spear. The second type, the principes , typically formed the second rank of soldiers back from the front of a battle line. They were heavy infantry soldiers armed and armoured as per

7040-441: The hastati and principes had become indistinguishable. In addition, the shortage of available manpower led to a greater burden being placed upon its allies ( socii ) for the provision of allied troops. Where accepted allies could not provide the required force types, the Romans were not averse during this period to hiring mercenaries to fight alongside the legions. Modern historiography has regularly cast Marius as abolishing

7200-429: The hastati were the third poorest, with the rorarii being slightly poorer and the principes slightly wealthier. Hastati were armed with short spears, or hastae , up to 1.8 metres (6 ft) long, from which the soldiers acquired their name. They fought in a quincunx formation, usually carrying scuta , large rectangular shields, and wearing bronze helmets , often with a number of feathers fixed onto

7360-615: The hastati . The triarii , who typically formed the third rank when the army was arrayed for battle, were the last remnant of hoplite-style troops in the Roman army. They were armed and armoured as per the principes , with the exception that they carried a pike rather than two pila . A triarii maniple was divided into two formations each six men across by 10 men deep. A manipular legion typically contained between 1,200 hastati , 1,200 principes and 600 triarii . The three classes of unit may have retained some slight parallel to social divisions within Roman society, but at least officially

7520-408: The numeri was a response to the need for cheap troops, who were nevertheless fierce and provided a force balance of light infantry and cavalry. They were therefore largely less well armed and less well trained than auxilia or legions, although more prestigious elite irregular native troops were also utilised. However, the legions still made up around one half of the Roman army at this point. By

7680-430: The praefecti (commanders) of the imperial army's auxiliary regiments and five of the six tribuni militum (senior staff officers) in each legion. The standard equestrian officer progression was known as the " tres militiae " ("three services"): praefectus of a cohors (auxiliary infantry regiment), followed by tribunus militum in a legion, and finally praefectus of an ala (auxiliary cavalry regiment). From

7840-585: The princeps senatus (Leader of the Senate), a position reserved for patricians. In addition, patricians monopolized certain priesthoods and continued to enjoy enormous prestige. The period following the end of the Latin War (340–338 BC) and of the Samnite Wars (343–290) saw the transformation of the Roman Republic from a powerful but beleaguered city-state into the hegemonic power of

8000-497: The spolia , and none more so than spolia duci hostium detracta , spoils taken from an enemy leader himself. Many equites attempted to gain such an honour, but very few succeeded for the reason that enemy leaders were always surrounded by large numbers of elite bodyguards. One successful attempt, but with a tragic twist, was that of the decurion Titus Manlius Torquatus in 340 BC during the Latin War. Despite strict orders from

8160-455: The " polybian " army of the mid-republic (338 – 88 BC), equites held the exclusive right to serve as senior officers of the army. These were the six tribuni militum in each legion who were elected by the comitia at the start of each campaigning season and took turns to command the legion in pairs; the praefecti sociorum , commanders of the Italian confederate alae , who were appointed by

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8320-401: The 12 new centuriae who were entitled to public horses, but temporarily waived that privilege. Mommsen, however, argues that the passage refers to members of the first class of commoners being admitted to cavalry service in 403 BC for the first time as an emergency measure. If so, this group may be the original so-called equites equo privato , a rank that is attested throughout the history of

8480-448: The 8th century BC. During this period Rome itself was probably little more than a fortified hilltop settlement and its army a relatively small force, whose activities were limited "mainly [to] raiding and cattle rustling with the occasional skirmish-like battle". Historian Theodor Mommsen referred to it as Rome's curiate army, named for its presumed subdivision along the boundaries of Rome's three founding tribes (Latin: curiae ),

8640-575: The Etruscans had conquered Rome, establishing a military dictatorship, or kingdom, in the city. Although several Roman sources including Livy and Polybius talk extensively about the Roman army of the Roman Kingdom period that followed the Etruscan capture of the city, no contemporary accounts survive. Polybius, for example, wrote some 300 years after the events in question, and Livy some 500 years later. Additionally, what records were kept by

8800-512: The Fraccaro interpretation, when the Roman monarchy was replaced with two annually elected praetores (later called "consuls"), the royal army was divided equally between them for campaigning purposes, which, if true, explains why Polybius later said that a legion's cavalry contingent was 300 strong. The 12 additional centuriae ascribed by Livy to Servius Tullius were, in reality, probably formed around 400 BC. In 403 BC, according to Livy, in

8960-481: The Illyrian troops were both valiant and warlike, and Tacitus described German recruits as being natural mercenaries (Latin: vivi ad arma nati ). It seems that discipline in the legions did slacken, with soldiers granted permission to live with wives outside of military lodgings and permitted to adopt a more lavish and comfortable lifestyle, in contrast to the strict military regimen of earlier years. However, it

9120-581: The Italian Adriatic coast. The command of Rome's fire brigade and minor constabulary, the vigiles , was likewise reserved for equites . Not all equites followed the conventional career-path. Those equestrians who specialised in a legal or administrative career, providing judges ( iudices ) in Rome's law courts and state secretaries in the imperial government, were granted dispensation from military service by Emperor Hadrian (r. AD 117–138). At

9280-586: The Italian peninsula. This was accompanied by profound changes in its constitution and army . Internally, the critical development was the emergence of the Senate as the all-powerful organ of state. By 280 BC, the Senate had assumed total control of state taxation, expenditure, declarations of war, treaties, raising of legions, establishing colonies and religious affairs, in other words, of virtually all political power. From an ad hoc group of advisors appointed by

9440-470: The Mediterranean Sea to clear the sea of Cilician pirates. During the civil war that followed, as many as a thousand ships were either constructed or pressed into service from Greek cities. By the time of Julius Caesar in 54 BC, regular legionary units were supplemented by exploratores , a body of scouts, and speculatores , spies who infiltrated enemy camps. Due to the demands of

9600-451: The Order of Knights. Apparently, equites were originally provided with a sum of money by the state to purchase a horse for military service and for its fodder. This was known as an equus publicus . Theodor Mommsen argues that the royal cavalry was drawn exclusively from the ranks of the patricians ( patricii ), the aristocracy of early Rome, which was purely hereditary. Apart from

9760-498: The Republic and early Empire. A stronger emphasis was placed upon ranged combat ability of all types, such as field artillery, hand-held ballistae , archery and darts. Roman forces also gradually became more mobile, with one cavalryman for every three infantrymen, compared to one in forty in the early Empire. Additionally, the Emperor Gallienus took the revolutionary step of forming an entirely cavalry field army, which

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9920-593: The Roman army during the 1st century BC are now more attributed to the Social War and the civil wars from 49 to 31 BC. The large-scale downsizing of Roman cavalry detachments likely emerged from the extension of citizenship to all of Italy. Because Italy's enfranchisement meant that Rome was now directly liable for the cavalry's upkeep rather than their local communities, Rome instead levied auxilia from allies who, by treaty, were responsible for their contingents' upkeep. Pay remained extremely low – only five asses per day – and irregular. Moreover, although

10080-446: The Roman army remained its shortage of cavalry, especially heavy cavalry; even auxiliary troops were predominantly infantry. Luttwak argues that auxiliary forces largely consisted of Cretan archers, Balearic slingers and Numidian infantry, all of whom fought on foot. As Rome's borders expanded and its adversaries changed from largely infantry-based to largely cavalry-based troops, the infantry-based Roman army began to find itself at

10240-530: The Romans at this time were later destroyed when the city was sacked. The sources for this period cannot therefore be seen as reliable, as they can be for later military history, e.g. from the First Punic War onwards. According to our surviving narratives, the three kings of Rome during the Etruscan occupation were Tarquinius Priscus , Servius Tullius , and Tarquinius Superbus . During this period

10400-525: The Romans. Once the surviving elephants had been routed, Scipio formed his men into a long line with his triarii and principes in the centre and hastati on the flanks, ready to engage the Carthaginian infantry. With the putative reforms of Gaius Marius in 107 BC, intended to combat a shortage of manpower from wars against Jugurtha , king of Numidia in North Africa and Germanic tribes to

10560-491: The Social War, and the wealth and social background of the men who joined before and after the opening of recruitment changed little. There is little evidence that later Roman armies during the 1st century BC were made up of volunteers; almost all ancient references to army recruitment, outside private armies, involve conscription. For much of the 20th century, historians held that the property qualification separating

10720-464: The Social War, the state also started to keep men under arms for longer periods to maintain available experienced manpower, and coupled this with longer terms for commanders, particularly Caesar and Pompey . Client armies emerged but not in the 100s BC but rather in the decades before Caesar's civil war , which broke out in 49   BC. The legions of the late Republic were, structurally, almost entirely heavy infantry. The legion's main sub-unit

10880-473: The Younger ), but in practice this was much more difficult than elevation from commoner to equestrian rank. To join the upper order, not only was the candidate required to meet the minimum property requirement of 250,000 denarii , but also had to be elected a member of the Senate. There were two routes for this, both controlled by the emperor: In public service, equites equo publico had their own version of

11040-604: The army consisted of cavalry troops but their importance is uncertain. Older works such as the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) state that the Roman military of the late Empire was "marked by that predominance of the horseman which characterised the earlier centuries of the Middle Ages ," but many more recent authors believe that the infantry remained predominant. There

11200-413: The army under the Etruscan kings when it was reformed by Marcus Furius Camillus . The third class stood in the last few ranks of a very large phalanx and were equipped in a similar manner to hastati , although they were more often than not relegated to providing missile support to the higher classes rather than fighting themselves. Penrose and Southern postulate that it is probable that engagements with

11360-479: The army underwent a reformation into a centurial army based on socio-economic class. This reformation is traditionally attributed to Servius Tullius, the second of the Etruscan kings . Tullius had earlier carried out the first Roman census of all citizens. Livy tells us that Tullius reformed the army by transplanting onto it the structure derived originally for civil life as a result of this census. At all levels, military service was, at this time, considered to be

11520-503: The army's total cavalry contingent, the rest being supplied by the Italian confederates. A legion's modest cavalry share of 7% of its 4,500 total strength was thus increased to 12% in a confederate army, comparable with (or higher than) any other forces in Italy except the Gauls and also similar to those in Greek armies such as Pyrrhus's. Despite an ostensibly democratic constitution based on

11680-407: The battlefield within the framework of the greater army. The maniples were typically deployed into three discrete lines (Latin: triplex acies ) based on the three heavy infantry types of hastati , principes and triarii . The first type, the hastati , typically formed the first rank in battle formation. They typically wore a brass chest plate (though some could afford mail), a helmet called

11840-642: The borders of the Empire had remained relatively fixed to the extent originally reached under the Emperor Trajan . Because of this, the army was increasingly responsible for protecting existing frontiers rather than expanding into foreign territory, the latter of which had characterised the army's earlier existence. As a result, legions became stationed in largely fixed locations. Although entire legions were occasionally transferred into theatres of war, they remained largely rooted in one or more legionary bases in

12000-497: The character of a unified city-state (as opposed to a number of separate hilltop settlements) until c. 625   BC. Roman tradition relates that the Order of Knights was founded by Romulus, who supposedly established a cavalry regiment of 300 men called the Celeres ("Swift Squadron") to act as his personal escort, with each of the three Roman "tribes" (actually voting constituencies) supplying 100 horses. This cavalry regiment

12160-424: The chief financial officers (also called procuratores Augusti ) of the imperial provinces, and the deputy financial officers of senatorial provinces. At Rome, equestrians filled numerous senior administrative posts such as the emperor's secretaries of state (from the time of Claudius, e.g. correspondence and treasury) and the praefecti annonae (director of grain supplies). In the military, equestrians provided

12320-598: The civil war, the extraordinary measure of recruiting legions from non-citizens was taken by Caesar in Transalpine Gaul (Latin: Gallia Transalpina ), by Brutus in Macedonia , and by Pompey in Pharsalus . This irregular and extraordinary recruitment was not, however, typical of recruitment during this period, and Roman law still officially required that legions were recruited from Roman citizens only. By

12480-484: The common people of the provinces, as unscrupulous publicani often sought to maximise their profit by demanding a much higher rates of tax than originally set by the government. The provincial governors whose duty it was to curb illegal demands were often bribed into acquiescence by the publicani . The system also led to political conflict between equites publicani and the majority of their fellow- equites , especially senators, who as large landowners wanted to minimise

12640-487: The consuls (one of whom was his own father) not to engage the enemy, Manlius could not resist accepting a personal challenge from the commander of the Tusculan cavalry, which his squadron encountered while on reconnaissance. There ensued a fiercely contested joust with the opposing squadrons as spectators. Manlius won, spearing his adversary after the latter was thrown by his horse. But when the triumphant young man presented

12800-487: The consuls, the Senate had become a permanent body of around 300 life peers who, as largely former Roman magistrates , boasted enormous experience and influence. At the same time, the political unification of the Latin nation, under Roman rule after 338 BC, gave Rome a populous regional base from which to launch its wars of aggression against its neighbours. The gruelling contest for Italian hegemony that Rome fought against

12960-464: The consuls; and the three decurions that led each squadron ( turma ) of legionary cavalry (a total of 30 decurions per legion). As their name implies, equites were liable to cavalry service in the legion of the mid-republic. They originally provided a legion's entire cavalry contingent, although from an early stage (probably from c. 400 and not later than c. 300 BC), when equestrian numbers had become insufficient, large numbers of young men from

13120-470: The contrary, those serving in the auxilia during this period frequently strove to Romanise themselves. They were granted Roman citizenship on retirement, granting them several social advantages, and their sons became eligible for service in the legions. As with the army, many non-Italians were recruited into the Roman Navy, partly because the Romans had never readily taken to the sea. It appears that

13280-468: The creation under Hadrian of a new type of force in addition to the legions and auxilia , known as numeri . Formed in bodies of around 300 irregular troops, the numeri were drawn from subjugate provinces and peoples of client-states or even from beyond the borders of the empire. They were both less regimented and less Romanised than auxiliary troops, with a "pronounced national character," including native dress and native war cries. The introduction of

13440-411: The defence of, Rome's borders. As a result, greater numbers of barbarous and semi-barbarous peoples were gradually admitted to the army. However, whether this regionalisation of the legions was partnered by a drop in the professionalism of the troops is contested. Antonio Santosuosso argues that the strict discipline and high motivation of the days of Marius had lapsed, but Andrew Alfoldi states that

13600-435: The earlier legions and inferior also to their counterparts in the mobile field armies. However, more recent work establishes that the limitanei were regular soldiers. While the limitanei were supposed to deal with policing actions and low-intensity incursions, the duty of responding to more serious incidents fell upon the regional or provincial troops of the reduced field reserves of the comitatenses . The countering of

13760-468: The earliest form of chariots, hinted at by references to the flexuntes ("the wheelers"). By the beginning of the 7th century BC, the Iron-Age Etruscan civilization (Latin: Etrusci ) was dominant in the region. Like most of the other peoples in the region, the Romans warred against the Etruscans. By the close of the century, the Romans had lost their struggle for independence, and

13920-435: The end of the republic. The decline of Roman light infantry has been connected not to reform but cost. Because the logistical cost of supporting light infantry and heavy infantry was relatively similar, the Romans chose to deploy heavy infantry in extended and distant campaigns due to their greater combat effectiveness, especially when local levies could substitute for light infantry brought from Rome and Italy. The changes to

14080-527: The enemy in turn. The equites , cavalrymen, were used as flankers and to pursue routed enemies. The rorarii and accensi in the final battle line were some of the least dependable troops, and were used in a support role, providing mass and reinforcing wavering areas of the line. By the time of the Punic wars of the 3rd century BC, the Camillan organisational system had been found to be inefficient. Under

14240-461: The exception of the most senior troops, who were expected to guard the city. The army is said to have increased from 3,000 to 4,000 men in the 5th century BC, and then again from 4,000 to 6,000 men sometime before 400 BC. This later army of 6,000 men were then divided into 60 centuries of 100 men each. The army of the early Republic continued to evolve, and although there was a tendency among Romans to attribute such changes to great reformers, it

14400-428: The first class of commoners were regularly volunteering for the service, which was considered more glamorous than the infantry. The cavalry role of equites dwindled after the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), as the number of equestrians became insufficient to provide the senior officers of the army and general cavalrymen as well. Equites became exclusively an officer-class, with the first class of commoners providing

14560-422: The five classes and the capite censi was reduced over the course of the second century to a nugatory level due to a shortage of manpower. The basis for that belief, however, was merely three undated Roman figures for the amount of property required to serve which would serve as evidence for reductions only if forced into a descending order. Many scholars have also now abandoned the notion that Italy suffered in

14720-442: The forerunners of the later rented native armies known as federated troops (Latin: foederati ). Though they served under Roman officers, the troops of these units were far more barbarised than the numeri , lacked Romanisation of either military structure or personal ideology, and were ineligible for Roman citizenship upon discharge. These native troops were not permitted to fight in native war bands under their own leaders, unlike

14880-548: The founder of the Principate, Augustus (sole rule 30 BC – 14 AD) and his successors until 312. Senators' sons and further descendants technically retained equestrian rank unless and until they won a seat in the Senate. But Talbert argues that Augustus established the existing senatorial elite as a separate and superior order (ordo senatorius) to the equites for the first time. The evidence for this includes: A family's senatorial status depended not only on continuing to match

15040-445: The governorship ( praefectus Augusti ) of the province of Egypt , which was considered the most prestigious of all the posts open to equites , often the culmination of a long and distinguished career serving the state. In addition, equites were appointed to the governorship ( procurator Augusti ) of some smaller provinces and sub-provinces e.g. Judaea , whose governor was subordinate to the governor of Syria . Equestrians were also

15200-419: The heavy infantry types of hastati , principes and triarii began to blur, perhaps because the state was now assuming the responsibility of providing standard-issue equipment to all but the first class of troops, who alone were able to afford their own equipment. By the time of Polybius, the triarii or their successors still represented a distinct heavy infantry type armed with a unique style of cuirass, but

15360-435: The higher wealth qualification, but on their leading member holding a seat in the Senate. Failing either condition, the family would revert to ordinary knightly status. Although sons of sitting senators frequently won seats in the Senate, this was by no means guaranteed, as candidates often outnumbered the 20 seats available each year, leading to intense competition. As regards the equestrian order, Augustus apparently abolished

15520-546: The huge losses incurred during various wars. This was accompanied by severe social stresses and the greater collapse of the middle classes into lower classes of the census and the proletarii . As a result, both the Roman society and its military became increasingly proletarianised. The Roman state was forced to arm its soldiers at the expense of the state, since many of the soldiers who made up its lower classes were now impoverished proletarii in all but name, and were too poor to afford their own equipment. The distinction between

15680-422: The imperial government. There was a clear division between jobs reserved for senators (the most senior) and those reserved for non-senatorial equites . But the career structure of both groups was broadly similar: a period of junior administrative posts in Rome or Roman Italy , followed by a period (normally a decade) of military service as a senior army officer, followed by senior administrative or military posts in

15840-542: The late Empire, enemy forces in both the East and West were "sufficiently mobile and sufficiently strong to pierce [the Roman] defensive perimeter on any selected axis of penetration"; from the 3rd century onwards, both Germanic tribes and Persian armies pierced the frontiers of the Roman Empire. In response, the Roman army underwent a series of changes, more organic and evolutionary than the deliberate military reforms of

16000-459: The late Republican era, the collection of most taxes was contracted out to private individuals or companies by competitive tender, with the contract for each province awarded to the publicanus who bid the highest advance to the state treasury on the estimated tax-take of the province. The publicanus would then attempt to recoup his advance, with the right to retain any surplus collected as his profit. This system frequently resulted in extortion from

16160-400: The later foederati ; instead, these troops were split into small groups attached to other Roman units. They existed therefore as a halfway house between numeri , who were encouraged to be Romanised, and the foederati , who raised officers from their own ranks and were almost entirely self-dependent. A distinction between frontier guard troops and more mobile reserve forces had emerged with

16320-443: The later republican period, Roman senators and their offspring became an unofficial elite within the equestrian order. Under Augustus , the senatorial elite was given formal status (as the ordo senatorius ) with a higher wealth threshold (250,000 denarii , or the pay of 1,100 legionaries) and superior rank and privileges to ordinary equites . During the Principate, equites filled the senior administrative and military posts of

16480-465: The legionary cavalry, although they remained technically liable to such service throughout the Principate era (to 284 AD). They continued to supply the senior officers of the army throughout the Principate. With the exception of the purely hereditary patricians, the equites were originally defined by a property threshold. The rank was passed from father to son, although members of the order who at

16640-486: The legionary cavalry. From the earliest times and throughout the Republican period, Roman equites subscribed, in their role as Roman cavalrymen, to an ethos of personal heroism and glory. This was motivated by the desire to justify their privileged status to the lower classes that provided the infantry ranks, to enhance the renown of their family name, and to augment their chances of subsequent political advancement in

16800-414: The legions of the early and middle Republic consisted of both light and heavy infantry. The term manipular legion , a legion based on units called maniples , is therefore used to contrast the later cohortal legion of the Empire that was based around a system of cohort units. The manipular legion was based partially upon social class and partially upon age and military experience. It therefore represents

16960-411: The legions, and often retaining some national flavour, the size of the units at least was standardised to some degree. Cavalry were formed into either an ala quingenaria of 512 horsemen, or an ala millaria of 1,000 horsemen. Likewise, infantry auxilia could be formed into a cohors quingenaria of 500 men or a cohors millaria of 1,000 men. Mixed cavalry/infantry auxiliaries were typically formed with

17120-401: The military of early Rome. This may in part be due to the generally lower intensity of conflict in this era; to the fact that men were fighting close to and often in protection of their own homes, or due to—as posited by later Roman writers—a greater martial spirit in antiquity. The equestrians, the highest social class of all, served in mounted units known as equites . The first class of

17280-419: The navy was considered to be slightly less prestigious than the auxilia but, like the auxilia , troops could gain citizenship on discharge upon retirement. In terms of structure, each ship was staffed by a group of men approximately equivalent to a century, with ten ships forming a naval squadron. Through the final years of the 1st century AD, the legions remained the backbone of the Roman army, although

17440-613: The need for such emergency armies by increasing the size of the standing armies to a size sufficient to provide territorial defence on their own. Perhaps due to similar concerns, the legions and auxiliaries of the army were supplemented under the Emperor Augustus by an elite formation of guards dedicated to the protection of the Emperor. The first such unit was based in Rome and were known as the Praetorian Guard , and

17600-404: The north, the different classes of units were disbanded entirely. Auxiliaries , local irregular troops, would fulfill other roles, serving as archers , skirmishers and cavalry . Structural history of the Roman military#Manipular legion (315 BC – 107 BC) According to the historians Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus , writing at a far later date, the earliest Roman army existed in

17760-422: The order. Imperial equites were thus divided into two tiers: a few thousand mainly Italian equites equo publico , members of the order eligible to hold the public offices reserved for the equites ; and a much larger group of wealthy Italians and provincials (estimated at 25,000 in the 2nd century) of equestrian status but outside the order. Equestrians could in turn be elevated to senatorial rank (e.g., Pliny

17920-469: The poorest citizens must also have been pressed into service despite their lack of legal qualification. By 123 BC, the financial requirement for military service was slashed again from 4,000 asses to just 1,500 asses. By this time, therefore, it is clear that many of the property-less former proletarii had been nominally admitted into the adsidui . During the 2nd century BC, Roman territory saw an overall decline in population, partially due to

18080-439: The predominant troop type in the Roman army in place of heavy infantry, which dominated earlier armies. According to Warren Treadgold , however, the proportion of cavalry did not change between the early 3rd and early 4th centuries. Larger groups of barbari began to settle in Rome's territories around this time, and the troops they were contracted to provide to the Roman army were no longer organised as numeri but rather were

18240-624: The produce of their own landed estates but too small to conduct large-scale sea transportation. From this time onwards, senatorial families mostly invested their capital in land. All other equestrians remained free to invest their wealth, greatly increased by the growth of Rome's overseas empire after the Second Punic War, in large-scale commercial enterprises including mining and industry, as well as land. Equestrians became especially prominent in tax farming and, by 100 BC, owned virtually all tax-farming companies ( publicani ). During

18400-520: The propertied militia and replacing it with landless soldiers motivated largely by pay. This belief emerges from the ancient literary sources, but rests on a relatively weak basis. Despite enrolling some three to five thousand volunteers during the Jugurthine War , Gaius Marius assumed command of consular legions recruited via hitherto normal procedure in the following Cimbric War . Conscription continued after Marius's time, especially during

18560-440: The proportion of catafractarii was also increased. There is some disagreement over exactly when the relative proportion of cavalry increased, whether Gallienus' reforms occurred contemporaneously with an increased reliance on cavalry, or whether these are two distinct events. Alfoldi appears to believe that Gallienus' reforms were contemporaneous with an increase in cavalry numbers. He argues that, by 258, Gallienus had made cavalry

18720-462: The provinces (especially the Balkan provinces) who displaced the Italian aristocrats in the top military posts, and under Diocletian (ruled 284–305) from the top civilian positions also. This effectively reduced the Italian aristocracy to an idle, but immensely wealthy, group of landowners. During the 4th century, the status of equites was debased to insignificance by excessive grants of the rank. At

18880-477: The provinces from 68 AD onwards. One estimate places the proportion of Italian troops at 65% under Augustus in c. 1 AD, falling to around 49% by the end of Nero's reign. Since the legions were officially open only to Roman citizens, Max Cary and Howard Hayes Scullard argue that at least in some provinces at this time "many provincials must have been recruited who lacked any genuine claim to Roman citizenship but received it unofficially on enlistment,"

19040-503: The provinces, a prospect more attractive to locally raised rather than Italian troops. The higher prestige and pay to be found in the Italian dominated Praetorian Guard must also have played a role. The majority of the troops in the legions at the start of the 3rd century AD were from the more Romanised (though non-Italian) provinces, especially Illyria . As the century progressed, more and more barbarians (Latin: barbari ) were permitted to settle inside of, and tasked with aiding in

19200-404: The provinces. Senators and equites formed a tiny elite of under 10,000 members who monopolised political, military and economic power in an empire of about 60 million inhabitants. During the 3rd century AD, power shifted from the Italian aristocracy to a class of equites who had earned their membership by distinguished military service, often rising from the ranks: career military officers from

19360-404: The qualifying social classes of the adsidui , were exempted from military service on the grounds that they were too poor to provide themselves with any arms whatsoever. However, in the most pressing circumstances, even these proletarii were pressed into service, though their military worth was probably questionable. Troops in all of these classes would fight together on the battlefield, with

19520-417: The rank of equo privato , according all its members equo publico status. In addition, Augustus organised the order in a quasi-military fashion, with members enrolled into six turmae (notional cavalry squadrons). The order's governing body were the seviri ("Committee of Six"), composed of the "commanders" of the turmae . In an attempt to foster an esprit de corps amongst the equites , Augustus revived

19680-468: The rear of the triarii . Their role in accompanying the army was primarily to supply any vacancies that might occur in the maniples, but they also seem to have acted occasionally as orderlies to the officers. The light infantry of 1,200 velites consisted of unarmoured skirmishing troops drawn from the youngest and lower social classes. They were armed with a sword and shield (90 cm (3 ft) diameter), as well as several light javelins, each with

19840-445: The regular line of battle on the basis that their equipment was of poor quality. During the reforms, this crude division of poorer and richer citizens was further stratified. The army thereafter consisted of a number of troop types based upon the social class of propertied citizens, collectively known as adsidui . From the poorest in the "fifth class" to the richest in the "first class" and the equestrians above them, military service

20000-401: The regular quinquennial (every five years) census no longer met the property requirement were usually removed from the order's rolls by the Roman censors. In the late republic, the property threshold stood at 50,000 denarii and was doubled to 100,000 by the emperor Augustus (sole rule 30 BC – 14 AD) – roughly the equivalent to the annual salaries of 450 contemporary legionaries. In

20160-533: The republic (in contrast to equites equo publico ). However, due to a lack of evidence, the origins and definition of equo privato equites remain obscure. It is widely agreed that the 12 new centuriae were open to non-patricians. Thus, from this date if not earlier, not all equites were patricians. The patricians, as a closed hereditary caste, steadily diminished in numbers over the centuries, as families died out. Around 450 BC, there are some 50 patrician gentes (clans) recorded, whereas just 14 remained at

20320-475: The richest citizens served as heavy infantry with swords and long spears (resembling hoplites ), and provided the first line of the battle formation. The second class were armed similarly to the first class, but without a breastplate for protection, and with an oblong rather than a round shield. The second class stood immediately behind the first class when the army was drawn up in battle formation. The third and fourth classes were more lightly armed and carried

20480-407: The right shoulder was visible (as opposed to the broad stripe worn by senators. ) equites bore the title eques Romanus , were entitled to wear an anulus aureus (gold ring) on their left hand, and, from 67 BC, enjoyed privileged seats at games and public functions (just behind those reserved for senators). The Senate as a body was formed of sitting senators, whose number was held at around 600 by

20640-590: The same time the ranks of senators were swollen to over 4,000 by the establishment of the Byzantine Senate (a second senate in Constantinople ) and the tripling of the membership of both senates. The senatorial order of the 4th century was thus the equivalent of the equestrian order of the Principate. According to Roman legend, Rome was founded by its first king, Romulus , in 753 BC. However, archaeological evidence suggests that Rome did not acquire

20800-479: The second century BC any deficit of manpower which would have driven such putative reductions. Modern historians have also sometimes credited to Marius the abolition of Roman cavalry and light infantry and their replacement with auxilia . There is no direct evidence for this contention, which is driven largely by literary sources' silence on those branches after the 2nd century; continued inscriptional evidence attests both citizen cavalry and light infantry into

20960-590: The second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome , ranking below the senatorial class . A member of the equestrian order was known as an eques ( Latin: [ˈɛ.kʷɛs] ). During the Roman Kingdom and the first century of the Roman Republic , legionary cavalry was recruited exclusively from the ranks of the patricians , who were expected to provide six centuriae (hundred) of cavalry (300 horses for each consular legion). Around 400   BC, 12 more centuriae of cavalry were established and these included non-patricians ( plebeians ). Around 300 BC

21120-465: The senatorial cursus honorum , or conventional career-path, which typically combined military and administrative posts. After an initial period of a few years in local government in their home regions as administrators (local aediles or duumviri ) or as priests ( augures ), equites were required to serve as military officers for about 10 years before they would be appointed to senior administrative or military posts. Equestrians exclusively provided

21280-499: The sovereignty of the people, the Roman Republic was in reality a classic oligarchy , in which political power was monopolised by the richest social echelon. Probably by 300 BC, the centuriate organisation of the Roman citizen body for political purposes achieved the evolved form described by Polybius and Livy. The comitia centuriata was the most powerful people's assembly, as it promulgated Roman laws and annually elected

21440-519: The spoils to his father, the latter ordered his son's immediate execution for disobeying orders. "Orders of Manlius" ( Manliana imperia ) became a proverbial army term for orders that must on no account be disregarded. In 218 BC, the lex Claudia restricted the commercial activity of senators and their sons, on the grounds that it was incompatible with their status. Senators were prohibited from owning ships of greater capacity than 300 amphorae (about seven tonnes) – this being judged sufficient to carry

21600-434: The structure of the legions remained much the same, their make-up gradually changed. Whereas early Republican legions had been raised by a draft from eligible Roman citizens, imperial legions were recruited solely on a voluntary basis and from a much wider base of manpower. Likewise, whereas Republican legions had been recruited almost exclusively in Italy, early Imperial legions drew most of their recruits from Roman colonies in

21760-552: The surviving sources frequently characterise soldiers as "poor", these sources largely reflect the perspectives of the elite, by whom the vast majority of the population were considered "poor" and for whom poverty needed not entail actual landlessness. Many of the soldiers of the 1st century BC possessed modest lands. Nor did the legions meaningfully professionalise: as, in general, both soldiers and commanders served only for short periods intending, respectively, to secure plunder or political advancement from military victory. After

21920-412: The tax on land outside Italy ( tributum solis ), which was the main source of state revenue. This system was terminated by the first Roman emperor, Augustus (sole rule 30 BC – 14 AD), who transferred responsibility for tax collection from the publicani to provincial local authorities ( civitates peregrinae ). Although the latter also frequently employed private companies to collect their tax quotas, it

22080-446: The three lines were based upon age and experience rather than social class. Young, unproven men would serve as hastati , older men with some military experience as principes , and veteran troops of advanced age and experience as triarii . The heavy infantry of the maniples were supported by a number of light infantry (Latin: velites ) and cavalry (Latin: equites ) troops, typically 300 horsemen per manipular legion. The cavalry

22240-524: The time of Julius Caesar (dictator of Rome 48–44 BC), whose own Iulii clan was patrician. In contrast, the ranks of equites , although also hereditary (in the male line), were open to new entrants who met the property requirement and who satisfied the Roman censors that they were suitable for membership. As a consequence, patricians rapidly became only a small minority of the equestrian order. However, patricians retained political influence greatly out of proportion with their numbers. Until 172 BC, one of

22400-410: The time of Hadrian, a fourth militia was added for exceptionally gifted officers, commander of an ala milliaria (double-strength ala ). Each post was held for three to four years. Most of the top posts in the imperial administration were reserved for senators, who provided the governors of the larger provinces (except Egypt), the legati legionis (legion commanders) of all legions outside Egypt, and

22560-446: The time of the emperor Hadrian the proportion of Italians in the legions had fallen to just ten percent and provincial citizens now dominated. This low figure is probably a direct result of the changing needs of military staffing: a system of fixed border defences (Latin: limes ) were established around the Empire's periphery under Hadrian, consolidating Trajan's territorial gains. These called for troops to be stationed permanently in

22720-402: The top to increase stature. They wore light armour, the most common form being small breastplates , called "heart protectors". In this type of legion, the 900 hastati formed 15 maniples , military units of 60 men each. Attached to each maniple were about 20 leves , javelin-armed light infantry. The hastati stood in the first battle line, in front of the principes of the second line and

22880-449: The traditional association of the aristocracy with horsemanship, the evidence for this view is the fact that, during the republic, six centuriae (voting constituencies) of equites in the comitia centuriata (electoral assembly) retained the names of the original six royal cavalry centuriae . These are very likely the " centuriae of patrician nobles" in the comitia mentioned by the lexicologist Sextus Pompeius Festus . If this view

23040-408: The turn of the millennium, Emperor Augustus ' primary military concern was to prevent Roman generals from further usurping the imperial throne. The experience of Caesar and, earlier, Marius and Sulla , had demonstrated the willingness of "emergency" (re-activated previously decommissioned) legions containing troops keen for plunder to follow their generals against the state. Augustus therefore removed

23200-400: The two consuls elected each year had to be a patrician. In addition, patricians may have retained their original six centuriae , which gave them a third of the total voting-power of the equites , even though they constituted only a tiny minority of the order by 200 BC. Patricians also enjoyed official precedence, such as the right to speak first in senatorial debates, which were initiated by

23360-532: The use of certain troops to permanently man frontiers such as Hadrian's Wall in Britannia in the 2nd century AD. The competing demands of manned frontiers and strategic reserve forces had led to the division of the military into four types of troops by the early 4th century: Of the four troop types, the limitanei (border guards) were once considered to have been of the lowest quality, consisting largely of peasant-soldiers that were both "grossly inferior" to

23520-445: The very largest scale incursions on a strategic scale was the task of the mobile field troops, the palatini and comitatenses diverted to strengthen the field armies, and possibly accompanied by the emperor's scholae . Both border and field armies consisted of a mix of infantry and cavalry units although the weight of cavalry was, according to some authorities, greater in the mobile field armies. Overall, approximately one quarter of

23680-465: The weapon from being thrown back. The weight and barb alone sufficiently hampered any struck shield (often penetrating the shield to hit the man behind it), and the iron was sufficiently hard that pila were often used as hand-held spears against both infantry and cavalry. By the time the volley of pila had reached the enemy line (usually only fifteen yards distant for best effect), the legionaries were charging and very quickly at work with their swords. There

23840-430: Was assessed in an official census as meeting the property requirement of 100,000 denarii to use the title of eques and wear the narrow-striped tunic and gold ring. But such "property-qualified equites " were not apparently admitted to the ordo equester itself, but simply enjoyed equestrian status. Only those granted an equus publicus by the emperor (or who inherited the status from their fathers) were enrolled in

24000-540: Was called a cohort and consisted of approximately 480 infantrymen. The cohort was therefore a much larger unit than the earlier maniple sub-unit, and was divided into six centuriae of 80 men each. Each centuria was separated further into 10 "tent groups" (Latin: contubernia ) of 8 men each. Legions additionally consisted of a small body, typically 120 men, of Roman legionary cavalry (Latin: equites legionis ). The equites were used as scouts and dispatch riders rather than battlefield cavalry. Legions also contained

24160-422: Was compulsory for all. However, Roman citizens at this time generally viewed military service as a proper undertaking of duty to the state, in contrast to later views of military service as an unwelcome and unpleasant burden. Whereas there are accounts of Romans in the late empire mutilating their own bodies in order to exempt themselves from military service, there seems to have been no such reluctance to serve in

24320-615: Was doubtful, it proved effective against Rome's largely local adversaries. When Gauls invaded Etruria in 390 BC, the inhabitants requested help from Rome. The small contingent Rome sent to repel the Gallic invaders provoked a full-scale attack on Rome. The entire Roman army was destroyed at the Battle of the Allia in a crushing defeat that prompted reforms by Marcus Furius Camillus. Under the new system , men were sorted into classes based on wealth;

24480-436: Was drawn primarily from the richest class of equestrians, but additional cavalry and light infantry were drawn at times from the socii and Latini of the Italian mainland. The equites were still drawn from the wealthier classes in Roman society. There was an additional class of troops (Latin: accensi , also adscripticii and later supernumerarii ) who followed the army without specific martial roles and were deployed to

24640-416: Was forced to effectively ignore its long-standing principle that its soldiers must be both citizens and property owners when slaves were pressed into naval service; around 213 BC, the property requirement was reduced from 11,000 to 4,000 asses . Since the Romans are unlikely to have preferred to employ slaves over poor citizens in their armies, it must be assumed that, at this point, the proletarii of

24800-412: Was in their own interests to curb extortion. During the imperial era, tax collectors were generally paid an agreed percentage of the amount collected. equites publicani became prominent in banking activities such as money-lending and money-changing. The official dress of equestrians was the tunica angusticlavia (narrow-striped tunic), worn underneath the toga , in such a manner that the stripe over

24960-428: Was kept as a mobile reserve at the city of Milan in northern Italy. It is believed that Gallienus facilitated this concentration of cavalry by stripping the legions of their integral mounted element. A diverse range of cavalry regiments existed, including catafractarii or clibanarii , scutarii , and legionary cavalry known as promoti . Collectively, these regiments were known as equites . Around 275 AD,

25120-488: Was partially because a pacified Roman Mediterranean called for little naval policing, and partially because the Romans chose to rely during this period on ships provided by Greek cities, whose peoples had greater maritime experience. The extraordinary demands of the Punic Wars , in addition to a shortage of manpower, exposed the tactical weaknesses of the manipular legion, at least in the short term. In 217 BC, Rome

25280-414: Was rarely any time for the foe to find a pilum, pull it out of whatever it had hit and throw it back. The hastati had been increased in number to 1,200 per legion, and formed 10 maniples of 120 men each. The rorarii and accensi had been disbanded. Leves had been replaced with velites , who had a similar role but were now also attached to principes and triarii . Pitched battles were conducted in

25440-424: Was supposedly doubled in size to 600 men by King Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (traditional dates 616–578 BC). That the cavalry was increased to 600 during the regal era is plausible, as in the early republic the cavalry fielded remained 600-strong (two legions with 300 horses each). However, according to Livy, King Servius Tullius (traditional reign-dates 578–535 BC) established a further 12 centuriae of equites ,

25600-421: Was the first battle line. They fought in a quincunx formation, supported by lighter infantry. The enemy was allowed to penetrate the first battle line consisting of hastati , after which the enemy would deal with the more hardened, seasoned soldiers, the principes . They were eventually disbanded after the so-called " Marian reforms " of 107 BC. Hastati appear to have been remnants of the old third class of

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