The Roman Military

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The Romans were successful in the art of war from the first days of the monarchy and that success continued until the collapse of the Roman Empire. Many reasons account for the collapse, one of which was the hiring of mercenaries to replace Romans weakened the military. So successful had the Romans been in the art of war that Caesar's tome De Bello Gallico has been used as a text book in the Ecole Militaire of France. (Napoleon had been a student at the Ecole Militaire, since he had been born in Corsica the first year that island was under French control) The United States Military Academy at West Point used the book in as a text up to the Second World War. The earliest known Roman army was mainly heavy infantry. Divisions were manned according to personal wealth because individual miles paid for their own arms and equipment. The wealthiest looked much as a Greek Hoplite, carried a hasta (thrusting spear), round shield, helmet,corslet and greaves. The next three classes carried hasta also but had a scutum (large oval shield) and each group was a little less heavily armed according to the wealth.

photo by J.Jahnige,1997, outside the Colosseum By the time of the Punic Wars lines of march and attack had been refined. The first two lines replaced the hasta with a pilum (heavy javelin). The third line retained the hasta. The small round shield had been replaced by the scutum for all lines and carried a small Spanish style sword gladius (small Spanish style sword). The wealthiest wore lorica hamata (mail armor) , the others a pectorale (breastplate). A greave was worn only on the left leg. The famed Roman legion had been created. Equites (Cavalry), carrying spears were added to the light javelin equipped infantry. In Caesar's time, those who served in the Roman military did not have to purchase their own equipment. If one wanted finer quality, he could indeed supply his own gear, but the state, from the time of Marius (pre-Caesar) to the end of the empire, needed men from all the levels of society and made efforts to not only equip them but also to give them land in the provinces on which they could settle when their term in the military had been completed (usually 20 years). Note that while equipment may have been issued by the state, there was little uniformity among the The pilum and mail were standard equipment for one in a legion. Greaves had been abandoned. The scutum was a bit shorter and either more curved or a definite rectangle. Who would have been with Caesar? The officers: Caesar as the head general was called dux until his first important victory against the Helvetii, after which he was called imperator. His staff officers were legati, equivalent to a lieutenant-general of the US army today. Legati commanded one or more legiones, served as special envoys (hence considered ambassadors) or were in charge of hiberna, winter quarters. A Centurio was a non-commissioned officer in charge of a century. His contemporary equivalent is sergeant. The troops: I. Legionary Soldiers Pedites (infantry) were the mainstay of the army. These were Roman male citizens between the ages of 17 and 46. Most served for 20 years. They were generally not allowed to have a wife back in Italy. Many who were stationed in the provinces for long periods of time would take local wives and raise families. Merging the Latin spoken by the soldiers with the language spoken in the province was the birth of the modern romance languages.   A. Legiones - Each Legio had 6000 men originally but was reduced to 3600 during Caesar's time. The legiones were numbered, the numbers were visible on the signa (standards) carried by the signifers.   B. Cohortes - 1/10 of a legio equivant to a battalion today.   C. Manipuli - 1/3 of a cohors or 120 men   D. Centuriae - 1/2 a cohors and the smallest unit of 60 men. As the name suggests originally it held 100 men. II. Auxilia Pedites drawn from nations which had allied themselves to Rome, which had been conquered by Rome or from mercenaries. Within the auxilia were   A. Leves armaturae pedites - Light armed infantry usually from Gallia and Germania.   B. Funditores - slingers from the Balearic Islands   C. Sagittarii from Crete and Numidia III. Equites Equites were cavalry from Gallia, Hispania and Germania. Caesar used about 4000 in the Gallic Wars as scouts, the first line of battle or to chase a retreating enemy. In this group were:   A. Ala - 300 men who were divided into   B. Turma, in turn divided into a group of 30 men   C. Decuria, a subdivision of Turma consisting of ten men  IV. Ceteri Ceteri were those who did not fight but were essential to the forces.    A. Calones - slaves who performed daily tasks    B. Mercatores -traders who provided PX services    C. Muliones -caretakers of the pack animals and impedimenta (baggage)    D. Exploratores - scouts    E. Speculatores -spies This is but a start. I invite students to add to this site. Discuss the weapons used, the armor worn, the ancillary gear carried, the set up of a camp, building temporary bridges, military technique such as testudino. Send your suggestions for topics and request for a rubric to Ann Denny, adenny@ket.org. This is suggested primarily to my students but any interested party may contribute to this page. Do you know what it means to 'walk the extra mile'? J.Jahnige, 1/18/99