Roman army

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This article is part of the series on: Military of ancient Rome

Branches of the Roman military

Roman army (velites, hastati, principes, triarii, equites, legionaries, auxiliae, comitatenses, limitanei, foederati, praetorians)

Roman navy

Roman military history

Structural history

Campaign history

Technological history

Political history

Other

Military Engineering (Siege engines)

Infantry Tactics

List of battles

Personal weapons

List of legions

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The Roman army is the set of land-based military forces employed by the Roman Kingdom, Roman republic and later Roman empire as part of the Roman military. For its main infantry constituent for much of its history, see Roman legion. For its naval countrpart, see Roman Navy.

Contents 1 Army size and statistics 2 Tactics 3 Weapons and Equipment 3.1 Personal Weapons 3.2 Personal Armour 3.3 Artillery weapons 4 Ranks 4.1 High level ranks 4.2 Mid Level ranks 4.3 Low level ranks 5 Training 5.1 Fitness 5.2 Drill and weapons training 5.3 Common skills 5.4 Special skills 6 Campaigns 7 History of the Roman army 8 Roman military engineering 9 Branches 10 References

[edit] Army size and statistics

It is estimated by Edward Gibbon that the maximum size of the Roman army was around 375,000 troops. However, Antonio Santosuosso argues that if one includes all the federated allied troops fighting on behalf of and in the name of the Roman Empire, then the size of the army in the late Roman Empire was closer to 650,000 - 700,000 men.

[edit] Tactics

Main article: Roman Infantry Tactics

The Romans generally followed the same basic methods in battle, although of course adjustments were made depending on the enemy, terrain, etc. The approach march was made in several columns, enhancing maneuver. As the enemy drew closer, movement became more careful and more tentative. The Romans typically established a strong field camp, complete with palisade and ditch, providing a basis for suppy storage, troop marshalling and defence. Camps were recreated each time the army moved. Several days might be spent in a location, studying the terrain and opposition, and a number of demonstrations might be undertaken to test enemy reaction as well as to build troop morale. Part of the army might be drawn up in battle array towards the enemy. If the enemy refused to come out and at least make a demonstration, the commander could claim a morale advantage for his men, contrasting the timidity of the opposition with the resolution of his fighting forces. The Roman army was primarily based around heavy infantry. the Roman infantry typically was deployed, as the main body, facing the enemy, in three lines, with the cavalry or equites on their wings.

The battle usually opened with light troops skirmishing with the opposition- archers, slingers, javelin-men etc. These light forces withdrew to the flanks or between the gaps in the central line. The front ranks usually cast their pilum, and the following ranks hurled theirs over the heads of the front-line fighters. They then drew their swords and engaged the enemy.

The legionaries could assume different battle formations according to different tactical situations.

• Repellere equites ("repel horses") was the formation used to resist cavalry. The legionaries would assume a square formation, holding their pila as spears in the space between their shields and strung together shoulder to shoulder.
• At the command eicere pila, the legionaries hurled their pila at the enemy.
• At the command cuneum formate, the infantry formed a wedge to charge and break enemy lines. This formation was used as a shock tactic.
• At the command contendite vestra sponte, the legionaries assumed an aggressive stance and attacked every opponent they faced.
• At the command orbem formate, the legionaries assumed a circle-like formation with the archers placed in the midst of and behind the legionaries providing missile fire support. This tactic was used mainly when a small number of legionaries had to hold a position and were surrounded by enemies.
• At the command ciringite frontem, the legionaries held their position.
• At the command frontem allargate, a scattered formation was adopted.
• At the command testudinem formate, the legionaries assumed the testudo (tortoise) formation. This was slow moving but almost impenetrable to enemy fire, and thus very effective during sieges and/or when facing off against enemy archers.
• At the command Agmen formate, the legionaries assumed a square formation, which was also the typical shape of a century in battle.

[edit] Weapons and Equipment

Main article: Roman military equipment

[edit] Personal Weapons

• The pugio, a small dagger used by Roman soldiers.
• The gladius, the short sword, 60 cm (24 inches) long, used by Roman legionaries from the 3rd century BC
• The hasta a spear. Hastae were carried by early Roman Legionaries.
• The pilum (plural pila) was a throwing spear commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times.

Additionally, in the army of the late empire, the gladius was often substitued by a spatha (longsword), up to 1m long, the rectangular scutum was dropped in favour of an oval shield, the earlier pila had evolved into a differently shaped javelin - lighter and with a greater range - and new weapon types such as thrown darts (plumbatae) were introduced. (Santosuosso, A., Soldiers, Emperors and Civilians in the Roman Empire, Westview, 2001, p. 190)

[edit] Personal Armour

• The lorica segmentata was a type of armour primarily used in the Roman Empire. The armour itself consist of broad ferrous (iron or steel) strips ('girth hoops') fastened to internal leather straps.
• The Lorica Hamata is a type of Chainmail armour used during the Roman Republic at late periods as a standard-issue armour for the secondary troops (Auxilia).
• The Lorica squamata is a type of scale armour used by ancient Roman military during the Roman Republic and at later periods
• Scutum is the Latin word for shield, although it has in modern times come to be associated with the standard semi-cylindrical type carried by Roman legionaries

[edit] Artillery weapons

• Ballista and Repeating Ballista
• Onager

[edit] Ranks

[edit] High level ranks

• Legatus Legionis: The overall Legionary commander. This post was generally appointed by the emperor, was a former Tribune and held command for 3 or 4 years, although could serve for a much longer period. In a province with only one legion, the Legatus was also the provincial governor and in provinces with multiple legions, each legion has a Legatus and the provincial governor has overall command of them all.
• The Quaestor: Served as a type of quartermaster general, in charge of purchasing, finance, the collection and distribution of booty, etc. Again, these might perform similar functions on the civilian side.
• The Legati: senior commanders under the supremo. Generally they were of senatorial rank and were commissioned by the Senate.
• Tribunus Laticlavius: Named for the broad striped toga worn by men of senatorial rank. This tribune was appointed by the Emperor or the Senate. Though generally quite young and less experienced than the Tribuni Angusticlavii, he served as second in command of the legion, behind the Legate.
• Praefectus Castrorum: The camp Prefect. Generally he was a long serving veteran who had been promoted through the ranks of the centurions and was 3rd in overall command.
• Tribuni Angusticlavii: Each legion had 5 military tribunes of equestrian (knight) class citizens. They were in many cases career officers and served many of the important administrative tasks of the Legion, but still served in a full tactical command function during engagements.
• Aquilifer: A single position within the Legion. The Aquilifer was the Legion's Standard or Eagle bearer and was an enormously important and prestigious position. The next step up would be a post as a Centurion.

[edit] Mid Level ranks

• Primus Pilus: The "First File" was the commanding centurion of the first cohort and the senior centurion of the entire Legion. Service in this position also allowed entry into the equestrian social class upon retirement.
• Primi Ordines - The 5 Centurions of the First Cohort, included the Primus Pilus.
• The centurions: Each Legion had 59 or 60 centurions, one to command each centuria of the 10 cohorts. They were the backbone of the professional army and were the career soldiers who ran the day to day life of the soldiers as well as issuing commands in the field. They were generally moved up from the ranks, but in some cases could be direct appointments from the Emperor or other higher ranking officials. The cohorts were ranked from the First to the Tenth and the Centuria within each cohort ranked from 1 to 6, with only 5 Centuria in the First Cohort (For a total of 59 Centuria and the Primus Pilus). The Centuria that each Centurion commanded was a direct reflection of his rank. (Command of the First Centuria of the First Cohort was the highest and the 6th Centuria of the 10th Cohort was the lowest).
• Signifer: Each Centuria had a Signifer (59). He was responsible for the men's pay and savings, and the standard bearer for the Centurial Signum, a spear shaft decorated with medallions and often topped with an open hand to signify the oath of loyalty taken by the soldiers. It was this banner that the men from each individual Centuria would rally around. A soldier could also gain the position of Discentes signiferorum, or standard bearer in training.
• Optio:One for each Centurion (59), they were appointed by the Centurion from within the ranks to act as his second in command.
• Tesserarius: (Guard Commander) Again there were 59 of these, or one for each Centuria. They acted in similar roles to the Optios.
• Cornicen: (Horn blower) They worked hand in hand with the Signifer drawing the attention of the men to the Centurial Signum and issuing the audible commands of the officers.
• Imaginifer: Carried the Standard bearing the image of the Emperor as a constant reminder of the troop's loyalty to him.

[edit] Low level ranks

• Immunes: These were trained specialists, such as surgeons, engineers, surveyors, and architects, as well as craftsmen. They were exempt from camp and hard labor duties due to the nature of their work, and would generally earn slightly more pay than the Milites.
• Discens: Milites in training for an immunes position.
• Milites Gregarius: The basic private level foot soldier.
• Tirones: The basic new recruit. A Tirones could take up to 6 months before becoming a full Milites

[edit] Training

[edit] Fitness

The main pre-requisite for a member of the Roman Army was fitness, given the long distances they were expected to march. They commonly trained by running, chopping down trees and doing obstacle courses. Every month a legionary had to do an 18 mile route march with 60 pounds of equipment and armour and weapons to carry. It was common practice for a legion being readied for deployment to spend the previous weeks in long field training drills, some of which required that they build three field camps a day. Requirments for non-legionary troops were not as severe.

[edit] Drill and weapons training

Both legionary and auxilia troops also did drill training, from fundamentals such as learning military step and the exact formation of ranks, to practicing tactical maneuvers. Roman tactics also required the soldier to be able to respond instantly to commands to change the shape of his formation, not simply to fight as a brave individual, as in barbarian armies. This required extensive training and discipline. Weapons training covered how to handle a sword, both to become accustomed to the weight and balance, and also how to deliver injurious blows to an enemy without exposing the soldier's own body to enemy strikes. Roman sword-fighting as talk was in fact fairly restrained and measured - primarily, the sword was to be used to make short stabbing strokes from behind the protection of the scutum with minimal risk of the soldier receiving counter-strokes. This is in contrast to the rather looser style of slashing blows favoured by many barbarian peoples. The soldier was taught not to engage in wild sword-fights with opponents and especially not to lay himself open to his antagonist while aiming his stroke at him. A favoured tactic taught was to knock one's opponents off their feet with a ram of the scutum, and then to dispatch him with one or more swift downward stabs whilst he was vulnerable on the floor, all the while remaining protected himself by the scutum, which was to remained raised. They also trained in the use of the thrown javelin and pilum.

[edit] Common skills

As a minimum, it was expected that all troops would be at least minimally competent at swimming, so as to be able to ford any rivers where it was necessary to cross without the aid of a bridge and also some of them would have to swim in there armour so they could continue fighting.

[edit] Special skills

In an army as organizationally complex as the Roman army, physical conditioning, while stressed, was not sufficient. The most intelligent were trained in the special skills needed by the army, and would become officers or immunes in areas such as engineering.

[edit] Campaigns

Further information: List of Roman battles

• 343 BC - 290 BC Samnite Wars between Rome and Samnium
  • 343 BC - 341 BC First Samnite War
  • 327 BC - 304 BC Second Samnite War
  • 298 BC - 290 BC Third Samnite War
• 264 BC - 146 BC Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage
  • 264 BC - 241 BC First Punic War
  • 218 BC - 202 BC Second Punic War
  • 149 BC - 146 BC Third Punic War
• 215 BC - 168 BC Macedonian Wars
• 135 BC - 71 BC Roman Servile Wars
  • 135 BC - 132 BC First Servile War
  • 104 BC - 100 BC Second Servile War
  • 73 BC - 71 BC Third Servile War or Spartacist Rebellion
• 122 BC - 105 BC Jugurthine War
• 91 BC - 88 BC Social War
• 88 BC - 87 BC Sulla's first civil war
• 89 BC - 63 BC Mithridatic Wars
  • 89 BC - 85 BC First Mithridatic War
  • 83 BC - 82 BC Second Mithridatic War
  • 74 BC - 63 BC Third Mithridatic War
• 82 BC - 81 BC Sulla's second civil war
• 58 BC - 50 BC Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars
• 55 BC - 54 BC Julius Caesar's Roman invasion of Britain
• 53 BC - 51 BC Parthian War
• 49 BC - 45 BC Caesar's civil war
• 44 BC - 30 BC Roman Civil War
  • 44 BC Post-Caesarian civil war
  • 44 BC - 42 BC The Liberators' civil war
  • 44 BC - 36 BC Sicilian revolt
  • 41 BC - 40 BC Fulvia's civil war
  • 32 BC - 30 BC Antony's civil war
• 40 BC - 37 BC Parthian invasion on Syria and Asia Minor
• 36 BC - 33 BC Marc Anthony' s invasion on Parthian Empire
• 43 AD Aulus Plautius' Roman invasion of Britain
• 51 AD - 63 AD Wars between Nero and the Parthians
• 66 AD - 70 AD The first Jewish-Roman War (aka the Great Jewish Revolt)
• 68 AD Year of the four emperors, Roman civil war
• 115 AD - 117 AD Trajan' s invasion on Parthian Empire
• 115 AD - 117 AD Second Jewish-Roman War
• 132 AD - 135 AD Third Jewish-Roman War (aka Bar Kokhba's revolt)
• 161 AD - 166 AD Parthian war of Lucius Verus
• 193 AD - 199 AD Parthian war of Septimius Severus
• 215 AD - 217 AD Parthian war of Caracalla
• 256 AD Dacian Campaign

[edit] History of the Roman army

Main articles: Campaign history of the Roman military, Structural history of the Roman military, Technological history of the Roman military, and Political history of the Roman military

From a few score men defending a small hill town in Italy, through a citizen militia consisting of citizen-farmers raised annually for a short campaign before returning to harvest their fields, the Roman army grew to be a professional standing army of several hundred thousand men. Roman historian Edward Gibbon estimates in his book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that the peak size of the Roman army in the late imperial period was in the order of 375,000 men.

[edit] Roman military engineering

Main article: Roman military engineering

The Roman army was a prolific and highly competent engineering force. Specliast engineers attached to legionary and other forces would use labour from within the bulk of the army to achieve impressive engineering feats. The Roman army would frequently construct forts, bridges and roads as a routine part of their military culture. However, certain impressive extra-ordinary structures were also built in times of need, including a massive earthern ramp in order to top the walls of the city of Masada in the Jewish Revolt.

[edit] Branches

Further information: Roman military structure

[edit] References

Davies, Roy W. "Service in the Roman Army", Columbia University Press, New York, 1989