Trokenyan
24-06-2005, 06:34
This has been spun off from
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=286344&page=5.
Sorry this is a such a long post. It is divided into historical sections, as the
organization of the Roman army changed with time.
Early days
In the early regnal peroid, the Roman army was basically a number of bands, each
being a "chief" surrounded by his "noble" retainers. This was insufficient to guard
the city from its neighbors, and under king Servius Tullius, the people of Rome were
divided into 5 "classes" based on their wealth, measured mostly in land. From the
top 3 (or 4) classes the heavy infantry was levied. The light infantry was levied from
the lowest class (or lowest 2), while those "above" the highest class supplied the
equites which were more mounted infantry than cavalry.
The heavy infantry was organized into a phalanx on the Greek model---a mass of
soldiers armed with long pikes, moving in lock-step. In the Roman army, the soldiers
were put into three lines, the principes, hastati, and the triarii. They
were armed with the hasta or thrusting-spear, and carried daggers and
clipei (round shields). Each soldier had to supply his own equipment.
The reforms of Camillus
The changes covered in this section are traditionally associated with the great
general, Camillus, but it is doubtful he carried through all of them. The reforms can
be grouped under three headings.
(1) Pay for the soldiers. Until this time, soldiers were all (supposedly) voluntarily
levied from the citizenry, and were eager to add to its glory and safety. In fact, they
were forced by relatives or the state to serve, and were more than a bit unwilling.
After the institution of pay, there was a lot more willingness, and many even
volunteered. As well, fighting could continue through the year, as the fighters no
longer had to worry that their farms would be unplanted or unharvested.
(2) A change in weapons was instituted. The clipeus was replaced by the
scutum, a larger, oval shield. As well, the hasta was largely replaced by the
pilum, a lighter spear that could be thrown.
(3) The phalanx was abolished. In its place was the "legion," which at this time
meant merely a levy of Roman citizens, organized into maniples of at first 60
soldiers, later 120. The phalanx was abandoned in large part because of the
pilum; it is impractical to use a throwing spear when packed together like
sardines. In battle, the legion was drawn up in three lines, the hastati, the
pricipes, and the pilani. (Note that the names of the first two lines have
switched from the early days). The first two lines were organized in maniples, drawn
up in open order and armed with the pilum, the 3rd was organized as a phalanx,
drawn up in close order and armed with the hasta.
The Punic Wars and later
During the Punic wars, some more changes, based on the reforms of Camillus,
occured. In the following, I give the organization in full, so there may be some
duplication from the last section.
Usually, four legions were levied/recruited each year, and grouped into two forces or
"armies," one under each of the two consuls. The soldiers were "released" each
year, but were subject to being re-levied each year. Each legion was assigned 6
military tribunes, who by law had to be veterens of 5 or 10 years standing; often this
law was ignored, and young aristocrats were appointed. The primary job of the
military tribunes was to pick the soldiers for their legion from among the
levies/recruits available that year.
The legion at this time had an ostensible roster of 4,200 soldiers. The youngest and
poorest soldiers were assigned to be velites or skirmishers, the next older were
made hastati, the men in their prime were principes, and the oldest were
made into triarii (the term pilani had mostly disappeared, and the older term
triarii restored). There were supposed to be 1,200 each of velites,
hastati, and principes; and 600 triarii. Even if a legion was inflated to
5,000+ soldiers, there were never more than 600 triarii.
The hastati, principes, and triarii were subdivided into maniples and
centuries (two centuries per maniple), so that there were 10 maniples and 20
centuries in each line, and thus 30 maniples and 60 centuries per legion; note the
manipular organization was extended to the triarii. Each maniple had two
centurions chosen from the soldiers for bravery and endurance, two junior officiers
called optiones, and 2 vexillarii or standard-bearers. The velites were
not organized in their own units; 20 velites were assigned to each century. In
each maniple the centuries lined up side-by-side, the senior centurion commanding
the right-side century, the junior the left.
There were 300 cavalry to each legion, divided into ten turmae. Each turma
had three decuriones, three optiones, and one vexillarius.
The velites were armed with the parma or round buckler, and used the
hasta velitaris, a "spear" with a 3-foot handle and a 9-inch head. The others had
the scutum or oval shield of about 4 foot height, helmets, greaves, and breastplates;
they also used the gladius for close-in work. The hastati and principes
had (as before) the pilum and the triarii (as also before) the hasta.
About this time the head of the pilum was shortened, and the whole made more
evenly balanced and aerodynamic.
In battle, the legion was drawn up in three lines. The front line was made up of the
ten maniples of hastati, with the centuries side-by-side, and gaps between
maniples about as wide as the maniples. The second line, the principes, was
drawn up in the same way, and positioned behind the gaps in the first line. The third
line, the triarii, lined up in the gaps of the second line, and were therefore
directly behind the maniples of the first line. Each soldier had a square yard to stand
upon, and had a 3-foot distance to the next soldier.
The formal "how battles should go" scenario was that the velites and cavalry
should harrass the enemy, then retire, and the hastati would advance and throw
their pila. If this succeeded, the whole legion would advance, the principes
throwing their pila once in range, or (in other circumstances) moving into the
gaps in the front line while the triarii might be brought up on the flanks. If the
hastati had to retreat, they'd pull into the gaps in the second line under covering
fire from the principes. In a bad situation, the retreat could fall back to the third
line.
Of course, this is a paper organization and stereotypical attack/defense. At various
times the legions were larger and/or more numerous; there were 23 legions in 211
BCE, for instance, and during the subsequent period for a while legions swelled to
5,200 to 6,000 soldiers. As well, the old system of recruiting only from the top 3 or 4
classes of Roman citizens was dropped during crises; indeed, on one occasion
even slaves were formed into two legions of their own.
The Reforms of Marius
The bulk of these reforms had more to do with the politics of recruitment than the
actual form of the army. The problem can be summed up quickly: after about 200
BCE Rome had conquered so much territory that wealth flowed into the city, most of
it to those already well off. The newly-rich invested most of their wealth in land,
creating highly profitable farms---agricultural factories, one could say. This pushed
the smaller farmers off the land. Since land ownership determined the "class" one
belonged to, the number of those subject to recruitment dropped precipitously.
Since the Senate would not permit the Italian allies to gain citizenship nor relax the
requirements for "class" membership, Rome's legions started to shrink, just when
she most needed an increase in the army's size.
Marius, sent to Numidia to deal with Jugurtha (whom Rome was already at war with)
got around this problem by the simple expediant of ignoring the Senate's laws, and
recruiting where and who he could. Principly he recruited from the lowest "classes"
of Rome, but also from among the "locals".
The main military change was to end the yearly re-levying of troops. From now
forward, recruits signed up for a definite period, the legitima stipendia, of 20
years (though successful generals sometimes discharged their soldiers before the
20 years were up).
The combination of allowing all citizens to enlist, and making the enlistment for a set
term, means that the technically middle-classes-manned militia-style force ended,
being replaced by a professional army. This lead to an enormous improvement in
training and discipline, and efficiency was vastly enhanced. It is not too much to say
that the empire---indeed, the later republic---would have collapsed without this
change.
Marius also brought about some lesser military changes. For one, the maniple was
replaced as a tactical unit by the cohort, which contained 6 centuries. The legion
thus consisted of 10 cohorts. As well, the division into three lines was not rigidly
adhered to; sometime the legion was arranged in two or even one line. Where
multiple lines were used, the gaps between units (now cohorts instead of maniples)
was smaller than the units' fronts. When three lines were used (the most common
case), 4 cohorts made up the first line, and 3 cohorts in each of the other two lines.
Because to this flexibility, the division of the soldiers into hastati, principes,
and triarii was abandoned, and all soldiers were armed with the pilum. Note
that cohorts were arranged with three centuries in front and three behind; this was
considered one line, not two.
As well, the velites were abolished; from hence forward light skirmishers would
be supplied by non-Romans, either mercenaries or volunteers. At the same time,
the Roman cavalry also started to be replaced by non-Roman mercenaries and
volunteers. These "extra" troops were referred to as auxilia.
Marius also saw to it that each legion now had an identity, which was lacking before.
Each legion was given an aquila, or eagle, which was the sacred emblem
personifying its existence. The aquila was honoured with a religious cult as the
"soul of the legion." As well, under Marius, the custom of giving a legion a number in
series began. However, the legions were renumbered each year, a hold-over from
the days of yearly re-levying/re-recruiting.
Some changes to the pilum also date from Marius. Originally the handle had
been shoved into a socket, kept in place by friction and occasionally riveting.
Sometime before Marius, this method had been replaced by a pair of iron rivets;
Marius replaced one of the rivets by a wooden pin, so that it would break when the
pilum struck a shield, meaning the foe could not grab the pilum and throw it
back. The oft-repeated tale that later still the pilum was made with the middle
section of the head of soft iron, so it would bend, is metalurgical nonsense.
A last reform of Marius should be mentioned. He revised the construction of the
soldier's pack so that it could quickly be removed, without interfering with the armor.
Later changes
The form of the army created by Marius was little changed in the succeeding
centuries. Under Pompey and particularly Julius Caeser the principle changes were
two: the assignment of permanent numbers, and even names, to the legions, and
the increased use of legati. There were so many legions under the command of
an imperator (which originally simply meant "general") that they could not be
effectively controlled. Since the tribunes of the era of the Punic Wars had declined in
importance (too many young aristocrats instead of long-term veterans), Caeser
needed another official to run legions; this was called the legati, and they were
appointed to command individual legions, or expeditionary forces separated from
the main body. At this time, legati were appointed and removed on an ad-hoc
basis; it was Augustus who made permanent appointments of legati.
Also worth noting at this time is the fate of the original four consul-commanded
legions. They were reduced to a matter of form, often only existing on paper.
However, they retained the numbers I - IV, which non-consul imperatores never
used.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=286344&page=5.
Sorry this is a such a long post. It is divided into historical sections, as the
organization of the Roman army changed with time.
Early days
In the early regnal peroid, the Roman army was basically a number of bands, each
being a "chief" surrounded by his "noble" retainers. This was insufficient to guard
the city from its neighbors, and under king Servius Tullius, the people of Rome were
divided into 5 "classes" based on their wealth, measured mostly in land. From the
top 3 (or 4) classes the heavy infantry was levied. The light infantry was levied from
the lowest class (or lowest 2), while those "above" the highest class supplied the
equites which were more mounted infantry than cavalry.
The heavy infantry was organized into a phalanx on the Greek model---a mass of
soldiers armed with long pikes, moving in lock-step. In the Roman army, the soldiers
were put into three lines, the principes, hastati, and the triarii. They
were armed with the hasta or thrusting-spear, and carried daggers and
clipei (round shields). Each soldier had to supply his own equipment.
The reforms of Camillus
The changes covered in this section are traditionally associated with the great
general, Camillus, but it is doubtful he carried through all of them. The reforms can
be grouped under three headings.
(1) Pay for the soldiers. Until this time, soldiers were all (supposedly) voluntarily
levied from the citizenry, and were eager to add to its glory and safety. In fact, they
were forced by relatives or the state to serve, and were more than a bit unwilling.
After the institution of pay, there was a lot more willingness, and many even
volunteered. As well, fighting could continue through the year, as the fighters no
longer had to worry that their farms would be unplanted or unharvested.
(2) A change in weapons was instituted. The clipeus was replaced by the
scutum, a larger, oval shield. As well, the hasta was largely replaced by the
pilum, a lighter spear that could be thrown.
(3) The phalanx was abolished. In its place was the "legion," which at this time
meant merely a levy of Roman citizens, organized into maniples of at first 60
soldiers, later 120. The phalanx was abandoned in large part because of the
pilum; it is impractical to use a throwing spear when packed together like
sardines. In battle, the legion was drawn up in three lines, the hastati, the
pricipes, and the pilani. (Note that the names of the first two lines have
switched from the early days). The first two lines were organized in maniples, drawn
up in open order and armed with the pilum, the 3rd was organized as a phalanx,
drawn up in close order and armed with the hasta.
The Punic Wars and later
During the Punic wars, some more changes, based on the reforms of Camillus,
occured. In the following, I give the organization in full, so there may be some
duplication from the last section.
Usually, four legions were levied/recruited each year, and grouped into two forces or
"armies," one under each of the two consuls. The soldiers were "released" each
year, but were subject to being re-levied each year. Each legion was assigned 6
military tribunes, who by law had to be veterens of 5 or 10 years standing; often this
law was ignored, and young aristocrats were appointed. The primary job of the
military tribunes was to pick the soldiers for their legion from among the
levies/recruits available that year.
The legion at this time had an ostensible roster of 4,200 soldiers. The youngest and
poorest soldiers were assigned to be velites or skirmishers, the next older were
made hastati, the men in their prime were principes, and the oldest were
made into triarii (the term pilani had mostly disappeared, and the older term
triarii restored). There were supposed to be 1,200 each of velites,
hastati, and principes; and 600 triarii. Even if a legion was inflated to
5,000+ soldiers, there were never more than 600 triarii.
The hastati, principes, and triarii were subdivided into maniples and
centuries (two centuries per maniple), so that there were 10 maniples and 20
centuries in each line, and thus 30 maniples and 60 centuries per legion; note the
manipular organization was extended to the triarii. Each maniple had two
centurions chosen from the soldiers for bravery and endurance, two junior officiers
called optiones, and 2 vexillarii or standard-bearers. The velites were
not organized in their own units; 20 velites were assigned to each century. In
each maniple the centuries lined up side-by-side, the senior centurion commanding
the right-side century, the junior the left.
There were 300 cavalry to each legion, divided into ten turmae. Each turma
had three decuriones, three optiones, and one vexillarius.
The velites were armed with the parma or round buckler, and used the
hasta velitaris, a "spear" with a 3-foot handle and a 9-inch head. The others had
the scutum or oval shield of about 4 foot height, helmets, greaves, and breastplates;
they also used the gladius for close-in work. The hastati and principes
had (as before) the pilum and the triarii (as also before) the hasta.
About this time the head of the pilum was shortened, and the whole made more
evenly balanced and aerodynamic.
In battle, the legion was drawn up in three lines. The front line was made up of the
ten maniples of hastati, with the centuries side-by-side, and gaps between
maniples about as wide as the maniples. The second line, the principes, was
drawn up in the same way, and positioned behind the gaps in the first line. The third
line, the triarii, lined up in the gaps of the second line, and were therefore
directly behind the maniples of the first line. Each soldier had a square yard to stand
upon, and had a 3-foot distance to the next soldier.
The formal "how battles should go" scenario was that the velites and cavalry
should harrass the enemy, then retire, and the hastati would advance and throw
their pila. If this succeeded, the whole legion would advance, the principes
throwing their pila once in range, or (in other circumstances) moving into the
gaps in the front line while the triarii might be brought up on the flanks. If the
hastati had to retreat, they'd pull into the gaps in the second line under covering
fire from the principes. In a bad situation, the retreat could fall back to the third
line.
Of course, this is a paper organization and stereotypical attack/defense. At various
times the legions were larger and/or more numerous; there were 23 legions in 211
BCE, for instance, and during the subsequent period for a while legions swelled to
5,200 to 6,000 soldiers. As well, the old system of recruiting only from the top 3 or 4
classes of Roman citizens was dropped during crises; indeed, on one occasion
even slaves were formed into two legions of their own.
The Reforms of Marius
The bulk of these reforms had more to do with the politics of recruitment than the
actual form of the army. The problem can be summed up quickly: after about 200
BCE Rome had conquered so much territory that wealth flowed into the city, most of
it to those already well off. The newly-rich invested most of their wealth in land,
creating highly profitable farms---agricultural factories, one could say. This pushed
the smaller farmers off the land. Since land ownership determined the "class" one
belonged to, the number of those subject to recruitment dropped precipitously.
Since the Senate would not permit the Italian allies to gain citizenship nor relax the
requirements for "class" membership, Rome's legions started to shrink, just when
she most needed an increase in the army's size.
Marius, sent to Numidia to deal with Jugurtha (whom Rome was already at war with)
got around this problem by the simple expediant of ignoring the Senate's laws, and
recruiting where and who he could. Principly he recruited from the lowest "classes"
of Rome, but also from among the "locals".
The main military change was to end the yearly re-levying of troops. From now
forward, recruits signed up for a definite period, the legitima stipendia, of 20
years (though successful generals sometimes discharged their soldiers before the
20 years were up).
The combination of allowing all citizens to enlist, and making the enlistment for a set
term, means that the technically middle-classes-manned militia-style force ended,
being replaced by a professional army. This lead to an enormous improvement in
training and discipline, and efficiency was vastly enhanced. It is not too much to say
that the empire---indeed, the later republic---would have collapsed without this
change.
Marius also brought about some lesser military changes. For one, the maniple was
replaced as a tactical unit by the cohort, which contained 6 centuries. The legion
thus consisted of 10 cohorts. As well, the division into three lines was not rigidly
adhered to; sometime the legion was arranged in two or even one line. Where
multiple lines were used, the gaps between units (now cohorts instead of maniples)
was smaller than the units' fronts. When three lines were used (the most common
case), 4 cohorts made up the first line, and 3 cohorts in each of the other two lines.
Because to this flexibility, the division of the soldiers into hastati, principes,
and triarii was abandoned, and all soldiers were armed with the pilum. Note
that cohorts were arranged with three centuries in front and three behind; this was
considered one line, not two.
As well, the velites were abolished; from hence forward light skirmishers would
be supplied by non-Romans, either mercenaries or volunteers. At the same time,
the Roman cavalry also started to be replaced by non-Roman mercenaries and
volunteers. These "extra" troops were referred to as auxilia.
Marius also saw to it that each legion now had an identity, which was lacking before.
Each legion was given an aquila, or eagle, which was the sacred emblem
personifying its existence. The aquila was honoured with a religious cult as the
"soul of the legion." As well, under Marius, the custom of giving a legion a number in
series began. However, the legions were renumbered each year, a hold-over from
the days of yearly re-levying/re-recruiting.
Some changes to the pilum also date from Marius. Originally the handle had
been shoved into a socket, kept in place by friction and occasionally riveting.
Sometime before Marius, this method had been replaced by a pair of iron rivets;
Marius replaced one of the rivets by a wooden pin, so that it would break when the
pilum struck a shield, meaning the foe could not grab the pilum and throw it
back. The oft-repeated tale that later still the pilum was made with the middle
section of the head of soft iron, so it would bend, is metalurgical nonsense.
A last reform of Marius should be mentioned. He revised the construction of the
soldier's pack so that it could quickly be removed, without interfering with the armor.
Later changes
The form of the army created by Marius was little changed in the succeeding
centuries. Under Pompey and particularly Julius Caeser the principle changes were
two: the assignment of permanent numbers, and even names, to the legions, and
the increased use of legati. There were so many legions under the command of
an imperator (which originally simply meant "general") that they could not be
effectively controlled. Since the tribunes of the era of the Punic Wars had declined in
importance (too many young aristocrats instead of long-term veterans), Caeser
needed another official to run legions; this was called the legati, and they were
appointed to command individual legions, or expeditionary forces separated from
the main body. At this time, legati were appointed and removed on an ad-hoc
basis; it was Augustus who made permanent appointments of legati.
Also worth noting at this time is the fate of the original four consul-commanded
legions. They were reduced to a matter of form, often only existing on paper.
However, they retained the numbers I - IV, which non-consul imperatores never
used.