Unit 1 The Roman Army in War and Peace Flashcards
Intro
Importance? Seen a Roman legionary? Fought a Battle?
The importance of the army’s role in the empire’s acquisition and maintenance is central, making the army an important and apparently obvious mechanism of imperial power and control
However, for most inhabitants of the empire a Roman soldier would probably have been quite a rare sight
Many soldiers would have completed their entire period of service without fighting in a major military campaign or battle
1.1 The Roman army; an introduction I
What type of arm You? How many regular/Auxilliary Legions? What about the kids?
Augustus’ changes
Soldiers paid by the state rather than by competing generals
A standing professional army manned mostly by volunteer recruits serving a set number of years
25 Legions of Roman citizens and 250 units of non-citizen auxiliaries. In Hadrian’s reign most legionaries were almost certainly citizens born outside Italy
Auxiliaries received Roman citizenship after 25 years service and any existing and future children became also became citizens (after CE140 only children born after discharge received citizenship)
1.1 The Roman army; an introduction II
Construct of a legion, 8, 80, 480, 4800
Organisation:-
Contubernium - (tent party) 8 men officer - decanus
Century - 10 contubernium, 80 men officer - Centurion assisted by an optio
Cohort - 6 centuries, 480 men, officer - senior centurion (‘pilus prior’)
Legion - 10 cohorts, 4,800 men, officer - Legionary Legate (Legatus Legionis) usually a senator assisted by a pilus prior - senior centurion of the first cohort the most senior centurion in the legion
1.1 The Roman army; an introduction III
Auxilliary
Cavalry 32-16, 512
Infantry 8, 80, 480
Auxilia (Auxiliaries)
Infantry cohorts (cohortes) and cavalry units (alae - wings)
Cavalry
truma (troop) - 32 men, officer decurio
Alae - 16 turma, 512 men, officer praefectus (prefect)
Infantry
Contubernium - (tent party) 8 men officer - decanus
Century - 10 contubernium, 80 men officer - Centurion assists by an optio
Cohort - 6 centuries, 480 men, officer - Tribunus Militia or prefectus
1.2 The Army and Imperial Expansion
Augustus’ Varus problem
Woolf argues that after Augustus, the Roman empire hardly expanded at all (but did in Britannia with Claudius), earlier expansion being driven by powerful Republican generals
Woolf suggest that the risks of mounting foreign campaigns outweighed the possible advantages
Varus’ defeat and the destruction of 3 legions in 9CE changed policy towards Germany - the new province east of the River Rhine was abandoned
Gruen posits that there were campaigns east of the Rhine ‘to controvert any suggestion of Roman weakness’
- 3 Kalkriese and the defeat of Varus in the Teutoburg Forrest: a case study
- 3.1 Writing about the Varian battle Dio Cassius, Paterculus and Tacitus
Woolf and Gruen single out this event as a significant moment in Roman history (a pause, change, reflection?)
Kalkriese battlefield found by Mommsen (1885) disputed and then British Army Colonel Tony Cllunn coins’ found that did not post date Augustus - Ante Post Quem (Time which after). Questions about ‘coin drift’ after 9CE- some of the coins should not have been there. Victors had plenty of time to remove much of the Roman equipment of any value
Primary sources - Dio Cassius 56.20-1 - difficult terrain, bad weather, highly armed Germans better at manoeuvring - thing to remove blame for defeat
Velleius Paterculus (operational officer served with Tiberius wrote soon after the event) - History of Rome, praised some officers criticises others
Tacitus, Annals - writes about Germanicus’ return there in 15CE praised by Tacitus - brave, loyal would have defeated the Germans. The bone pits found confirm the location
1.4 Locating the Roman Empire
Expansion, where? Border where? Other duties? Auxillia discharge dates?
Expansion did occur - Britannia 43CE, Dacia, Judea (crushed revolt)
Woolf - Bulk of the army located on the northern and Eastern borders of the empire, Rhine, Danube rivers, and in Parhia, token forces only stationed in Spain, Africa and Egypt
Other duties (Woolf - it became a different mechanism) - protecting governors and finance officers (procurators and tax collectors - publicans), guarding transports such as food (VITAL) and coins, police and prison/quarry/mine duties in cities were unrest is present, also facilitating communications via bases and forts and road building. Units called vexillations.
Centurions carried out administrative duties representing government as administrative officers, organising provisions
Discharge certificates for auxiliary veterans issued after 25 years in copper
1.5 The army and local communities: Dura Europos located on a rock outcrop on the west bank of the river Euphrates in Mesopotamia (Imperial provence), founded by one of Alexander’s general Seleucus 4th C BCE- the Seleucid empire - Auxillia and duties were?
City captured by the Parthians in 113BCE and then occupied by the Romans in 160s CE, a culturally Greek city, destroyed by the Parthians in 256CE and never reoccupied - many recovered artefacts in good condition due to hot, dry climate. Tacitus thinks cities are ‘too soft postings’!
Haynes ‘Military Service and Urban Experience’ (2013) - town houses turned into barrack blocks and bath house, a Principia also constructed and then walled off from town (i.e. local constructions adapted for military use - not a Western Frontier new build
Soldiers built - an amphitheatre, Mythric temple, a parade ground and were also tasked with guarding the granary
Many auxiliary soldiers were from remote possibly non-urban areas and were here (first time) exposed to urban and military life at their new outposts with new city based amenities and mixing with a large Greek/Asian urban population unlike the facilities for those on remote Hadrian’s Wall
1.6 Supplying the Roman Army
Daily rations? Taxation of Brit farms? Roads and trade?
Average daily ration for each soldier 1Kg of grain therefore 1000 men = 7 tonnes a week = grain for pack animals and horses + imported oil and wine (for which Boudica mocked their smooth southern ways)
Tacitus - Local British farmers (taxation) expected to supply grain to the army via roads which were an essential part of the supply system
Benefits (as opposed to burdens) of the army - road building, sales to army, private transport traders (middlemen) to transport oil, wine, fish sauce etc., pottery producers for amphorae and cooking utensils etc.
1.7 The auxilia: an interface between the Romans and the locals
Where from and how much of the army’s Auxillia? How they perceived themselves Longinius?
56% of auxiliaries recruited from the western European provinces (Haynes) ‘determinedly rural’ ones therefore similar in character to the people they were garrisoned with .
How they saw themselves - Longinus the cavalryman depicts himself as a confident and victorious Roman cavalryman riding down a naked and bearded barbarian Longinius (based at Colchester) was a Thracian from Sardica (Sofia, Bulgaria) and he presents himself both as a non-Roman Thracian and a Roman Cavalryman both of which he is apparently proud of as per the depiction - contrast with Mattingly’s whining ‘geopolitical manifestation’! Locals (Boudica’s revolt) may have seem him as an oppressor? Tombstones cease after 3rd C no need as difference between Romans and barbarians negligible . Army = Opportunity for rural barbarians
1.8 The Auxilia; Making Romans?
How did they change their appearance and speech? What did they keep? Diploma in xx years?
Roman auxilia shaved their faces as did the Romans and army recruits cut their hair and introduced to the bathing culture
Taught to speak and understand Latin
Received military diploma after 25 years service honourable discharge and citizenship
But they still maintained some of their national identity e.g. in epitaphs on their graves and continued to worship home duties (polytheist society) The Condrustian district (Germanic) soldiers, Hungarians serving at Birrens in Scotland. Note that soldiers also worshiped Deified Emperors and Roman gods (communal loyalty to Rome and emperor) thus keeping their imperial connections and the empire’s security strong
1.9 Soldiers and emperors
Keeping the army happy? The Lambasis speech?
Keeping the army happy was essential. Did Cassius says - Septimius Severus advised his sons Caracalla and Geta to ‘Live in harmony; enrich the troops; ignore everyone else’
Hadrian’s priority when travelling - meet the soldiers e.g. his visit to Lambasis in Africa in 128CE, reviewing the 3rd Augustan Legion during which he made a speech known as an ‘adlocutio’ which was inscribed onto a 2m high column (originally on 16 stone blocks)
Roman army a melting pot and instrument of imperial authority and ideology.
Hierarchical speech - emperor, legionary commander, chief centurions, legionary cavalry and infantry, finally auxiliaries - all that was said to Hadrian was said by the legionary commander - soldiers are praised for taking their commanders’ orders - DISCIPLINE VITAL
