The Roman Cavalry: From the First to the Third Century AD

Product Information

auxilia were only support troops, incapable of mounting independent operations themselves, only ever helping the legions; There is evidence that emperors were as wary of powerful equites as they were of senators. Augustus enforced a tacit rule that senators and prominent equestrians must obtain his express permission to enter the province of Egypt, a policy that was continued by his successors. [60] [64] Also, the command of the Praetorian Guard was normally split between two equites, to reduce the potential for a successful coup d'état. At the same time, command of the second military force in Rome, the cohortes urbanae, was entrusted to a senator.

After the Marian reforms (107 BCE) and the establishment of the legions, each legion had 300 cavalrymen. These were divided into ten squadrons of 30 cavalrymen each. Romulus supposedly established a cavalry regiment of 300 men called the Celeres ("the Swift Squadron") to act as his personal escort, with each of the three tribes supplying a centuria (century; company of 100 men). This cavalry regiment was supposedly doubled in size to 600 men by King Tarquinius Priscus (conventional dates 616–578BC). [1] According to Livy, Servius Tullius also established a further 12 centuriae of cavalry, [2] but this is unlikely, as it would have increased the cavalry to 1,800 horse, implausibly large compared to 8,400 infantry (in peninsular Italy, cavalry typically constituted about 8% of a field army). [3] This is confirmed by the fact that in the early Republic the cavalry fielded remained 600-strong (two legions with 300 horse each). [4] [ full citation needed]

PERFECT FIT

Vegetius is the only ‘manual’ of the Roman military to have survived ‘intact’. However, we should note that, firstly, Vegetius himself had no military experience whatsoever, and secondly, that his work is a carelessly constructed compilation of material from a vast range of sources and periods, all jumbled together. As such, it is very hard to ‘unscramble’ it enough to make sense of it and to decide which parts are relevant to which era. The gruelling contest for Italian hegemony that Rome fought against 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. [19] Thus 10’000 men can be placed in a rectangle about 1’500 yards by twelve yards, and it was advised not to extend the line beyond that. There is some debate about the strength of the turma between 30 and 32 men. 30 was the size of a turma in the Republican cavalry and in the cohors equitata of the Principate (early empire) auxilia. Against this is a statement by Arrian that an ala was 512 strong. This would make an ala turma 32 men strong. Personally, I suspect it simply comes down to whether one counts the commander and standard bearer, or just the troopers, in the total.

We also have a set of Roman Auxiliary horsemen armed with swords. These brave cavalrymen also come with sheaths of javelins. The helmets are of a different style to those armed with spear above so you can field two very distinct units.

NATURAL BOND

There are a number of misconceptions regarding the nature and employment of the Auxilia. These include: According to Roman legend, Rome was founded by its first king, Romulus, in 753 BC. However, archaeological evidence suggests that Rome did not acquire the character of a unified city-state (as opposed to a number of separate hilltop settlements) until c. 625 BC. [1] Spear ( hasta): during the Roman Kingdom and much of the Roman Republic the hasta was used by the cavalry. It was very good when charging into enemy infantry. Britannia was perhaps the most ‘militarised’ of any province – at any given time it had a garrison of about 10% of the entire Roman army. The ‘Brittunculi’ must have been really horrid!

a b Roth, Jonathan P. (2009). Roman warfare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521537261. OCLC 231745643. In the battle line, each man should have three feet of space, while the distance between the ranks is given as six feet. Under the reforming emperor Diocletian ( r.284–305AD), himself an Illyrian equestrian officer, the military equestrian "takeover" was brought a stage further, with the removal of hereditary senators from most administrative, as well as military posts. Hereditary senators were limited to administrative jobs in Italy and a few neighbouring provinces (Sicily, Africa, Achaea and Asia), despite the fact that senior administrative posts had been greatly multiplied by the tripling of the number of provinces and the establishment of dioceses (super-provinces). The exclusion of the old Italian aristocracy, both senatorial and equestrian, from the political and military power that they had monopolised for many centuries was thus complete. The senate became politically insignificant, although it retained great prestige. [79]It is widely agreed that the 12 new centuriae were open to non-patricians. [13] 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 the time of Julius Caesar (dictator of Rome 48–44 BC), whose own Iulii clan was patrician. [14]

Already wealthy to start with, equites equo publico accumulated even greater riches through holding their reserved senior posts in the administration, which carried enormous salaries (although they were generally smaller than senatorial salaries). [41] For example, the salaries of equestrian procuratores (fiscal and gubernatorial) ranged from 15,000 to a maximum of 75,000 denarii (for the governor of Egypt) per annum, whilst an equestrian praefectus of an auxiliary cohort was paid about 50 times as much as a common foot soldier (about 10,000 denarii). A praefectus could thus earn in one year the same as two of his auxiliary rankers combined earned during their entire 25-year service terms. [58] [59] Relations with the emperor [ edit ]Breeze, David. 1969. "The organization of the legion: The first cohort and the equites legionis". Journal of Roman Studies, 59:50–55. A type of heavily armoured Roman cavalry Routed Sarmatian cataphracts (right) flee from Roman auxiliary cavalrymen, during the Dacian Wars (AD 101-6). Note full-body scale armour, also armoured caparison for horses (including eye-guards). As depicted, the body hugging scale armour (especially covering the horses' legs) is entirely impractical and must reflect artistic licence based on an oral description. In the period following this war the Romans established the first of their own regular units of cataphracts, they were most likely equipped like the Sarmatians. Panel from Trajan's Column, Rome The Viri Egregii included officials of all four pay-grades. Ducenariate procurators governing provinces not reserved for senators were of this category [71] as were the praefecti legionum, after Gallienus opened all legionary commands to equestrians. [72] However, it seems that after 270 AD the procuratores ducenarii were elevated into the ranks of the Viri Perfectissimi. [73] Equestrians in the later Empire (AD 197–395) [ edit ] The emperor Maximinus I (Thrax) (ruled 235–8), whose career epitomises the soldier-equestrians who took over command of the army during the 3rd century. Rise of the military equestrians (3rd century) [ edit ]