What Was A Roman Legion

The Legions Of The Republican Era

The birth of the legions can be traced to the days before the emperor's when the senate ruled Rome and its growing empire. When the senate needed an army it conscripted a legion(s) from the property owning classesThis service was a duty, it was considered dishonorable to avoid it. Landowners had to put the maintenance of the estate in the hands of the steward, small businessmen left the business to the family to run. who were obliged by law to perform military service as required. The early senatorial legion's were smaller than those of the imperial period, having an average strength of 3,000 men. Fortunately for this citizen army, a normal campaigning season was short, if a campaign was over a long period, a new legion was often called up and sent to take over from the serving legion. All legions were disbanded when they were no longer required. The problem with this system was the further away they traveled from home, the less effective they became.

Early Roman battle tactics

During the years of senatorial era two basic fighting systems were developed. In the 4th century BC a system known as the Camillan was in use. At this time Rome was a tribal culture consisting of 4 Urban * and 31


* rural. The forces of were organised by social rank and tribal affiliation. And fighting mainly with spears, all very heroic and possibly influenced by the form of Greek tactics used at Troy.

As Rome started to expand men were recruited from the new provinces and by the 3rd century the tribal influences upon the military had become less important. A new fighting system known as the "Polybian tactics" was introduced. Unlike the Camillan system this system required that all infantrymen to carry 2 of the newly introduced throwing spears or pilum. The pilum was designed to pierce the enemy shield the untempered iron shaft would then bend making the shield unusable. It's a lot easier to kill an opponent without a shield. Once the pilum had been thrown they fought with swords and not spears. This was the system that developed over time into the legionary battle tactics. Scipio (Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus) is the general who stands out from this period, was a strong influence on the development Imperial battle tactics.

When the empire had expand to the point a full time standing army became overwhelming. Gaius Marius a Roman general and statesman in 107 BC, introduced reforms in the senate and created laws that allowed the forming of a permanent standing army. One of the longest serving legions the XIII Gemina Alba Iulia (Julia) was one of the legions that was created at this time. Loyal to its commander Julius Caesar, this was one of the longest serving legion in 57 BC and served until after 400. almost 500 years of service. The XVII's standard was a Lion. This was the legion that in 49 BC, crossed the Rubicon with Caesar, to begin Imperial period.

The Imperial Army

During the 500 years the legions existed they were constantly evolving to meet the needs of the empire. This is a simple description of a legion is serving during the time in which Claudius was Emperor, and the Roman invasion of Britain took place.

As there is often confusion about the structure of a Roman legion, and the officers, it is worth taking a look at the way a legion was organized.

A normal standard Roman legion consisted of approximately 6,000 men. * Any recruit to the legion made a big commitment as he enlisted for the standard term of service of 25 years. The full 25 years of service was generously rewarded by a land allotment and a good pension. And as retiring legionnaires tended to settle in frontier areas, this system also assisted the colonization of new provinces, and provided a useful reserve force in case of trouble. The only way out of the Roman army was, death or severe injury in service. Those men who were discharged as an honorably injured soldier, were referred to as a "Causarius". The fate of any deserters was execution, insubordination and cowardice in the face of the enemy could also carry the death penalty (more of that later).

The Basic Equipment of A Legionary Soldier

The basic issue for all men from Legionary to Centurion was very similar.

• Helmet - this a plain helmet with neck and cheek guards. It would have a horsehair crest mounted front to back if the man was an officer, Oporto or above. For recognition a centurions helmet crest was mounted ear to ear.
• Helmet liner - this was thick felt and protected the wearer from heavy blows and the heat of the summer sun.
• Neck scarf - served to absorb perspiration and be a field dressing if necessary.
• Tunic - red.
• Breeches - knee length red.
• Military sandals "caliguli" - these had metal studs for grip, hard wear and kicking the enemy.
• Short sword - this was a thrusting weapon for close combat.
• Sword scabbard - with shoulder strap hung on the right shoulder.
• Body armour - Lorica Segmentata plate armour or mail, protecting back, front and shoulders. Lorica Segmentata replaced the earlier legionaries chain mail armour around the time of the invasion of Britain. It took some years to re equip all the legions, and it became the standard issue for the auxiliary units and the marines, the soldiers of the Roman navy.
• Sporran - A belt with metal plated heavy leather strips hanging over the groin.
• Dagger - A military dagger for very close quarters, and dispatching wounded enemy.
• Shield - "Scutum" A rectangular shield for regulars An oval shield for Auxiliaries.
• Shield cover - A shield would warp if soaked in foul weather removed for battle.
• Greaves - Shin guards issued to Centurions only.
• Standard issue mess tin - a uniform size issue for all ranks.

When the legion was on the march, the men had to carry their personal equipment and possessions, carry this they were issued a yoke. This was carried on the shoulder with the man's kit hanging from each end of it (If they were marching into battle all kit was left in the care of the transport section).

The Structure of A Legion

There was a formal structure within every legion, with all ranks up to centurion living, working and fighting together. The purpose of this structure was to create strong bond of trust and comradeship between the men and their junior officers.

A Legion was made up of a series of a series of units, they each had a command structure and could if necessary be detached from the Legion and operate independently with their own officers, eg; a scouting party, fort garrison, patrol duties, supply escort the list is almost endless. This allowed the the commanders huge flexibility in how they used the men under their command.

The only qualification that was required to join the Legion was being a freeman* (a Roman citizen) or an ex slave who had received a grant of manumission.*. If you were not a citizen you could join the legions auxiliary units such as one of the cavalry support units. The officers of any auxiliary unit the Oporto and the Centurion would have been Roman citizens.

The medical services were not restricted to Roman citizens (although many were) and Greek physicians were regarded as the best.

A Contubernium also informally known as an octet. On active service the smallest unit of the army. It consisted of 8 men it is not as random as it first appears, a goatskin Roman tent housed 8 men. On active service (or in barracks) these groups of 8 men were known as a tent section or Contubernium. They lived, worked and fought together, the term "a band of brothers" would be a very apt description of these units. This was well thought out, the men of the section were of different ages and levels of experience, the older more experienced men steadying the younger men when in combat. This small group was the closest thing the soldier's had to a family. The Contubernium was commanded a senior man Decanust The smallest unit in the legion known as a contubernium or an octet, eight-man unit. This unit shared a tent, traveled and fought together. A Contubernium was commanded a senior man with the rank of Decanust. Ten contubernium made up a century.

A Century

The century or Centuria was the basic fighting unit of the legion. Despite a quite reasonable expectation that a century consisted of 100 men, over time the number varied. This has sometimes caused confusion regarding the number of fighting men in a Century. The cause of this was reorganisation of the centuries over the 500 years of their existence.

To simplify this during the early senatorial period, the years of Rome's early expansion, a century contained 120 men. This was subsequently reduced to 100, during the late senatorial period.

Finally during the reign of Augustus (from 30 BC) the imperial century was reduced again to 80 men.

At this point the first officers appear, regardless of the Centuries ranking in the legion the command structure would have been as follows. In ascending order, The Signifer* the centuries Standard bearer, the Oporto (The Deputy Centurion), the NCO in charge of the century was the Centurion.

The individual private soldier was known as a "Miles"

The basic fighting unit of a legion was the century.A century was made up of 10 contubernium.

A unit the size of a century required 3 officers, the officers were in ascending order.

Standard Bearer The Signifer of the century, often known incorrectly as "The Eagle", a term normally applied to the standard of the legion(s).

There were many Standard bearers in a legion. Not only did they provide a focus for the men on the battlefield. They could be used to give simple visual signals to the men. Each century had a standard in addition the Legions standard, this was the most important standard as it was the spirit of the legion. * of the Century - equivalent to a Lance corporal.

Oporto The Deputy Centurion, the junior NCO or Optio Centuriae signified by helmets with black and white crest mounted fore and aft.

The senior NCO in charge of the century was the Centurion signified by helmets with a red crest mounted from ear to ear.

Regardless of the Centuries ranking within the legion the command structure remained the same*.

It was often necessary for two centuries to be detached to man a fort or for other duties. If this was necessary the unit had a temporary standard known as a vexillum. A legionnaire was appointed as vexillarius to carry the standard. This in turn has given rise to the term "the Vexillation fortress" a fort manned by a small garrison, it is however unclear if the Romans used the term.

A Cohort

Made up of 6 centuries normally a cohort consisted of 480 fighting men. The first cohort was the elite core of the Cohort and was double strength numbering between 800 to 960 elite men.

The officers of a cohort were, the commander of the cohort the Centurion. The Oporto the Deputy Centurion. Signifier was appointed as the standard bearer of the Cohort.

The Centurion of the first legion was ranking centurion the senior ranking of the centurion. If all the field officers were killed the command of the troops would fall to him. In a legion the centurions had an order of seniority starting with the centurion of century I of cohort I. He could in the absence of officers could take charge of the men.

The Legion

The legion consisted of 10 cohorts, the thing to remember is the cohorts were not all of equal strength or experience. This could be due to casualties, retirement and sickness, there was a constant flow of men into any active Legion and they not be effective until basic training was completed. Also as the men approached the end of their 25 years service many would be in the 40's or older and clearly not as agile as the younger men. Over the years a system had to be developed that enabled the commander to use his men appropriately on the battlefield.

Over the years a system developed to allow the commanders to use the men under his command in the most effective way. The men were distributed among the legions cohorts by age, battle experience, training and ability. Thus the commander of the legion always know where his best and most experienced troops were.

Cohort I. Known as the first spear “Primus Pilus”. This was the largest of the cohorts with a complement of 800 fighting men these were also the best troops in any legion. It should be remembered that cohort 1 was not the only cohort with experienced troops. The men of cohorts 3, 5,and 10 (although half the size) were also experienced and battle hardened, with veteran troops who formed the front-line and support troops.

The second line or reserve was formed by Cohorts 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 contained a higher proportion of inexperienced men or recruits. This was very much "on the job training", and as they gained experience the best men from these cohorts replaced the casualties of the front line cohorts. It would be misleading to say the men in these cohorts were poor quality soldiers, far from it they simply lacked experience and training, they were an equal to any potential opponents. This system of organisation simply ensured the best men were in the front line.

Cohort I. As previously mentioned this was the largest of the cohorts. The best men of the legion with the most experience of battle. The cohort was double the size of the other cohorts for a reason. Cohort I was the rock on which an enemy charge would break itself upon. Once the initial charge of the enemy had stalled this cohort normally led the advance, ruthlessly cutting down the enemy as it advanced. An example of this was the Roman Governor of Britain, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus and a force of 10,000 men defeat of Boudicca and the destruction of her army of 80,000.

Cohort I: The first and largest of the 10 cohorts, had the most experienced men. Cohort I was led into battle by the standard bearer of the legion.

Cohort II: This is where the new recruits were placed and mixed with more experienced men to steady them in battle and learn by following the example of senior men.

Cohort III: Fully trained battle hardened troops.

Cohort IV: Another of the four weaker training cohorts with a mixture of veterans and new men.

Cohort V: Fully trained unit front line ready.

Cohort VI: Made up of inexperienced troops containing "the Finest of the Young Men".

Cohort VII: One of the four weak cohorts and a likely place to find trainees and raw recruits.

Cohort VIII: Contained men referred to as "The Selected Troops".

Cohort IX: Another of the four cohorts for the trainees and raw recruits.

Cohort X: Made up of men referred to in writings of the time as "The Good Troops".

At first the system appears a little odd, but the point of the men who organisation was to allow any commander to take charge of any legion and know which cohorts had the best men. This enabled the commander to place the his forces in the most effective position on the battlefield. As far as the men of the legion were concerned, this system developed Loyalty to the legion, to the cohort and absolute loyalty to the century.

• The General. The commanding General was appointed by the Emperor, often HQ bound giving field command of individual legions to the Legates under his command.
• The Legate(s). The field commander of the legion.
• The Quaestor. A senior officer in charge of the legions supplies and transport.
• The Tribunes. Field commanders of a legion(s).
• The Centurions. Front line commanders of each century.
• The Oportos. The Centurions second in command taking command of the century if the centurion fell in battle.
• The Decanus*.
Commanded the smallest unit in the century, the contubernium (also known as an octet) or eight-man tent unit.

All standard bearers ranked above an ordinary legionary solider, this meant that in extreme circumstances they could take command of small units if other officers were out of action.

• The Aquila the Eagle*.
• The Imaginifer* This standard, bearing the image of the emperor.
• The Signifer(s) The signum was the standard for each centuries of the legion, there would be 10 Signifers in the legion.
• the Vexillarius vexillum standard was a cloth banner (forerunner of the flag), mainly used in auxiliary units of both infantry and cavalry.
• For the purpose of recognition it was customary for Standard bearers to be distinguished, this as achieved by wearing an animal skin a practice adopted from the Celtic tribes of Gaul. The animals skins used were Boars, Bears or Lions. the head of the animal was worn on the helmet, the skin used as a cloak over the uniforms.

• The Cornicens were an important members of the legion an they were the only method the commander had to issue movement orders to the legion whilst on the battlefield. Every Cohort had a Cornicen as verbal orders were masked by the noise of battle.

Any Legion would have a mixture of three types of Legionary soldiers, based upon training, experience and special abilities or skill.

• Munifex or Miles The basic legionary Soldiers (equivalent to a private soldier).
• Immunes Legionary Soldiers with special skills. These skills included surveyor, carpenter, builder and mason.
• The Vocati Veteran soldiers.

• The medical staff Surgeons, Doctors and Medical Orderlies were some of the most skilled of their time, the standard of Roman battlefield care was not matched until WWI.
• The Officers Body-guards (Cohors Praetoria) of the senior officers, "The Tribuni Militum" Officers were often political appointees all were members of influential families. As some of these men were destined for high political office extra protection on the field of battle was desirable.

The Legion would have a fixed fortified supply base normally as an annex within a marching camp or a Legionary fort. Every time the legion moved the fort would be taken apart, so a potential enemy could not use it, and rebuilt on a new site. This was very important precaution whilst campaigning in hostile territory.

The Commissariat Beneficiarii the clerks and stores orderlies, they had to keep up with a legion the move and needed a well organised system of distribution, this was the responsibility of the Beneficiarii. Each legion had approximately 1,400 mules to be used pack or draught animals. The problem of feeding the transport animals was one of several reasons operations were restricted to the summer months, as in winter grazing was not available. Large carts and heavy baggage were pulled by oxen.

It is difficult to determine whether the non-combatants such as, field surgeons and clerks were ever included in the roster, or simply helped bring the total number of men up to the official 6,000.

The artillery were a separate unit in combat who were responsible for the transportation (heavy artillery were often moved by teams of oxen), operation and maintenance of the various missile firing machines used by the legion. The machines loosely referred to as catapults varied from stone throwing machines designed to demolish walls and palisades, to long range bolt throwers, that looked similar to a oversize crossbow on a stand, that could be used against massed enemy troops or defended walls.

• The Onager a heavy stone thrower. This was used against fortifications and was capable of demolishing fortified gateways and walls.
• Vitruvius a Ballista or stone thrower. Used against fortifications, buildings and troop formations.
• Large Scorpion a bolt shooter. Against ships, buildings and troop formations and timber fortifications.
• Manuballista Scorpion a long range bolt shooter. Excellent against ships, buildings and troop formations and timber fortifications. Also used on large
  Roman navy vessels
• The Xanten a bolt shooter. Good for siege work and also excellent against shipping.
• Polybolos "multi shot", a repeating bolt-shooting machine. Used against fortifications, cavalry and troop formations

The Auxiliaries were a very important, separate units recruited from the local population and trained in Roman style combat. They were used as an addition to the legion's forces. Their training was similar to that of the legionary. The main difference was they were local levies. They were issued different kit than the legions, The main differences were - I) They were only ever issued chain mail armour, with bronze or iron helmets. II)The shields of all auxiliary units were Oval, not the the rectangular shield of the Legions. It was also procedure that whenever possible, auxiliary forces were often not used in the province in which they were recruited. This was to avoid using these men against their own people that is why there there many records of Gauls serving in Egypt and men from Dacia (Romania) and the Euphrates on Hadrian's Wall. Local tribesmen were recorded however as being recruited as auxiliary foot and used during the conquest of Britain.

This was an important distinction as it enabled their easy recognition and avoided confusion on the battlefield. The Roman army had two distinct types of Auxiliary forces, foot and cavalry.

The Auxiliary Foot were established in units of similar size to a cohort. The units were led by a legionary centurion (often coming to the end of his 25 years service), and an Oporto. These units were used as transport guards or as garrison troops for forts protecting supply routes or frontier towns. Garrisons of forts were often supported by a unit of Auxiliary Cavalry.

There were two basic cavalry units, the standard unit was the Ala. Each Ala had 480 mounted troops, divided into 16 units of 30 men led by a Decurion, the senior Decurion commanded the Ala. The cavalry standard was carried by the draconarius, the standard he carried was known as a draco.

The second unit was the Ala Milliaria. This unit was largest and had between 720 and 960 mounted officers and troops, divided into 32 Turmae of 22 to 30 men.

As the Roman army did not have cavalry in the regular forces, the preferred option was to recruit leaves locally from the native population of the provinces.

Officers were normally upper class Roman citizens appointed as legate commanders of auxiliary cavalry cohorts. Besides supporting the legion on the battlefield, duties included patrols and scouting, acting as messengers, guarding supply transports and providing bodyguards for senior officers or government officials.

Roman cavalry were equipped with a long oval shield, long Celtic style sword and spear, and protected by a long chain mail coat and helmet. The cavalry units were mainly used against lightly armed foot or for skirmishing with enemy cavalry. The Romans did not use heavy cavalry, this was mainly because although they had a robust and solid saddle, the stirrup had not yet been thought of * and lacked the extra stability that stirrups would have provided. and could be more easily pulled from his mount. That dose not mean the Roman military saddle was bad, far from it, it was well designed. It had a saddle tree, this is a frame that distributes the weight of the rider and preventing pressure on the horses spine. Known as a four horn saddle it had two curves horns to the front curved so the riders legs could provide firm support. The two rear horns were curved slightly outward and prevented the rider from slipping backwards.

There were many offences in the legion all punished in relatively minor ways. Fines deducted from the offenders pay, extra duties patrol or guard, or demotion. Digging latrines was universally unpopular.

A life in the legions was hard the training and discipline were hard but the men were proud of the reputation of their legion. Most times would fight against almost overwhelming odds and win. But things could go wrong. As most of the officers, above the rank of centurion, were serving in the army to gain a good military reputation for senatorial service in later life. If things went wrong whilst they were in command, their punishment was a ruined reputation and humiliation in Rome and no political power or public life.

Those of the rank of centurion and below could suffer a very different fate. For major offences they could face the death penalty. The main offences were desertion, murder, insubordination on the battlefield, and cowardice in the face of the enemy.

The main punishments for individuals or small groups were, stoning, or crucifixion.

For larger groups such as a century cohort or even a century, the sentence of decimation could be ordered by the commanding General. Decimation means one in ten, and was a physiological as well as a physical punishment. The whole unit had to draw lots to see who lived. 1 man (who picked the black token from the jar), out of every 10 was chosen to be beaten to death by the lucky men (who picked one of the 9 white tokens). The physiological twist was the men were killed by their close comrades who had to live with the memory. That meant if a cohort underwent decimation, 72 men issued with pickaxe staves, had to beat to death the 8 men who were chosen for execution. And the unit had to live with the disgrace of the punishment for many years. Any awards the unit had one were also declared void and taken.

Stoning was also a unit punishment the victims were encircled by members of their unit and heavy stones were thrown at them until they died.

Crucifixion needs no explanation, the victims were placed in prominent places such as the camp gates. The nails were not put through the hands but just above the wrist where the bones would support the victims body weight, ensuring the victims took days to die.

Before we judge the Romans, give this system some thought, if stoning, crucifixion and decimation were replaced with hanging, the firing squad and flogging; You have a similar level of punishment brutality that was in use in the British army from the time of Cromwell to World War I.

A legion was also tasked with consolidating newly conquered provinces. As engineers were part of the of the of a legion they were responsible for building roads, bridges and fortifications, After the fighting was over the legions engineers also built towns and public buildings such as markets and temples. Frontier forts and defenses were also built by the legions. The legions engineer were superb builders, Hadrian's Wall and the numerous stone forts around Europe bear witness to this. In addition they constructed bathhouses, mills, harbours, markets, temples, hospitals. In short they were a force not just of conquest but of colonization, leaving in their wake men who had completed their 25 years with the eagles to help populate the new settlements.

The legacy of the Romans in Britain was the military road system many parts of which are still in use today. The best known parts of this road system are,

A legion was also tasked with consolidating newly conquered provinces. As engineers were part of the of the of a legion they were responsible for building roads, bridges and fortifications, After the fighting was over the legions engineers also built towns and public buildings such as markets and temples. Frontier forts and defences were also built by the legions. The legions engineer were superb builders, Hadrian's Wall and the numerous stone forts around Europe and North Africa bear witness to this. In addition they constructed bathhouses, mills, harbours, markets, temples, hospitals. In short they were a force not just of conquest but of colonisation, leaving in their wake men who had completed their 25 years with the eagles to help populate the new settlements.

To enable a visualisation of the empires communication system the map links below show some of the major ports and naval bases the in Europe and North Africa. All these installations connected be by major roads. This shows the huge system created by the legions.