12/11/2023 0 Comments Roman centurion armor 100 ad![]() Many of the legions founded before 40 BC were still active until at least the fifth century, notably Legio V Macedonica, which was founded by Augustus in 43 BC and was in Egypt in the seventh century during the Islamic conquest of Egypt. (Provincials who aspired to Roman citizenship gained it when honourably discharged from the auxiliaries.) The Roman army, for most of the Imperial period, consisted mostly of auxiliaries rather than legions. Function and constitution įor most of the Roman Imperial period, the legions formed the Roman army's elite heavy infantry, recruited exclusively from Roman citizens, while the remainder of the army consisted of auxiliaries, who provided additional infantry and the vast majority of the Roman cavalry. In terms of organization and function, the republican era legion may have been influenced by the ancient Greek and Macedonian phalanx. In the fourth century AD, East Roman border guard legions ( limitanei) may have become even smaller. By the third century AD, the legion was a much smaller unit of about 1,000 to 1,500 men, and there were more of them. Legions also included a small ala, or cavalry unit. In the late Republic and much of the imperial period (from about 100 BC), a legion was divided into ten cohorts, each of six (or five) centuries. During much of the republican era, a legion was divided into three lines, each of ten maniples. The subsequent organisation of legions varied greatly over time but legions were typically composed of around five thousand soldiers. In the early Roman Kingdom the term legion may have meant the entire Roman army, but sources on this period are few and unreliable. 600 and 1,200 respectively for Imperial cohorts). These are typical field strengths while "paper strength" was slightly higher (e.g. It expanded to 5,280 men plus 120 auxiliaries in the Imperial period (split into 10 cohorts, nine of 480 men each, with the first cohort being double-strength at 960 men). The size of a typical legion varied throughout the history of ancient Rome, with complements ranging from 4,200 legionaries and 300 equites (drawn from the wealthier classes – in early Rome all troops provided their own equipment) in the Republic, to 5,500 in the Imperial period.Ī legion had 4,800 legionaries (in 10 cohorts of 6 centuries of 80 legionaries) from the late republic to the time of Julius Caesar. The Roman legion ( Latin: legiō, ), the largest military unit of the Roman army, comprised 4,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period of the Roman Empire (27 BC – AD 476).
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