The Roman Army is the generic term for the armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome (to ca. 500 BC), the Roman Republic (500-31 BC), the Roman Empire (31 BC - AD 476) and its successor, the Byzantine empire (476-1453). It is thus a term that spans approximately 2,000 years, during which the Roman armed forces underwent numerous permutations in composition, organisation, equipment and tactics, while conserving a core of lasting traditions.

In terms of its development, the Roman army can be divided into the following 6 broad phases:

1. The Early Roman army of the regal era and of the early Republic (to ca. 300 BC). During this period, it has been suggested that the Roman army followed Etruscan or Greek models of organisation and equipment. The early Roman army was based on an annual levy or conscription of part-time soldiers, hence the term legion for the basic Roman military unit (derived from legere, "to levy").
2. The Roman Republican army or "Polybian army" (named after the Greek historian Polybius, who provides the most detailed extant description of this phase) of the mid-Republican period (ca. 300-88 BC). During this period, the Romans, while maintaining the levy system, adopted the Samnite manipular organisation for their legions and also bound all the other peninsular Italian states into a permanent military alliance (see Socii). The latter would provide an equal number of levies to the Roman ones, organised in units called alae, which campaigned alongside the Roman legions.
3. The Roman imperial army (88 BC to AD 284), when the Republican system of part-time levies was replaced by a full-time professional army of mainly volunteers. The legions, now almost entirely large heavy infantry formations of 5,000-6,000 men) were still open only to Roman citizens (i.e. mainly the inhabitants of Italy and Roman colonies until AD 212). They were now flanked by the auxilia, a corps recruited mainly from peregrini, imperial subjects who did not hold Roman citizenship (the great majority of the empire's inhabitants until 212, when all were granted citizenship). The auxilia were divided into much smaller formations of roughly cohort size (ca. 500 men). These contained not only heavy infantry as the legions, but also light infantry, heavy and light cavalry, archers and slingers. Both legions and auxilia regiments were mostly stationed along the empire's borders.
4. The Late Roman army (284-476 and its continuation, in the surviving eastern half of the empire, as the East Roman army to 641). In this phase, crystalised by the reforms of the emperor Diocletian (ruled 284-305), the Roman army returned to systematic conscription for most of its recruitment of citizens, while admitting large numbers of non-citizen barbarian volunteers. However, the army remained full-time professional and did not return to the short-term levies of the Republic. The old dual organisation of legions and auxilia was abandoned, with citizens and non-citizens now serving in the same units. The old legions were broken up into cohort or even smaller sizes. At the same a substantial proportion of the army's effectives were stationed in the interior of the empire, in the form of comitatus praesentales, armies that escorted the emperors.
5. The Byzantine army (641-1071), is the army of the Byzantine state in its classical form (i.e. after the permanent loss of its Near Eastern and North African territories to the Arab conquests after 641). This army was based on conscription of professional troops in the themes structure characteristic of this period.
6. The Komnenian Byzantine army, named after the Comneni dynasty, or medieval Byzantine army (1071-1453). This was the army of Byzantium after the permanent loss of its traditional main recruiting ground of Anatolia to the Turks following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. This army was chracterised by a large number of mercenary regiments composed of troops of foreign origin such as the Varangian Guard of Anglo-Saxons. However, the old theme-based system of conscription continued.

This article describes some broad features of the phases above, and their interaction with the political and social development of the Roman state. Readers seeking detailed information on each phase should consult the linked dedicated article (if it exists), and related articles including:

[edit] Early Roman army (to ca. 300 BC)

The early Roman army is shrouded by lack of evidence. Ancient historians' accounts of the history of Rome before it was destroyed by the Gauls in 386 BC (390 by Roman reckoning) are regarded as highly unreliable by modern historians. Livy, the main surviving ancient source on the early period, himself admits that the pre-386 period is very obscure and that his own account is based on legend rather than written documentation, as the few written documents that did exist in the earlier period were mostly lost in the Gallic fire.^[1]

[edit] Socio-political summary

According to Roman legend, Rome was founded by Romulus in 753 BC. However, the vast amount of archaeological evidence uncovered since the 1970s suggests that Rome did not assume the characteristics of a united city-state (as opposed to a group of separate hilltop settlements) before around 625 BC. The same evidence, however, has also conclusively discredited Andreas Alföldi's once-fashionable theory that Rome was an insignificant settlement until ca. 500 BC and that the Republic was not established before ca. 450 BC. There is now no doubt that Rome was a major city in the period 625-500 BC, when it had an area of ca. 285 hectares and an estimated population of 35,000. This made it the second-largest in Italy (after Tarentum) and about half the size of contemporary Athens (585 hectares, inc. Piraeus).^[2] Also, few scholars today dispute that Rome was ruled by kings in its archaic period, although whether any of the 7 names of kings preserved by tradition are historical remains uncertain (Romulus himself is generally regarded as mythical). It is also likely that there were several more kings than those preserved by tradition, given the long duration of the regal era (even if it did start in 625 rather than 753 BC).^[3]

The Roman monarchy, although an autocracy, did not resemble a medieval monarchy. It was not hereditary and based on "divine right", but elective and subject to the ultimate sovereignty of the people. The king was elected for life by the people's assembly, although there is strong evidence that the process was in practice controlled by the patricians, a hereditary aristocratic caste. Most kings were non-Romans brought in from abroad, doubtless as a neutral figure who could be seen as above patrician factions. Although blood relations could succeed, they were still required to submit to election.^[4] The position and powers of a Roman king were thus similar to those of Julius Caesar when he was appointed dictator-for-life in 44 BC and indeed of the Roman emperors.

In addition, it seems certain that the kings were overthrown in ca. 500 BC, probably as a result of a much more complex and bloody revolution than the simple drama of the rape of Lucretia related by Livy, and that they were replaced by some form of collegiate rule.^[5] It is likely that the revolution that overthrew the Roman monarchy was engineered by the patrician caste and that its aim was not, as rationalised later by ancient authors, the achievement of "liberty", but of a patrician-dominated oligarchy. The proverbial "arrogance" and "tyranny" of the Tarquins, epitomised by the Lucretia incident, is probably a reflection of the patricians' fear of the Tarquins' growing power and their erosion of patrician privilege, most likely by drawing support from the plebeians (commoners). To ensure patrician supremacy, the autocratic power of the kings had to be fragmented and permanently curtailed. Thus the replacement of a single ruler by a collegiate administration, which soon evolved into two Praetors (later called Consuls), with equal powers and very limited terms of office. Patrician supremacy was assured by limiting eligibility to hold the republican offices to patricians only.

The establishment of a hereditary oligarchy obviously excluded wealthy non-patricians from political power and it is this class that led plebeian opposition to the early Republican settlement. The early Republic (510-338 BC) saw a long and often bitter struggle for political equality, known as the Conflict of the Orders, against the patrician monopoly of power. The plebeian leadership had the advantage that they represented the vast majority of the population and of their own growing wealth.

[edit] External relations

It appears likely that Rome in the period 550-500, conventionally known as the period it was ruled by the Tarquin dynasty, established its hegemony over its Latin neighbours.^[6] The fall of the Roman monarchy was followed by a war with the Latins, who probably took advantage of the political turmoil in Rome to attempt to regain their independence. This war was brought to an end in 493 BC by the conclusion of the a treaty called the foedus Cassianum, which lay the foundations for Rome's military alliance with other Italians states throughout the Republic. According to the sources, this was a bilateral treaty between the Romans and the Latins. It provided for a perpetual peace between the two parties; a defensive alliance by which the parties pledged mutual assistance in case of attack; a promise not to aid or allow passage to each other's enemies; the equal division of spoils of war (half to Rome, half to the other Latins) and provisions to regulate trade between the parties. In addition the treaty may have provided for the Latin armed forces levied under the treaty to be led by a Roman commander.^[7] These terms served as the basic template for Rome's treaties with all the other Italian socii acquired over the succeeding 2 centuries.

The impetus to form such an alliance was probably provided by the acute insecurity caused by a phase of migration and invasion of the lowland areas by Italic mountain tribes in the period after 500 BC.^[8]

Gate in the Servian Wall of Rome, on the Caelian Hill. The wall, made of massive tufa stone blocks, was built just after Rome was sacked by the Gauls in 390 BC

The new Romano-Latin military alliance proved strong enough to repel the incursions of the Italic mountain tribes, but it was a very tough struggle. Intermittent wars, with mixed fortunes, continued until ca. 395 BC. The Sabines disappear from the record in 449 BC (presumably subjugated by the Romans), while campaigns against the Aequi and Volsci seem to have reached a turning point with the major Roman victory on Mount Algidus in 431 BC.^[9] In the same period, the Romans fought 3 wars against their nearest neighbouring Etruscan city-state, Veii, finally reducing the city in 396 BC, probably increasing the ager Romanus (Roman territory) by ca. 65%.^[10]

At this juncture, Rome was crushed by an invasion of central Italy by the Senones Gallic tribe. Routed at the river Allia in 386 BC, the Roman army fled to Veii, leaving their City at the mercy of the Gauls, who proceeded to ransack it and then demand a huge ransom in gold to leave. The effects of this disaster on Roman power are a matter of controversy between scholars. The ancient authors emphasize the catastrophic nature of the damage, claiming that it took a long time for Rome to recover.^[11] Cornell, however, argues that the ancients greatly exaggerated the effects and cites the lack of archaeological evidence for major destruction and the building of the so-called "Servian" Wall as evidence that Rome recovered swiftly. The Wall, whose 11km-circuit enclosed 427 hectares (an increase of 50% over the Tarquinian city) was a massive project which would have required an estimated 5 million man-hours to complete, implying plentiful financial and labour resources.^[12] Against this, Eckstein argues that the history of Rome in the 50 years subsequent to 386 BC appears a virtual replay of the previous century. There were wars against the same enemies except Veii (i.e. the Volsci, Aequi and Etruscans) in the same geographical area, and indeed against other Latin city-states such as Praeneste and Tibur, just 30 miles away. In addition, a treaty concluded with Carthage in ca. 348 BC seems to describe Rome's sphere of control as much the same area as in a previous treaty signed in the first years of the Republic 150 years earlier: just Latium Vetus and not even all of that.^[13]

[edit] Military developments

Livy claims that king Servius Tullius (conventional rule 578-535 BC) divided the Roman citizen-body into 6 property classes for the purposes of military service, specifying the number of centuriae (military units of 100 men) that each class was required to provide. However, the scheme would have resulted in the majority of the total levy being raised from the two top property classes, which were also the smallest numerically, which is clearly nonsensical. Scholars agree that this centuriate reform cannot have been established by Servius in the form described by Livy in book I.43. Instead, the reform must date from much later (see Roman Polybian army below). However, the scholar P. Fraccaro has interpreted the "Servian" reform in the light of other data on the early army to reconstruct the real size and structure of the Servian army.

[edit] Infantry

According to Livy, Romulus raised 1,000 infantry from each of the 3 original tribes of Rome (Ramnes, Tities and Luceres).^[14] Fraccaro suggests that the hoplite (armoured) infantry was doubled in size to a single legion of 6,000, which, together with 2,400 velites (unarmoured infantry) and 600 cavalry adds up to a total regal levy of 9,000 iuniores (men of military age: aged 16 to 45).^[15] Until recently, Fraccaro's thesis was not widely accepted because of Alfoldi's theory that "insignificant" regal Rome could not have supported such a powerful army (or cavalry).^[16] But with an estimated 35,000 inhabitants, a regal military levy of 9,000 is plausible.^[17] According to the Fraccaro interpretation, when the Roman monarchy was replaced by two praetores, the royal army was divided equally among them for campaigning purposes, each legion numbering 3,000 hoplites, 1,200 velites and 300 cavalry, for a total of 4,500 men.^[18]

On the basis of Etruscan representations, it has been widely accepted that the main early Roman infantry were armoured hoplites, who fought in a phalanx formation. These would probably have worn bronze helmets, breastplate and greaves and a round leather or wooden shield. They were armed with a spear, sword and dagger.^[19]

[edit] Cavalry

Romulus supposedly established a cavalry regiment of 300 men called the Celeres ("the Swift") 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 616-578 BC).^[20] According to Livy, Servius Tullius also established a further 12 centuriae of cavalry.^[21] 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).^[22]. This is confirmed by the fact that in the early Republic the cavalry fielded remained 600-strong (2 legions with 300 horse each).^[23]

An important question is whether the royal cavalry was drawn exclusively from the ranks of the Patricians (patricii), the aristocracy of early Rome, which was purely hereditary.^[24] This is certainly the mainstream view among historians, starting with Mommsen. However, Cornell considers the supporting evidence tenuous).^[25] Since the cavalry was probably a patrician preserve, it follows that it probably played a critical part in the coup against the monarchy. Indeed, Alfoldi suggests that the coup was carried out by the Celeres themselves.^[26]

According to the ancient Greek historian Polybius, whose Histories (written ca. 140s BC) are the earliest substantial extant account of the Republic, Roman cavalry was originally unarmoured, wearing only a tunic and armed with a light spear and ox-hide shield which were of low quality and quickly deteriorated in action.^[27]

[edit] Roman Republican army (300 - 88 BC)

[edit] Socio-political summary

The opening of the Consulship to plebeians in 367 BC marked the plebs' final victory in the struggle against patrician political monopoly. By 338 BC, the privileges of patricians had become largely ceremonial (such as the exclusive right to hold certain state priesthoods). But this did not result in a more egalitarian form of government. The wealthy plebeians who had led the "plebeian revolution" had no more intention of sharing real power with their poorer and far more numerous fellow-plebeians than did the patricians. Oligarchy based on birth was replaced by oligarchy based on wealth. It was probably at this time (around 300 BC) that the so-called "Servian" centuriate reform was introduced. The citizen-body was divided, for the purposes of voting and taxation, into 7 classes based on an assessment of their property. Each class was in turn subdivided into a varying number of voting constituencies called centuriae (not to be confused with the military unit of the same name, which contained ca. 100 men). The two top classes, the equites (inc. the patricians) and First Class, accorded themselves an absolute majority of the votes (98 of 193 centuriae) in the main electoral and legislative assembly, despite representing a tiny fraction of the population. ^[28] Overall, votes were allocated in inverse proportion to population. Thus the lowest social echelon (the proletarii, under 400 drachmae), was allocated just 1 of the 193 centuriae, despite being probably the largest.^[29]

• The property threshold for equites is uncertain, although the natural progression of the lower thresholds would suggest 25,000 denarii. In the late Republic, the threshold stood at 50,000 denarii, until it was doubled to 100,000 by Augustus.

N.B. An extra 4 centuriae were allocated to engineers, trumpeters et al., to make a total of 193 centuriae. There is a discrepancy in the minimum rating for legionary service between Polybius (400 drachmae) and Livy (1,100). In addition, Polybius states that the proletarii were assigned to naval service while Livy simply states that they were exempt from military service. In both cases, Polybius is to be preferred, as 1,100 drachmae seems too high a figure for destitute individuals and it is likely that the Roman military would have made use of the manpower of this group.

Power thus remained in the hands of the tiny minority of the population that provided the legionary cavalry, as it had done in the patrician era. As Livy himself puts it: "Thus every citizen was given the illusion of wielding power through the right to vote, but in reality the aristocracy remained in full control. For the centuriae of knights were summoned first to vote, and then the centuriae of the First Property Class. In the rare event of a majority not being attained, the Second Class was called, but it was hardly ever necessary to consult the lowest classes."^[31]

At the same time, the period of the Samnite wars saw the emergence of the Senate as the predominant political organ at Rome. In the early Republic, the Senate had been an ad hoc advisory council whose members served at the pleasure of the Consuls. Power rested with the Consuls, acting with the ratification of the comitia, a system described as "plebiscitary" by Cornell. This situation changed with the Lex Ovinia (promulgated sometime in the period 339-318 BC), which made the Senate into a formal constitutional entity. Its members now held office for life and were thus freed from control by the Consuls.^[32]

In the period following the Lex Ovinia, the Consuls were gradually reduced to executive servants of the Senate. By the end of the Samnite Wars in 290 BC, the Senate enjoyed complete control over virtually all aspects of political life: finance, war, diplomacy, public order and the state religion.^[33][34] The rise of the Senate's role was the inevitable consequence of the increasing complexity of the Roman state due to its expansion, which made government by short-term officers such as the Consuls and by plebiscite impractical.^[35]

The Senate's monopoly of power in turn entrenched the political supremacy of the wealthiest echelon. The 300 members of the Senate were mostly a narrow, self-perpetuating clique of ex-Consuls (consulares) and other ex-Magistrates, virtually all members of the wealthy classes. Within this elite, charismatic personalities, who might challenge senatorial supremacy by allying with the commoners, were neutralised by various constitutional devices.^[36] The Roman polity exhibited, in the words of T. J. Cornell, an historian of early Rome, "the classic symptoms of oligarchy, a system of government that depends on rotation of office within a competitive elite, and the suppression of charismatic individuals by peer-group pressure, usually exercised by a council of elders."^[37]

[edit] External relations

Site of a typical Etruscan hill town. Civita di Bagnoregio, Lazio, Italy

Etruscan tomb mural showing the ambush of Troilus by Achilles. The mural shows an Etruscan foot warrior and a mounted warrior. Mid 6th c. BC. Tomb of the Bulls, Tarquinia, Italy

Silver nomos coin issued by the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy, ca. 500 BC. The coin is incuse i.e. reverse side is mirror image of obverse. Obverse shows hero Phalanthos riding a dolphin, the traditional symbol of the city, with legend TAPAΣ (TARAS), the Greek name for Tarentum

Phase I: The 75-year period between 338 BC and the outbreak of the First Punic War in 264 BC saw an explosion of Roman expansion and the subjugation of the entire peninsula to Roman political hegemony, achieved by virtually incessant warfare. Roman territory (ager Romanus) quadrupled in size, to cover ca. 20% of peninsular Italy. The Roman citizen population nearly tripled, from ca. 350,000 to ca. 900,000, ca. 30% of the peninsular population.^[38] Latin colonies, joint Roman/Latin foundations on the soil of conquered enemies, probably comprised a further 10% of the peninsula. The other 60% of the peninsula remained in the hands of other Italian socii who were, however, forced to accept Roman supremacy.

The period of expansion was launched by the final defeat of the rebellious Latin League, a confederation of cities in Latium Vetus ("Old Latium" - that is the territory south of the river Tiber inhabited by the Latins (to which the Romans themselves belonged). Most of Latium Vetus and became Roman territory. This gave the Romans a secure base from which to expand. The main challenge faced by Rome during this period was the struggle for supremacy with the Samnites. Tough mountain-dwelling pastoralists of the Abbruzzi region in south-central Italy, the Samnites had a reputation for martial ferocity unrivalled in the peninsula.^[39] Their military effectiveness was greatly enhanced by the formation of the Samnite League by the four Samnite tribal cantons (the Caudini, Hirpini, Caraceni and Pentri). This brought their forces under the unified command of a single general in times of crisis.^[40] It took the Romans 3 gruelling wars (the Samnite wars, 343 - 290 BC), during which they suffered many severe reverses, to subjugate the Samnites. The Romans' ultimate triumph so alarmed the leading Greek city in the Italian South, Tarentum (mod. Taranto) that the city invited the help of a leading monarch from the Greek mainland, Pyrrhus of Epirus. The latter invaded Italy in 281 BC, facing the Romans with a professional Hellenistic army for the first time.

[edit] Roman imperial army (88 BC - AD 284)

[edit] Late Roman army/East Roman army (284 - 641)

[edit] Byzantine army (641 - 1071)

[edit] Komnenian Byzantine army (1071 - 1453)

[edit] Citations

[edit] See also

Military of ancient Rome portal

• List of Roman legions
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• East Roman army

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