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Roman military structureThe Roman Army refers to the collection of soldiers and other military forces which served the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. It is a large part of why Rome controlled most of the land around the Mediterranean Sea, including parts of Britain and Asia Minor at the Empire's height. It started as a citizen army , but became a professional army after the reforms of Gaius Marius around 100 BC.
For the first few centuries, serving in the army was part of civic duty in Rome. Poorer citizens served in the infantry, and were expected to purchase their own equipment. They were divided into three groups, the Hastati, Principes, and Triarii, organized by age. The younger Hastati served in the front line, and were generally the least well armored, as they had little money to purchase such things. As men gained experience and acumulated equipment they were moved into the other ranks. Each infantry man was part of a centuryA century is one hundred of something, usually one hundred consecutive years, or 100 runs in cricket, or a bicycle ride of 100 miles in a day. In all dating systems, Centuries are numbered ordinally. Thus, one speaks of the First Century of the Common Era of 80 men, two of which formed a manipleA maniple can be either: A division of a Roman legion see maniple (military unit) A garment formerly worn by certain officials in the Roman Catholic Church see maniple (vestment)., the common unit of manuver. The Roman upper-middle class, or Equites, were obligated to own horses, and hence served in the cavalry. The upper class of Rome, the Senators, served as the army's leaders, serving as consulFor modern diplomatic consuls see Consulate general. Consul (abbrev. was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. Under the Republic, the minimum age of election to consul for patricians was 40 years of as and tribuneThe Roman office of tribune of the people tribunus plebis was established in 494 BC, about 15 years after the foundation of the Roman Republic in 509. The plebeians of Rome seceded as a group that is, they left the city entirely until the patricians agrees. All of these groups together formed a legionLegion can refer to: # A Roman legion # A Polish Legion # A Foreign Legion # Legion (model), a computer programming model..
After the Marian reforms , the army became a professional one. Its core was composed of Roman citizens who served for twenty five years. They often recieved a large pension from their general, and later from the emperor, often in the form of a grant of land in the province in which they served. These soldiers were organized differently as well, into uniform cohorts of six to eight centuries each. A legion consisted of six to ten infantry cohorts, plus cavalry, for about 4,800 men in total.
Over time these professional soldiers had less and less in common with the citizens of Rome. In the 2nd century and 3rd century this distance lead to frequent revolts as the legions began to feel that they could take power into their own hands.
Both the pre- and post-Marian armies were greatly assited by auxilary troops. A typical Roman legion was acompanied by a matching auxilary legion. In the pre-Marian army these auxilary troops were Italians, and often Latins, from cities near Rome. The post-Marian army incorporated these Italian soldiers into its standard legions (as all Italians were Roman citizens after the Social War). Its auxilary troops were made up of forgieners from provinces distant to Rome, who gained Roman citizenship after completing their twenty five years of service. This system of forgien auxilaries allowed the post-Marian army to strengthen traditional weakpoints of the Roman system, such as light missile troops and cavalry, with foreign specialists.
In the Imperial period the Roman army was remarkably large, being charged with the task of guarding Rome's extensive frontier. Modern authorities estimate that between 250,000 and 300,000 soldiers were under Roman arms at any one time.