Legions of Rome (35 page)

Another innovation during the reign of Constantine was also, in the opinion of Gibbon, to spell the doom of the Roman military. “The introduction of barbarians into the Roman armies became every day more universal,” he wrote. Constantine, late in his reign, allowed 300,000 Sarmatians to settle in Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia, and even in Italy. These new settlers furnished recruits for the Roman army who would join Goths, Scythians, and Germans who not long before had been at war with Rome. These men “were enrolled not only in the auxiliaries of their respective nations, but in the legions themselves, and among the most distinguished of the Palatine troops.” [Gibb.,
XVII
]

The majority of the thirty legions of Trajan’s day still existed in around
AD
400, but as Comitatense legions and border guard units, sometimes having been broken up into several smaller units. In this way, the 6th Victrix was, until Stilicho withdrew it for service in Italy in
AD
401–402, still stationed in northern Britain; the 2nd Traina and 13th Gemina were stationed in Egypt; and the 3rd Gallica in Phoenicia. All would be either swallowed up in barbarian invasions or find their way into the Byzantine army.

XVIII. CAVALRY

Each legion had its own cavalry squadron of 128 mounted legionaries, used for scouting and courier work. All other cavalry units in the Roman army were composed of auxiliaries.

The smallest cavalry unit was the
decuria
, originally of ten, later of eight troopers. The largest cavalry unit was the
ala
, or wing, so named because the cavalry was allocated to the wings of a battle line. The
ala quingenaria
, of 512 men, consisted of sixteen
turmae
, or troops, of 32 men, with each
turma
made up of four
decuriae
. The turmae were divided over four squadrons of 128 men. [Vege.,
DRM
,
II
] Larger
alae miliaria
consisted of twenty-four turmae, with a total of 768 officers and men. Early imperial legions always had two cavalry alae associated with them: “He picked up the other two legions and the four wings of horse attached to them and marched to Ptolemais,” wrote Josephus, of the governor of Syria in 4
BC
. [Jos.,
JW
,
II
, 5.1]

Roman cavalry horses were not shod, and their riders did not use stirrups. The
Roman cavalry saddle, with two horns front and back, made for a remarkably stable riding and throwing platform. Cavalrymen wore a helmet, mail vest, and breeches.

The principal cavalry weapon was a light spear, the
lancea
, which could be thrown or thrust. Roman cavalry also used smaller javelins, or darts, which were thrown overarm and were kept in a quiver attached to the saddle, with as many as twenty-four per quiver. The cavalryman’s sword, the
spatha
, was longer than that of the infantryman. His shield was flat, and oval.

While Numidian cavalrymen in the Roman army were famed for their ability to ride bareback and even without bridles, it was Batavian cavalrymen from the lowlands of Holland who became the most valued to Rome. With his homeland often flooded, the Batavian developed the ability to swim his horse across rivers with full equipment and then immediately go into action. They proved particularly successful in operations in Britain.

Battle experience showed that cavalry without infantry support could be vulnerable, so the Roman army also developed mixed cohorts of both auxiliary infantry and
cavalry. These
cohortes equitatae
were both quingenaria and miliaria in size.

By the second century, specialist lancer units were also deployed, to move in close among the enemy and wreak havoc with lances which they kept close to their horses’ flanks for added strength and impact. In
AD
135, Arrian reserved his lancers for the chase once the enemy had been forced by the infantry to retreat. [Arr.,
TH
, 43]

With chariot-racing obsessing even a number of emperors, Rome’s chariot-racing corporations operated vast stud farms throughout the empire. They had tens of thousands of employees and even more horses, and always had first call on the best animals, ahead of the army.

XIX. CAVALRY EVOLUTIONS

To keep their skills honed, Rome’s cavalrymen took part in mass exercises, or “cavalry evolutions.” [Tac.,
A
,
II
, 55] Under laws promulgated by both Augustus and Hadrian, all Roman cavalry units were required to carry out route marches and training evolutions three times every month to sharpen their skills. Route marches were of 20 miles (32 kilometers), in full equipment, on the flat, on broken ground and in mountainous territory. Cavalry evolutions included the pursuit, and the retreat, followed by a 180-degree wheel-about and counter-charge. [Vege.,
I
]

Cavalry alae often performed day-long evolutions watched by an audience of the provincial governor and invited guests. Flavius Arrianus—Arrian as we know him—governor of Cappadocia during the reign of Hadrian, in
AD
137 wrote a detailed description of these cavalry “games.” [Arr.,
TH
, 34–44] The senior and most exceptional horsemen wore gold-plated bronze face masks, molded to the shape of their faces, with just slits at the eyes through which to see. The purpose of these eye-catching masks, said Arrian, was to single out the riders for audience attention during the exercises. [Ibid.]

To Arrian’s mind, precision riding was all well and good—and he trained his cavalry to execute very complex unfolding drills. But to him, accurate missile throwing was the most important skill his troopers could possess. “I would acknowledge the turma which proves most suitable in javelin-throwing as truly trained for war service,” he said. [Ibid., 42]

XX. CAVALRY OF THE LATE EMPIRE

By the fourth century, while maintaining light cavalry in the mode of the original Roman auxiliary cavalry, the Roman army had also copied the cavalry styles of its chief opponents, in particular the Persians, by creating units of horse archers, and of heavy cavalry in which both horse and rider wore armor.

Of the heavy armored cavalry, the cataphracts and their mounts wore iron mail armor. The
clibanarii
wore heavy segmented armor from head to foot, including metal face masks fitted to their helmets which entirely covered their faces. Their title came from the Greek word meaning “oven,” which no doubt described how it must have felt inside these suits of armor which presaged the armor of the knights of the Middle Ages.

Late Roman historian Ammianus saw clibanarii entering Rome in
AD
357 as part of the escort of the emperor Constantius: “Fully armored cavalry, whom they call clibanarii, all masked and equipped with protecting breastplates and girt with iron belts, so that you might have thought them statues polished by the hand of Paraxites, not men. Thin circles of iron plates, fitted to the curves of their bodies, completely covered their limbs, so that whichever way they moved their limbs, their garment fitted.” [Amm.,
XVI
, 10, 8]

FOURTH-CENTURY ROMAN HEAVY CAVALRY TROOPER OF THE LATE EMPIRE

Rome’s Clibinarii cavalrymen of the fourth century and their steeds were heavily armored. Their helmets were even known to cover their faces completely, making them the forerunners of medieval knights.

XXI. CAMELS AND WAR ELEPHANTS

The Roman army fielded several auxiliary camel wings, the
alae dromedarii
. Corbulo used a camel column to carry his grain supply when he went to the relief of Paetus and his troops trapped in Armenia in
AD
62. Trajan raised a second camel wing for his
AD
114–116 campaign against the Parthians. By
AD
135, the 1st Dromedarium Ala was serving in Arabia, while Trajan’s unit, the 1st Ulpia Dromedarium Ala, a miliaria or “thousand-strong” unit, was based in Syria. [Hold.,
DRA
, ADITROH] Records show that an equitata auxiliary cohort serving in Egypt early in the second century contained, in addition to infantry and horsemen, several camel riders.

Sixty-four trained war elephants were captured by Caesar from King Juba in Tunisia in 46
BC
. Taken to Italy, they were used for Triumphs and spectacles. Some authors have speculated that the Roman army’s Ala Indiana, which served in Britain, was an elephant wing, because the term “Indian” was applied by Romans to the mahouts who rode elephants. In fact, the Ala Indiana Gallorum was an ordinary cavalry wing which was raised in Gaul in
AD
21 and took its name from its founder, Julius Indus, a Treveran noble. [Hold.,
RAB
, 2; App.]

In the first century, a troop of elephants was maintained at Laurentum, just outside Rome, for use in spectacles. All were tusked males; female elephants instinctively ran from bull elephants. In
AD
43, the Laurentum troop was put on standby for Claudius’ invasion of Britain, against British chariots, but there is no evidence that they ever crossed the Channel. Marshy conditions and numerous river crossings precluded their use in Britain.

In
AD
193, elephants were brought to Rome from Laurentum by the emperor Julianus, to take part in his defense against the legions of Septimius Severus, who was marching from Pannonia to claim the throne. But the whole affair became such a shambles that it brought Dio and fellow senators to laughter. “The elephants found their towers burdensome” and threw them off, he said. “[They] would not even carry their drivers any longer, but threw them off, too.” [Dio,
LXIV
, 16] Severus’ son and successor
Caracalla, who reigned between
AD
211 and 217, formed an elephant corps for his Parthian campaign, in the course of which he was assassinated in Mesopotamia by his own troops.

During the fourth century, the Persians used war elephants against Roman troops in the East, but there is no record of the Roman military ever having any success with elephants in battle.

XXII. THE EVOCATI

In times of emergency, retired legionaries could be recalled from their homes to serve behind their old standards—which they appear to have taken into retirement with them. This militia, called the Evocati, was controlled by the governor of each province. Paulinus used Evocati to help him defeat Boudicca in Britain in
AD
60. Nero sent Evocati to Egypt in
AD
66 for an invasion of Ethiopia that had to be aborted because of the Jewish Revolt. Mucianus, the governor of Syria, set off for Italy in
AD
69 to depose the emperor Vitellius with an army which included 13,000 Evocati from the East. Vitellius fielded Evocati from Britain and the Rhine when his army opposed Vespasian’s army.

Historian Tacitus was to say that in
AD
59 most of the legionaries discharged that year “scattered themselves in the provinces where they had completed their military service.” He complained that “whole legions were no longer transplanted, as in former days, with tribunes and centurions and soldiers of every grade” to create new colonies “so as to form a state by their unity and mutual attachment,” with the result, he lamented, that the latest discharges “became a mere crowd rather than a colony.” [Tac.,
A
,
XIV
, 27]

The Evocati were still in existence by around
AD
230, in the time of Cassius Dio, who said that “they constitute even now a special corps, and carry rods, like the centurions.” He added, “I cannot, however, give their exact number.” [Dio,
LV
, 24]

XXIII. THE PALATIUM

Rome’s central command

The Palatium was the name for the residence of the Roman emperors on the Palatine Hill at Rome, and from it today’s word “palace” has derived. Augustus was the first emperor to make his home on the Palatine Hill, and his was the first Palatium. Numerous
members of the family of the Caesars also built residences there, all of which were interconnected. As Josephus said: “While the edifice was one, it was built in several parts by those persons who were emperors.” [Jos.,
JA
, 19, 1,15]

In the first century, Tiberius, Caligula and Nero all built separate palaces on the hill, with Nero famously creating his vast Golden House below it. Domitian substantially remodeled and extended Augustus’ original palace, which had become known as the Old Palatium. Domitian’s Palatium even included a private chariot-racing stadium. Various members of the imperial family used the palaces on the hill as their private apartments; Marcus Aurelius was offered Tiberius’ old palace by his adoptive father the emperor Antoninus Pius, for example.

More than just a residence, the Palatium was also the civil and military administrative hub of the Roman Empire—in effect a combined White House and Pentagon. With a large staff of freedmen clerks and secretaries, the Palatium managed the military and civil appointments and legion movements ordered by the emperor. The leading members of the Palatium staff in the first century were the chief secretary, the secretary for finances, the secretary for petitions and the correspondence secretary, whose “outward” department became known as the Sardonychis—the name of the emperor’s seal affixed to all outgoing mail.