Information on the Roman Legions

http://www.unrv.com/military/legion.php

Calvary:

http://www.unrv.com/military/roman-cavalry.php



The basic structure of the Roman army is as follows:

Contubernium: (tent group) consisted of 8 men.

Centuria: (century) was made up of 10 contubernium with a total of 80 men commanded by a centurion

Cohorts: (cohort) included 6 centuriae or a total of 480 fighting men, not including officers. In addition the first cohort was double strength but with only 5 centuriae instead of the normal 6.

Legio: (Legion) consisted of 10 cohorts.

Additionally each Legion had a 120 man Alae (cavalry unit) called the Eques Legionis permanently attached to it possibly to be used as scouts and messengers.

Therefore the total fighting strength of a Legion:

The First Cohort totaling 800 men (5 double-strength centuries with 160 men each) 9 Cohors (with 6 centuries at 80 men each) for a total 4,320, and an additional 120 man cavalry for a grand total of 5,240 men not including all the officers.

The basic designation of the 10 cohors was the same throughout all the Legions. They were arranged in battle so that the strongest and weakest units would be mixed throughout the formation maximizing moral and effectiveness

Legionary Weapons and Equipment

Basic Legionary Gear

On the march the Legionary could carry between three and fourteen day's worth of rations, a saw, a wicker basket, a piece of rope or leather, a shovel, a waterskin, a sickle and a pickaxe.

Each of these items, aside from the pickaxe which was worn on the belt, was carried on a forked pole introduced by Gaius Marius call the pila muralia, which earned his men the nickname Marius' Mules.

There is some discrepancy over what was actually carried and the possible total weight. Some items at times may have been transported in wagon trains or on mules such as the legionaries' tents and millstones for grinding the corn rations.

It's been estimated that a Legionary could carry anywhere from 66 lbs. (30 kgs) to over 100 lbs. (45 kgs) of gear and weapons.
The gear and weapons with basic descriptions follows:

Buccellatum and Frumentum: Hard tack and corn rations.

Papilio: Leather tent.

Tunica: The standard tunic worn over linen undergarments and underneath his armor.

Bracae: While Romans considered the wearing of pants or trousers to be against any standard code of dress, legionaries in cold climates were allowed to wear wool or leather skin tight trousers that reached just below the knee.

Caligae: Heavy military sandals that used iron hob-nails as treads, similar to modern day athletic cleats. The leather thongs continued half way up the shin and tied there, and in cold weather could be stuffed with wool or fur. Eventually these would be replaced by a heavier style of actual boot. Caligae was also the term from which the Emperor Gaius (Caligula) got his nickname. He was the son of the enormously popular Legate Germanicus and accompanied his Legions on several northern campaigns. As a boy the Legionaries saw him as a good luck mascot and called him Caligula for "Little Boots".

Balteus or Cingulum Militare: The standard belt. Was rather narrow and were decorated with bronze strips, that were sometimes tin-plated, all the way around.

Focale: Scarves worn to keep the metal of their armor from scraping their necks.

Galea Helmet: Though there were many types this was the most common helmet, the Imperial Gallic along with the Imperial Italic. They were generally made of bronze with iron trim, with a projecting piece shielded the neck and a smaller ridge fastened at the front for protection of the face. At the sides were large cheek pieces hinged at the top.

Sporran: The apron consisted of a number of leather thongs to which were riveted metal plates, and weighted with bronze. It could have been either decorative, protection for the genitals or a combination of both.

Scutum: The large Roman shield, which was curved to fit the body. They were made from thin sheets of wood, glued together so that the grain of each piece was at right angles to the piece next to it. The whole was bound around the edges with wrought iron or bronze and the center was hollowed out on the inside for the handgrip and protected by metal bands. On the outside the surface was covered in leather, on which was fastened gilded or silvered decoration, probably in bronze. Each cohort had different color schemes aid recognition during a battle. The shields also carried the name of the soldier and that of his centurion. On the march, the shield was hung by a strap over the left shoulder.

Body Armor

Lorica Hamata: Chain mail that was used extensively throughout Roman history and well after its fall. It provided excellent protection and flexibility, but was very heavy and time consuming to make.

Lorica Segmentata: Plate Armor. A name translated by modern scholars, as we don't know what the Romans actually called it. This armor was made up of many pieces of laminated iron all bound together to form a very flexible, strong and the most effective of Roman body protection. It seemingly replaced chain mail as the favored Legionary issue but due to budgeting constraints its length of service seems to have been a relatively short period of time (roughly Rome's golden era in the early empire and through the late 2nd century)

Loricae Squamatae: Scale Armor, actually translated to Armor of Feathers. Scale armor consisted of row upon row of overlapping bronze or iron scales, which resembled a coat of feathers. Scale seemingly began to replace Plate late in the 2nd Century CE, as it was easier and less expensive to make than the other forms, but was less flexible and is often considered far less capable. Common thought is that it was especially vulnerable from an upward stab, but this theory is highly debated.

Weapons

Gladius: The Roman short sword. It was a double-edged weapon about 18 inches long and two inches wide, often with a corrugated bone grip formed to the Legionaries hand. A large round ball at the end helped with the balance. The primary use was for thrusting at short range. It was carried high on the right hand side so as to be clear of the legs and the shield arm.

Pilum: The Roman javelin. It was seven feet long and very light, as it was thrown before just prior to engaging the enemy in melee, to disarm as much as wound them. The top three feet were of iron with a hardened point. It is probable that more sturdy types of spear of the same name were available for defense against cavalry in formation such as the turtle.

Pugio: The Roman dagger was anywhere from 7 to 11 inches long in similar width to the gladius. It could be highly decorative or very plain, but was a very useful secondary weapon in case of being disarmed. It was attached to the belt on the left hand side.

Centurion Gear

A centurion's equipment was notably different from that of a legionary. He wore a transverse, side to side, crest along his helmet that would serve as an easily recognized point of reference for the men. The crest was made either of feathers or horsehair and colors could signify various ranks. Rather than the Lorica Segmentata of the Legionary, they would wear either chain or scale. It was generally about waist length with a lower edge similar to the muscled cuirass. The armor and helmet could be silver-plated as well. He did not wear the apron like the Legionary but had a double-pleated kilt like piece. They also wore a cloak, of fine material, which hung from the left shoulder and a very ornate belt.

Additionally the wearing of bronze greaves on the shins set them apart from the rank & file. They generally wore their swords on the left and daggers on the right, opposite of the common soldiers. They carried a Vitis, vine staff, in his right hand as a symbol of his rank. It was made of grapevine and about 3 feet long.

Officer Gear

Officers could, of course, dress very differently from anyone else and there seems to be set pattern to the styles. They did have very fine dyed cloaks of various colors to signify rank. They generally wore a muscled cuirass and used a parazonium instead of a gladius; both described below.

Lorica Musculata: The muscled cuirass was a bronze chest piece made in two pieces, one for the front and one for the back, and buckled together at the sides. These were well decorated with animal, mythological and chest muscle designs.

Pteruges: Straps that hung off the shoulders and waist and covering the upper arms and legs, were made of leather. They were implemented to protect the arms and legs, while conserving the use of metal.

Parazonium: The more ornate sword carried by officers, the hilt of which could be in the form of an eagle head, or lobed. It can be slung on a narrow shoulder baldric but is more often simply cradled in the left arm, and the fingers of the left hand can be forked over the lobed pommel.


List of Legions and major events/battles

http://www.unrv.com/military/legions.php


Book - The Roman Army: The Greatest War Machine of the Ancient World

http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Army-Gre.../dp/184908162X

-Zeno

Epic Post Zeno!!!

Any of Caesar's Commentarii are good books about Roman legion warfare too.

One thing I liked about the Pilum spear was that the tip was meant to bend on impact with either the enemy or any other object(shield, ground, etc etc). Which made it worthless to the enemy because they couldn't use it or throw it back.




I don't agree that the individual soldier carried a lot of weight because the Roman Legion was also trailed by a large supply caravan of Non-combatant members.
From Wikipedia:


No mention of Canis Molossus with their large spiked collars and chain mail armor. The Legion had attack formations made entirely of dogs.

Also it should be mentioned that the Roman Army went through different phases of Tactics and Weapons.
See:
Early Roman army

Roman army of the mid-Republic

Imperial Roman army

Late Roman army

fyp as the roman army did not only consist of legions

and as the "when" is quite important when talking about the roman army, i guess it is the time of the early emperors we are refering to?

3 more numbers for the legions:
~250 officers and staff duty soldiers
~700 grooms and 300 drovers
~1200 pack animals

as i had to read a lot about it a few years ago:

cavalry: alae

1 ala had 500 soldiers in 16 turmae (ala milaria : 1000 in 24 turmae)

they were basically elite units and central for the roman border defence strategy, esp in germany.



roman navy:

afaik it consisted of two main fleets stationed in misenum and ravenna and some smaller fleets. the best known commander of this army was pompeius magnus.
thats about all i know, except that the navy has only been important for the romans in the punic wars and during the civil war (actium for example) - after the punic wars the only fleet that could defeat a roman fleet in the mediterranean was a roman fleet.
does anybody have some facts and numbers?

Good post. I got a question for you zeno. How well do you see the roman army performing against 9th and 10th century armies, such as the one Charlemagne, Otto I and William the Conqueror yielded? While these were had much better cavalry, could the roman maniple system work against mounted cavalry?

Was the Republic army as poor as it seemed in the period Hannibal was in Italy? Or, was it just lousy leadership?
I still can't picture Julius C. being beaten so badly in the 216-218 period. Would Scipio's leadership bring a victory during this time period? I don't think there would be a debacle like Cannae.

Well bear in my that in those days, the Roman legions were not professional soldiers, but conscripted freeholding farmers that made up the base of the Roman voting citizenry. The professional army was introduced by Gaius Marius, and had been around for quite awhile by the time Caesar was a consul/proconsul/dictator.

A very interesting show is The Deadliest Warrior is a television program in which information on historical or modern warriors and their weapons are used to determine which of them is the "deadliest" based upon tests performed during each episode.

Episodes begin with the introduction of either two types of historical or contemporary warriors, or two historical individuals. The history, culture, and general fighting philosophies of each are explained. The explanations are accompanied by segments showing actors performing dramatized scenes that are meant to depict the daily lives of the actual fighters.

This show is far from perfect in it's determination of The Deadliest Warrior but it sure is interesting to see how some of the weapons are tested and warrior cultures involved.

The only thing really amusing about that show is how much time the guys on each "side" try to spent out-macho-ing one another and trying to prove why their culture's warrior has bigger testicles than the other guy's.

That did get a bit old after several episodes.

Also, i did question the methodology of the simulations at the end of each show. There were a few matchup the were pretty obvious who should win. There were several others i question the results.

When you take historical figures and match them up centuries apart it's not fair because if the older figure was matched up against the younger, in the future, many of these greats would be quick to adopt new weapons and technology maybe even in a more effective way. Sun tzu vs. Vlad the impaler comes to mind.

Vlad the impaler was a brutal, cunning and famous as a tyrant taking sadistic pleasure in torturing and killing, but as a military tactician he was no Sun Tzu. To just compare strength of weapons is absurd.

What i found interesting is in some of the matches-ups is how well some of the ancient weapons competed sometimes against weapons centuries more modern.

The shows strength is it's showcasing the various weapons and to me made it valuable entertainment for me.