This article is part of the series on: Military of ancient Rome (portal) |
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| Structural history | |||
| Roman army (unit types and ranks, legions, auxiliaries, generals) |
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| Roman navy (fleets, admirals) | |||
| Campaign history | |||
| Lists of wars and battles | |||
| Decorations and punishments | |||
| Technological history | |||
| Military engineering (castra, siege engines, arches, roads) |
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| Personal equipment | |||
| Political history | |||
| Strategy and tactics | |||
| Infantry tactics | |||
| Frontiers and fortifications (limes, Hadrian's Wall) |
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The Marian reforms of 107 BC were a group of military reforms initiated by Gaius Marius, a statesman and general of the Roman republic. Commonwealth English! -->The military of ancient Rome relates to the combined military forces of Ancient Rome from the founding of the city The structural history of the Roman military describes the major chronological transformations in the organization and constitution of Ancient Rome 's armed forces, The Roman army was a set of military forces employed by the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and later Roman Empire as part of the Roman military This is a list of both unit types and ranks of the Roman army from the Roman Republic to the fall of This is a list of Roman legions, including key facts about each legion primarily focusing on Principate (early Empire 30BC - 284AD legions for which there exists Auxiliaries (from Latin: auxilia = "supports" formed the standing non-citizen corps of the Roman army of the Principate (30 BC&ndash284 AD A Manius Acilius Glabrio -- Manius Acilius Glabrio (consul 191 BC -- Manius Acilius Glabrio (consul 91 -- Titus The Roman Navy ( Latin: Classis, lit "fleet" comprised the naval forces of the Roman state The Roman Navy ( Latin: Classis, lit "fleet" comprised the naval forces of the Roman state From its origin as a city-state in Italy in 9th century BC the rise as an empire covering much of Eurasia and North The following is a List of Roman wars fought by the ancient Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire, organized by date The following is a list of Roman Battles fought by the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, and sometimes the Byzantine Empire As with most other military forces the Roman military adopted a "carrot and stick" approach to military with an extensive list of decorations for military gallantry The technology history of the Roman military covers the development of and application of technologies for use in the armies and navies of Rome from the Roman Republic to the fall The military engineering of Ancient Rome 's armed forces was of a scale and frequency far beyond that of any of its contemporaries The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military Roman Siege engines were for the most part adapted from Hellenistic Siege Technology. List of ancient Roman Triumphal arches (By modern country France Carpentras Triumphal Arch The Roman Roads were essential for the growth of the Roman Empire, by enabling the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate news Roman military personal equipment was produced in large numbers to established patterns and used in an established way Rome's military was always tightly keyed to its political system The strategy of the Roman Military encompasses its Grand strategy (the arrangements made by the state to implement its political goals through a selection of military goals Roman infantry tactics refers to the theoretical and historical deployment formation and maneuvers of the Roman infantry from the start of the Roman Republic to the fall Roman military borders and fortifications were part of a Grand strategy of territorial defense in the Roman Empire. A limes (or the Limes Romanus) was a Border defense or delimiting system of Ancient Rome. Hadrian's Wall ( Latin: perhaps Vallum Aelium, "the Aelian wall" is a stone and turf Fortification built by the Roman This article is about the Roman statesman who reorganized the army and was seven times Consul The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a Republican form of government a period which began with the overthrow of the
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Roman army before the Marian reforms
Up until the last decade of the second century BC the eligibility to become a Roman soldier in the service of the Republic were very strict.
- He had to be a member of the fifth census class or higher.
- He had to own property worth 3000 sesterces in value. The sestertius, or sesterce, was an ancient Roman Coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small Silver, and rare coin issued
- He had to supply his own armaments.
When war threatened, the consuls of the day would be charged with the duty of recruiting an army from the eligible citizenry of the Republic. As a rule one of the consuls would lead this mainly volunteer army into battle. As can be imagined, not all elected consuls were adept at leading an army. For example, in the year 113 BC the consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo was defeated at the Battle of Noreia by invading tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons, losing all but 20,000 men out of an army of 200,000. Gnaeus Papirius Carbo (c 130s BC - 82 BC was a Consul of Ancient Rome. The Battle of Noreia in 112 BC, was the opening action of the Cimbrian War fought between the Roman Republic and the migrating Proto-Germanic The Cimbri were a Celtic or Germanic tribe who together with the Teutones and the Ambrones threatened the Roman Republic in the late The Teutons or Teutones (from Proto-Germanic * Þeudanōz) were mentioned as a Germanic tribe by Greek and Roman authors This disaster was followed by a protracted war in Africa against King Jugurtha of Numidia. Jugurtha (ca 160 &ndash 104 BC was a Libyan King of Numidia, born in Cirta. Numidia (202 BC – 46 BC was an ancient Berber kingdom in present-day Algeria and part of Tunisia ( North Africa) that later alternated The consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus was sent to defeat Jugurtha. The Caecilii Metelli were one of the most important and wealthiest families in the Roman Republic. Metellus never lost any armies and did win some battles but after two years had not achieved total victory. Gaius Marius, one of his legates, requested Metellus release him from his duties so he could return to Rome and run for consul at the end of 108 BC. But when Marius became junior consul in 107 BC and was appointed the task of concluding the war with Jugurtha, he had no army. The army Metellus had commanded in Africa was assigned to the senior consul Lucius Cassius Longinus to expel the Cimbri who were once again encroaching on the Roman province of Gaul across the Alps. Marius had no troops with which to conduct the war in Africa. The eligible citizenry from whom he could recruit an army was severely depleted due to previous military disasters. To overcome this problem he introduced a number of reforms.
Marian reforms
The foremost of the Marian reforms was the inclusion of Roman landless mass, the capite censi or "head count", among the ranks of those who could be recruited. Capite censi, literally meaning "those counted by head" was a term used in Ancient Rome to refer to the lowest class of citizens people not of the Since most of the head count citizens were poor and could not afford to purchase their own armaments Marius arranged for the state to supply them with arms. He offered the disenfranchised masses permanent employment for pay as a professional soldier, and the opportunity to gain spoils on campaign. This article is about people called professionals For the Movie, see The Professional or Leon. A soldier is a general English term that refers to a member of a land component of National Armed forces. With little hope of gaining status in other ways, the masses flocked to join Marius in his new army. These professional soldiers were recruited for an enlistment term of 16 years, later to rise to 20 years full service and 5 years as evocati under the reforms of Augustus. Evocatus (plural Evocati) was the Latin term for a soldier in the Roman army who had served out his time and obtained a discharge Augustus ( Latin: IMPERATOR·CAESAR·DIVI·FILIVS·AVGVSTVS September 23 63 BC – August 19 AD 14) born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, was
With this permanent standing army Marius was able to standardize training and equipment throughout the Roman Legions. For other uses see Legion The Roman Legion (from Latin legio "military levy Conscription," Drilling and training took place year round, not just when they were urgently needed. Marius organized the legions as follows. The total number of men in a full strength legion was about 6,000, of whom 5,200 were actual soldiers. The rest were classified as noncombatants. The internal organization of a legion consisted of 10 cohorts of 6 centuries each and 5 double strength centuries containing 160 men each in the first. The century consisted of 80. Centuria ( Latin plural centuriae) is a Latin substantive from the stem centum (a hundred denoting units consisting of (originally only approximately The century was divided again into 8 man units that tented and messed together in camp, this was called a contubernia. The century fought as a unit, marched as a unit and camped as a unit. The century carried with it all the arms and accoutrements required to feed and maintain it as a fighting unit. This reduced the size of the baggage train required as support and made the army much more mobile. Between 2 and 6 legions clubbed together constituted an army. The legions soon were in peak physical condition and discipline, unmatched in the ancient world. This was the second important reform that improved the Roman military.
The third reform that Marius was able to introduce was legislation that offered retirement benefits in the form of land grants. Members of the head count who had completed their term of service would be given a pension by their general and a plot of land in the conquered region on which to retire. Officers and commanders were given monetary rewards that were 10-25 times greater than that of a common foot soldier.
Finally, Marius granted citizens of the Italian allies (Etruria, Picenum etc. Etruria &mdash usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia &mdash was a region of Central Italy, located in an area Picenum was a Region of ancient Roman Italy. Picenum was the birthplace of such notables as Pompey the Great and his father Pompeius Strabo ) full Roman citizenship if they fought for Rome and completed a period of service in the Roman army.
Impact of Marian reforms
The first, and most obvious result, was the improvement in the military capability of the army. No longer, when war threatened the Republic, did a general have to hastily recruit a citizen army, train it to fight and obey military commands and discipline, then march it off to do battle, raw and un-blooded. This fact alone was instrumental in the growth and success of the Roman military machine and resulted in the continued success of the Romans on the battlefield.
Another benefit of the reforms was the settlement of retired legionnaires in conquered land. This helped to integrate the region into a Roman province and "Romanize" its citizens, reducing unrest and revolt against Roman rule.
One aspect of the Marian reforms that became apparent with the benefit of hindsight was that the loyalty of the legions tended to shift away from the Roman state, i. e. the Senate and People of Rome, and towards the generals who led the army. SPQR is an initialism from a Latin phrase Senātus Populusque Rōmānus ("The Senate and the People of Rome" or "The It became quite common for a general, rather than stepping down after the cessation of hostilities, to refuse to relinquish his Imperium and use the army, loyal only to himself, to consolidate his power. Imperium in a broad sense translates as power. In Ancient Rome the concept applied to People, and meant something like "power This led to several civil wars over the next century and ultimately to the destruction of the Republic and its transformation into an Empire.
Subsequent modifications
The cohort legions of the late republic and early empire are often called Marian legions. Following the Battle of Vercellae in 101 BC Marius granted all Italian soldiers Roman citizenship. The Battle of Vercellae, or Battle of the Raudine Plain, in 101 BC was the Roman victory of Consul Gaius Marius over the Germanic He justified this action to the Senate by saying in the din of battle he could not distinguish Roman from ally. This effectively eliminated the notion of allied legions, henceforth all Italian legions would be regarded as Roman Legions. Thus the three different types of heavy infantry were replaced by a single, standard type of legionary based on the principes. Principes (Singular Princeps) were Spearmen, and later Swordsmen, in the armies of the early Roman Republic.
The role of allied legions would eventually be taken up by contingents of allied/auxiliary troops, called Auxilia. Each legion had a same size or near same size Auxilia (auxiliary), which contained specialist units, engineers and pioneers, artillerymen and siege craftsmen, service and support units plus units made up of non-citizens (who were granted Roman citizenship upon discharge) and undesirables. These were usually formed into complete units such as light cavalry, light infantry or velites, and laborers. There was also a reconnaissance squad of 10 or more light, mounted infantry called speculatores who could also serve as messengers or even as an early form of military intelligence service. Speculatores and Exploratores were the scouts and Reconnaissance element of the Roman army.
During these reforms, the legions were also organized into permanent cohorts for the first time. Prior to this cohorts had been temporary administrative units or tactical task forces of several maniples, even more transitory than that of the legions of the early republic themselves. Now the cohorts were six to ten permanent units, composed of five to eight centuries each led by a centurion assisted by an optio, a soldier who could read and write. These came to form the basic tactical unit of the legions. The senior centurion of the legion was called the primus pilus, a career soldier and advisor to the legate, he was generally 50 years of age or older. There were also additional officers assigned to each legion, an aquilifer, imagifier (Imperial Rome only), a tessarius, and a cornicen. The aquilifer was in charge of the legion standard, so there was only one per legion. The imagifier carried an image of the deified emperor (whichever one was in power at the time). The tessarius was in charge of the guard outposts for each century. The cornicen was key in the heat of battle, as he blew the formation, attack, withdrawal, and many other notes. This was the only way legionaries and their officers could hear or issue orders in the din of battle.
Every legion had a baggage train of 500–550 mules, or about 1 mule for every 10 legionaries. To keep these baggage trains from becoming too large, Marius had each man carry as much of his own equipment as he could, including his own armor, weapons and 15 days' rations or about 50–60 pounds of load total. To make this easier, he issued each legionary a forked stick to carry their loads on their shoulders. The soldiers were nicknamed Marius' Mules due to the amount of gear they had to carry themselves.
A typical legion of this period had around 5,000-6,000 legionaries as well as a large number of camp followers, servants and slaves. Legions could contain as many as 6,000 fighting men divided among several cohorts. Numbers would also vary depending on casualties suffered during a campaign; Julius Caesar's legions during his campaign in Gaul often only had around 3,500 men and he on one occasion during his civil war against Pompey the Great had to join two of his battle-reduced legions together to achieve the strength of one conventional legion.
Hundreds of years later, under the Emperor Diocletian and his successors, new legions raised for the field armies, as opposed to those stationed along the frontiers, were recruited to only about 1,000 men and were, therefore, the size of milliary auxiliary cohorts. This was a response to the logistical needs of the late Empire: the smaller units were more easily dispatched as needed to trouble spots than were the older, larger units, and they were no longer made up exclusively of fully armored heavy infantry. Instead, they often consisted of light infantry or archers. Except with regard to Roman citizenship (and even then not always), they were, in fact, no longer sharply distinguished, if distinguished at all, from auxiliary units raised from barbarians within and without the Empire. These later legions(comitatenses) should not be confused with the legions of heavy infantry of the earlier empire.
Further Reading
- Caesar, Julius, The Gallic War
- Caesar, Julius, The Civil Wars
- Flavius Vegetius, Epitoma de Re Militari
- Hildinger, Erik, Swords Against the Senate: The Rise of the Roman Army and the Fall of the Republic, Da Capo Press 2002 (softcover ISBN 978-0-306-81279-8).
External links
- An article on the Marian Reforms at unrv.com
- Marius' Mules The Roman Army Before and After the Marian Reforms.
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