Centurion

The centurion  was an officer of the Roman army who had tactical and administrative command. Candidates were chosen for their qualities of endurance, temperance and leadership ability, in addition to having considerable influence and responsibility. They were considered the backbone of the army. It is the military rank of Ancient Rome that has received the most attention from scholars of the Roman army.

Etymology

Despite what is usually thought, the name centurion does not come from the fact that a century originally consisted of one hundred men, since it is prior to the rank of centurion itself, but rather it derives from the homonymous administrative and political unit that in Rome had its own civil aspect.^{[citation required]} In fact, the century itself never adopted a size of one hundred men, but in Republican era ranged between thirty of a century of triarii (triarians) and sixty of the hastati and the principes, who were soldiers who counted with some experience. The century itself never adopted a size of one hundred men.^{[citation needed]} Towards the end of the century II a. C., the century began to have about eighty men, a figure that was maintained throughout the High Empire (1st-3rd centuries), thus having the Legio Augustea sixty centuries of eighty men who They made a total of four thousand eight hundred men. Later, towards the Flavian era, the first cohort doubled the strength of its centuries, but their number was reduced to five, so the legion had at that time five thousand one hundred and twenty men-at-arms.

Functions

The centurions commanded a century, made up of 80 men, depending on the forces at the given time and whether or not the century belonged to the First Cohort. Each cohort was made up of six centuries, except the first, which had five, but contained twice as many men in each of them. They usually promoted to the position of centurion from simple common soldiers based on war merits.

The bulk of the legion was led by the centurions, since each cohort had six of them to direct each of its six centuries. Each of these centurions was accommodated, within each cohort, to a strict hierarchy. This, in ascending order, was: a hastatus posterior, a hastatus prior, a princeps posterior, a princeps prior, a pilus posterior and a pilus prior. The latter could act de facto, as commander of the entire cohort based on his seniority. On the other hand, this structure was altered in the first cohorts from the Flavian era, since there were only five centurions, the primi ordines, of which the primus pilus was the most valued. The normal thing is that after a year holding such a position, the primípilo managed to be promoted to ordo equester. Likewise, this centurion was in charge of the most valued standard, which was the Roman eagle. With larger legions, there could be more centurions than was usual, and this was due to the presence of veterani or supernumerarii which, although They did not exercise effective military command, they were entrusted with an administrative function.

Uniform

According to iconographic sources, reflected mainly in some historical reliefs, such as the Orange Arch, in some sarcophagi from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries, and in some funerary inscriptions, the Roman centurion was distinguished by their particular uniform, which used to consist of:

• A short white coat (decursio albata), which in the cold weather was complemented with shorts.
• A mesh-coat armor (Lorica hamata) or scales (lorica squamata), many times covered by phalerae or decorations in the form of medallion and torquex or pendant bracelets.
• He was carrying the short sword...gladius- on the left side instead of the right, usual in the simple thousandsubject to the body by means of a cingulus or belt with the gun case.
• He used leg protections (grebes).
• On the helmet (cassis) looked like a crest (transverse crist), which crossed the head laterally and consisted of the most famous distinction of a centurion. Some theories of military history attribute the cross-section of this prick to the need to be visible on the back for its soldiers, but in imperial times the rest of the soldiers did not use crest ordinarily, as it was reserved for the armor of stop, so only the centurions carried this seeming element, which allowed them to be easily identified. Let's lack archaeological evidence about their color even if they sweep the white, black or red.
• Calzaba caligae sandals with keyed sole, similar to those of their men.

Between personal belongings, uniform and spare clothing, they carried a weight of 10 kilos, in addition to another 34 kilos of weapons.

The centurions also carried a staff of command, usually a vine staff, called vitis, as a symbol of their authority, and which, during training tasks, they used at their discretion to beat the soldiers. clumsy and laggards or any other discipline they would like to impose in that way.

Non-commissioned officers

Each centurion was assisted in his century by an optio, who was a soldier who, among other things, knew how to read and write. He was also assisted by a signifer and a tesserarius, non-commissioned officers who were called "principals". The first, the optio, was the centurion's lieutenant. and helped him in tactics and in maintaining the discipline and physical fitness of the soldiers, the second was the standard bearer and treasurer of the century, and the last was in charge of supplying the passwords and acting as liaison officer.

On the battlefield, the centurion stood at the far right of the first row of men in his unit, next to the signifer. On the other hand, the optio was located in the rear, to avoid, if necessary, the disbandment of the troops, and to guarantee the reliefs between the lines typical of the closed order used by the Roman army.

Superiors

The rank of tribune, who was the commander of the cohort, was higher in rank than the centurion. These were usually young men of the senatorial class who were performing their first service in the legion before receiving public offices in civilian life, although There are tribunes who chose military life as a profession, both angusticlavius -of the equestrian order- and laticlavius -senatorium-, or that of praefectus castrorum - generally a former centurion -, all of them being subordinate to the legate of the legion. Compared to the modern military organization, the legate could be the equivalent of a general; a tribune to a colonel; the most senior centurions comparable to the rank of commander or major, with the rest of the centurions comparable to captains.

Known Centurions

Some officers of this rank have gone down in history in the pages of various writers of Antiquity. Among them are Nonio Recepto, Donacio Valente, Romilio Marcellus and Calpurnio Repentino, of the Legio XXII stationed in Germania Superior, executed in the year 69 when they tried to protect the images of Emperor Galba from the fury of the soldiers. Claudio Faventino was removed of service with ignominy by Galba in the same year. He then induced the fleet of Misenum to defect from Aulus Vitellius to Vespasian.