Warrior [175] Roman Legionary AD 284-337: The Age of Diocletian and Constantine the Great by Ross Cowan

Author:Ross Cowan [Cowan, Ross]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: new
ISBN: 9781472806680
Google: lWOICwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 23519626
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Published: 2015-04-20T04:00:00+00:00

Section of an articulated limb defence from Arelape-Pöchlarn. (© Florian Himmler)

ORGANIZATION AND COMMAND OF THE LEGION

Diocletian’s new legions, such as II Herculia, were organized in the same manner as the formations he acquired upon his elevation in AD 284. The legion was composed of ten cohorts (ILS 4195 for cohorts X and VII of II Herculia in AD 298). There were six centuries in a cohort, each commanded by a centurion with the following titles (ranked according to seniority):

pilus prior

pilus posterior

princeps prior

princeps posterior

hastatus prior

hastatus posterior

These titles harked back to the manipular legions of the middle-Republic (3rd and 2nd centuries BC). In the manipular legion, ten maniples of hastati (‘spearmen’) formed the first battle line, another ten maniples of principes (‘best men’) formed the second line, and a final ten maniples of triarii (‘third-line men’) made up the third line of this triplex acies (triple battle line) formation. When the 30 maniples of the legion were grouped into ten cohorts at the end of the 2nd century BC, the maniple was split into two centuries, and so each cohort had two centuries of hastati, two of principes, and two of pili (‘javelin men’, another title for the triarii). The paired centuries were designated prior (‘front’ or ‘first’) and posterior (‘rear’ or ‘following’). The title posterior suggests it formed up behind the prior, but in his account of the battle of the Sabis (57 BC), Julius Caesar states that he ordered the ‘maniples’ to open up so the legionaries had room to wield their swords effectively (Gallic War 2.25). If Caesar used maniple to refer to paired centuries, it suggests priores and posteriores could fight side-by-side.

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