3 MOST Impressive Centurion Careers

centurions were the backbone of the Imperial Roman army unlike their generals they commanded their men from the front and represented all the qualities of a perfect Soldier they were intelligent Brave loyal and rightfully paid 15 times the wage of a regular Soldier after a centurion was recruited their records were carefully registered and stored in the Imperial Army lists which contained over 3 000 active centurions in their careers and being the outgoing Channel you know us to be we selected the three most impressive of them which will surely spike your interest and make you want to meet them in person you may know from our previous video on the ranking system that most centurions simply Rose through the ranks of the legions but today's three specimens got their ranks in very unique ways and were never actually soldiers before their careers will surely give you a deeper insight into the system of recruitment of the Roman army but before we go on I would like to give a shout out to 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seventh day so click the link below and play today as the highest respected Bodyguards of the Emperors and many times their assassins the praetorian guard had a very Sinister reputation in Roman history surprisingly for us however many of them enjoyed prestigious careers in the legions after being discharged from the guard their administrative skills rigorous drills and social connections meant that the doors for centurionates and the legions were wide open for them and our first century in Decimus Furious Octavius secundus was one of them born near Rome his career began when he enlisted into the urban cohorts The Garrison units of the city of Rome there he must have done a very good job as he was soon recruited straight into the sixth cohorts of the praetorian guard and served under the reign of trajan here he was able to quickly impress the Tribune leading his cohort who promoted him to his personal bodyguard and then to his beneficiarius this tells us that not only his prowess in combat but also his wit and intelligence were very impressive in time this got him no noticed by the praetorian prefect himself who stood as the right hand of Emperor trajan and commander of the entire praetorian guard and he chose Decimus to be his personal bodyguard now with the connection to the prefect he was able to secure a promotion to optio and then to signifer of his cohorts making him responsible for managing the savings and finances of his praetorian Century of 80 men this goes to show that Decimus was an impressive administrator and accountant but his career didn't stop there as he excelled even at this task and he was subsequently elevated to overseer of the entire praetorian treasury managing the payments and Logistics of every cohort of the Guard from here he was finally promoted to court nicolarius of a praetorian Tribune the main administrative position of a whole praetorian cohort where he spent the rest of his service managing staff work after being discharged from the guard and completing his 16 years of service Decimus was now in his mid to late 30s but believe it or not he was only in the low point of his highly impressive career his skill and talent was not forgotten and shortly after he was hand-picked by Emperor Hadrian himself and re-enlisted as an avocados a respected veteran officer after accepting the offer he was given the rank of centurion and transferred to the 10th for tensis Legion stationed in Judea where he took part in suppressing barakatba's rebellion and if you dare think his role in it was not as significant you'll have to think again as he is recorded to have earned a Golden Crown for killing an enemy in single combat and several other lesser decorations for bravery which were bestowed upon Him by Emperor Hadrian himself his exploits in Judea earned him a transfer to the first italica Legion in moisia and luckily for the natives they did not have any plans of rebelling against Decimus despite this the man was still able to slowly rise to the rank of Primos pilos the highest ranking Centurion in the whole Legion and if you recall there are 15 nine other centurions in a legion and his salary would now be four times that of a regular Centurion at this point Decimus has basically completed their game of life and achieved the highest possible rank salary and social class for a man of his low birth but fate would still have him rise higher as gratitude for his service in the guard and Legions he was granted the high honor of being enrolled as a municipal senator in a Roman Colony thus forever elevating his family's social status and wealth now that is one very impressive career if you thought Lucius varinus's career in HBO's Rome was too exaggerated Decimus would have made him pale in comparison what we learned is that centurions did not only rise from the ranks of the legions but also could come from the praetorian guard which is a completely separate entity from the legions but if you thought this was impressive the next career will surely surprise you even more like father like son or at least so believed the Romans for them the achievements in skill of the father were passed down to their sons so even the sons of former centurions were expected to follow the footsteps of their illustrious fathers and bring glory and Prestige to the family such was the case for our next two characters Marcus petronius fortinata senior and his son Marcus petronius fortunatas Jr Elder Marcus was born in Africa in the mid-second century we have no details of his upbringing but we can safely assume that he was literate and skilled with numbers such skills earned him the rare distinction upon enlistment to serve as a librarius or bookkeeper in the first italica Legion once in Louisiana fortunatus Rose through the ranks at an incredible speed in just four years he rose to tesserarios then to optio signifer and finally to Centurion by popular votes of his comrades a quite meteoric rise but nothing compared to what awaited him in the course of his long career as Centurion old Marcus served in no less than 13 different Legions in including the first italica 7th Claudia first minervia 10th gemina second out utrix third Augusta third gallica 30th Opia sixth victrix third sareneka 15th apolinaris second parthica and first daddy utrechts quite literally almost half the legions of Rome Marcus's service and the Army allowed him to visit almost every province in Rome and spread his experience to countless people on top of all this he must have been a very impressive Soldier as his bravery against the parthians was awarded with chest decorations together with a bracelet and one of the most prized Awards of the Roman army the walled crown for being the first man to scale the walls of an enemy City his military service did not preclude him from raising a family he married a respectable Roman woman who gave birth to his son Marcus petronius fortunata's Junior among others quite interestingly when his son joined the army he was immediately promoted to Centurion of the 22nd permigenia on the Rhine no doubt thanks to his father's influence and this was crazy if you think about it in a previous video I mentioned how hard it was to climb the ladder to become a centurion and that it took recruits anywhere from 13 to 20 years together with a wide set of talent and skills to get it but now we have proof that the sons of former centurions were given a significant Head Start to their careers but unfortunately for young Marcus his career was cut short when he died after only serving for six years his mother and now 80 year old father Elder Marcus were no doubt desolated by the loss of their son young Marquez benefited from his father's deeds and reputation but our next character exploited such advantage to the maximum Lucius emilius paternus was born a member of the equestrian order from the town of iso in the late first century his family were romanized natives with his father being a local magistrate and very respectable member of the community with his influence and reputation he was able to secure Lucius a position of centurion of the seventh gemina the local Legion in the area after briefly serving there he was transferred to the Danube Frontier where he served as Centurion in three other Legions the first minervia 7th Claudia and 14th gemina in the latter Legion his skill and talent must have caught eye of the upper echelons of the Imperial Administration as he was promoted to Centurion of the fourth Urban cohort one of the Garrison units stationed in Rome but his career didn't stop there as he later became a centurion of the fourth cohort of the praetorian Guard this was a very impressive position but it seems Lucius was an even more impressive man as he soon managed to rise to the rank of trekenarius his cohort's highest ranking Centurion and second in command to its Commander Tribune we don't know how long he served in that post only that he was later transferred again to the legions serving as a centurion of the second Augusta in Britain and if this sounds like a bit of a downgrade for Lucius you need not worry as he was soon able to rise to the rank of Primus pilus and became the lead Centurion of the entire Legion during his long and distinguished service he took part in trajan station Wars and invasion of Parthia where he too was awarded with the walled Crown by the emperor himself plus other minor decorations but Lucius was not the only family member with a distinguished career his brother Marcus was able to outdo him by reaching the rank of military Tribune bringing glory and fame to the whole family while their sister Emilia is recorded to have been a priestess for life in the province of tarakonensis also a great honor this string of Highly Successful careers may have been deserved but there is no denying that it was their father who pulled the strings to make it happen at least in the start of their careers and so we have centurions recruited from praetorians from Sons of former centurions and now simply sons of equestrians and provincial Aristocrats who were able to secure High positions for their family through connections and it's not only family members but also friends whose careers they could help this was the case of Caius Julius lepidus the best friend of one of the brothers and fellow equestrian of the same town it was thanks to this friendship and connection that lepidus also became a centurion in the seventh yemena right away and can continued his career until he also Rose to Primus pilus but of the legendary 13th Legion so you can take away three major facts from this video firstly it seems the origins were of secondary importance when it came to being a good candidate for Centurion secondly connections and social class were a big advantage that could save you years of climbing the ladder as it still is today and thirdly the rank of centurion was a portal that could forever transfer skilled soldiers and their children to a higher social class and wage which would otherwise be near impossible in the Roman system after all it's rumored that Emperor Vespasian was also the grandson of a centurion speaking of Emperors check out our video on what it was like to be one if you haven't already or visit our series on Roman ranks and training as always this video would not be possible without our generous patrons consider joining them and forever having your name in our videos I hope to see you in the next one

Channel: Historia Militum

Views: 145,862

Keywords: Centurion, Legionary, Legions, Roman army, Primus Pilus, Ranks, Recruitment, Day in the life of a roman, Careers, Training, colosseum, Rome, Gaul, Hispania, Officers

Id: 2MRix3NWAzk

Length: 12min 13sec (733 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 27 2022