The command structure of the Roman legion
operated with this really beautiful hybrid of a top down and a bottom up system. The smallest unit in a legion was the contubernium. This was a group of 8 men. These men ate together, marched together,
slept together, (not like that), and took care of one shared pack animal together. One of our sources writes about a military
tradition where men paired off with another member of their contubernium. These men would watch each other's backs during
battle, go on guard duty together, and if one of them were killed the other would contact
their families and hold a funeral service. This was in effect the smallest unit in the
Roman army, but it was so informal that we don't even have a name for it. The man in charge of the contubernium was
called the Decanus. Decanus, Dec, leading eight men, why not Octanus? Well a contubernium actually had two hidden
members. Servants, or maybe slaves, to help with taking
care of the pack animal, patching up equipment, cooking, cleaning, things like that. So in some instances, like this one, they
were counted, but they were non combatants, and unimportant for our purposes. Going forward *we* will not count them. So a Decanus lead a unit of eight men, which
is part of this bottom up system. Not a lot of information survives about the
Decanus, but we know that they were selected from the contubernium, by the contubernium. In other words this wasn't a promotion by
an officer, but rather an election by their peers. In practice, the Decanus tended to be the
most experienced man in the contubernium. He helped keep order while on the march, and
disciplined his men when they got out of line, but in battle he had no significant tactical
role. We need a bigger units for that. A century was a group of 80 men, and was the
most basic tactical unit that the Romans used during battle. Century, 80 men, again, it doesn't make sense. Remember how the contubernium had 8 soldiers
and two, let's call them helpers? Well that naming inconsistency carries forward. A century consisted of ten contubernia, meaning
there were 80 soldiers and 20 "helpers" total. A century was the smallest organizational
unit that fought as one. Each had their own standard, their own traditions,
and soldiers would openly joke about how certain centuries were better than others. A century was commanded by a centurion. There sere 59 centurions per legion, and these
were the career officers of the Roman army. This position was very much top down, because
centurions were promoted directly by their superiors, and once promoted, they held life
or death power over the men in their century. Every centurion had an optio, or second in
command. These men were in charge of the training and
discipline of the century, and could take over for the centurion if it became necessary. In battle, the centurion lead the century
at the front, which was actually quite dangerous, while the optio stayed at the back in the
opposite corner of the formation. This was so the centurion could, you know,
lead, while the optio made sure the formation was solid and that nobody ran away during
battle. Cohorts consisted of 6 centuries, making them
480 men strong. There were ten cohorts in every legion. If generals were moving men around during
a battlefield, they were moving cohorts. Each one had it's own unique trumpet call,
so they could receive orders at a moments notice without the use of messengers. Here's another bottom up system, and this
one's really interesting. There was no dedicated commander of a cohort,
but there was an institutionalized command structure. Of the 6 centurions in the cohort, the most
experienced centurion would automatically assume command of the entire unit, while the
other five would fall into subordinate positions, and act as advisors to the lead centurion. To be clear, every centurion still commanded
their own separate century, it's just that the lead centurion also issued orders to the
rest of the cohort. If a lead centurion was transferred or went
into retirement or was killed, the roles would automatically shift around and the next most
experienced man would get the job. It's this really unusual system where cohorts
were incredibly important to the legion, but command had nothing to do with how they governed
themselves. Now, everything I said before about cohorts
is true, except none of it applies to the first cohort in every legion. The first cohort was always it's own unique
thing. They consisted of 5 special double strength
centuries. The cohort itself wasn't double size, but
it had five double strength centuries instead of the normal six. This meant that the first cohort would have
800 men, making it 60% larger than cohorts 2 through 10. Since every centurion in this cohort commanded
160 men rather than 80, they were seen as special. They outranked normal centurions from every
other cohort. Transfer into and out of the first cohort
was a command-level decision, which means that the first cohort, unlike all of the other
ones, was, to an extent, controlled by the higher ups. Belonging to the first cohort was extremely
prestigious, even if you were a low level grunt. The first cohort hosted the legion's eagle
standard, and, in theory, protected the commander of the legion, which I'll get to in a minute. The person in charge of the first cohort was
the most experienced of these 5 super-centurions, and was called the Primus Pilus. He was the highest ranking front line soldier
in the entire legion. He would sometimes be called up by the commander
of the legion to give his advice, and to devise strategy. In this way he was responsible for representing
the views of the rank and file centurions to the higher ups. If the men had a problem they would go to
their centurion, who would go to the Primus Pilus, who would go to the commander of the
legion. There's that bottom up system again. There are isolated incidents where the Primus
Pilus would actually take command of the entire legion, which just shows how much authority
they had over their fellow centurions. Unofficially, this made them the forth in
command of the legion. The official third in command was someone
called the camp prefect. They were basically a quartermaster, in charge
of supplies, food, and the construction of the fortified encampment that legions liked
to build. A pretty mundane job, except that this man
was also a former Primus Pilus, meaning that he had decades of experience under his belt,
and experience leading the supersized 1st cohort. This was the highest rank available to a career
soldier. It never says this explicitly in our sources,
but we get the impression that this was a cushy job away from the front lines, well
suited for a Primus Pilus past their prime. But I don't want to detract from this position. They were appointed by the commander of the
legion, top down, but once in place they were the very embodiment of the institutional memory
of the legion, bottom up. Commanders would come and go, but the old
camp prefect would stay put until retirement. The second in command was someone called a
military tribune. Get ready, because this one's a little complicated. The Military Tribune was an elected position. It was seen as an early step in a political
career, normally taken by young men before they could officially enter the senate around
the age of 30. This meant that military tribunes tended to
be sons of senators, or sons of wealthy families aspiring to have their first senator. Aristocratic, but with an eye towards pleasing
the voters back home. Top down, and bottom up. In the old days there were 6 equal military
tribunes, and they would take turns commanding the legion, as a form of training. When the army became more professional, this
system was done away with. They replaced it with this. Five of the six Military Tribunes were called
Thin Striped Tribunes, after their clothing. These young men were basically personal secretaries
to the commander of the legion, and had no real responsibilities. Their only role was to watch and learn. They had no command authority, no combat ability,
and no responsibilities during a battle. They were a bit of a joke, even in their own
time. We can safely ignore the thin striped tribunes. They're dead to us. One of the six Military Tribunes was called
the Thick Striped Tribune, and these are the important ones. They tended to be the sons of respected senators,
and were separately elected, with actual responsibilities. They were the second in command of the legion,
and had the authority to lead men into battle if necessary. They were still young men, inexperienced,
but highly respected, unlike their thin striped counterparts. A broad striped military tribune could reasonably
expect to go on to become a senator. Finally, we have the commander of the legion,
the legate. This was a senator, appointed by the senate
to command a specific legion for a specific length of time. Very top down. In all, legions consisted of 5248 men, including
128 cavalry, 640 Decani, 59 Optios, 59 Centurions of various rank including the Primus Pilus,
1 Camp Prefect, 1 Military Tribune (that matters), and 1 Legate. What's really interesting is that the three
command positions within the legion, the camp prefect, the military tribune, and the legate,
represent these three different sources of power. The camp prefect represents the professional
soldier, from the bottom up. The legate represents the will of the senate,
from the top down. And the military tribune represents the aristocracy
and the people back in Rome, which is a complicated blend of the two. The balancing act that they're trying to pull
off here is a really different way of thinking about bureaucracy. One man was appointed, one was elected, one
got there through seniority, and all had very different constituencies to please. But by using this system the legion as a functional
unit remained dynamic for centuries.
Thought for sure this was going to be the other video
Really enjoyed this one too though
Yea but what have the Romans ever done for us?
I really love these videos. He seems to be creating them more frequently now which is great.
Just say slaves man, it's ok. I don't think ancient romans are going to get butthurt about it.
yea but I still won't cheer for Roman Reigns
great video!
two questions: what were the weaknesses of this hierarchy/what did succeeding formations in Europe do differently
and
what is expected from the first cohort during fighting?
"Helpers"
This is a good video in general, but there is a lot of speculation when it comes to the centurionate. The truth is we simply do not know exactly which centurions were considered to be superior to others, or in what order a successful centurion would be promoted through the ranks.
Also it seems to imply that the majority of centurions were highly experienced veteran soldiers, but as with any position of authority in Roman society patronage mattered just as much, if not more, than experience. Members of the equestrian class often enlisted directly into the centurionate without serving as regular enlisted legionaires first.
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