Transcript The Roman Army Who was in the Roman army?

Dalya Levin
 The entire population served in the army, rich or poor
(except women)
 The lower classes were foot soldiers (the infantry)
 The soldiers on horse back were the rich classes
(the cavalry)
 The cavalry were those who could afford to have a
horse
 Officers bought their own armor and weapons
 If an officer wanted a horse, he had to provide and care
for the horse himself
 The rich soldiers in the cavalry were called equites
 Only men could be in the Roman Army
 Every Roman soldier was a Roman citizen
 He had to be at least 20 years old
 But some gravestones in Britain show that boys of 14
years joined the legions
 Soldiers were not supposed to get married
 Most soldiers in the Roman Empire came from
countries outside Italy
 There were Roman soldiers from Africa, France,
Germany, the Balkans, Spain and the Middle East
 The legions did not only have soldiers
 There were also doctors, and engineers
 Foot soldiers included:
 principes
(first line soldiers)
 Triarii
(reserves)
 hastati
(spear throwers)
 Soldiers had to stay in the army for at least 25 years!
 Then they could retire, with a pension
 or a gift of land to farm
 Old soldiers often settled down to old age together, in
a military town or colonia
 This gave Rome retired but trained military men who
could help to protect towns and villages all over the
empire
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/romans/t
he_roman_army/includes/activities/pdfs/r_structure_
roman_army.pdf
 There were about 30 legions in the Roman
army
 Each legion had between 4,000 and 6,000
soldiers
 Soldiers were called called legionaries
 Each legion had ten cohorts
 Each cohort was made up of six troops of
about 80 legionaries, called centuries.
 Each century was led by a centurion

 A centurion carried a short rod, to
show his importance
 He could also use his stick to beat any
soldier who disobeyed an order
 The officer commanding the whole
legion was called a legate
 The ancient Romans loved pomp and spectacle
 The Roman legion provided a big show!
 Each legion had its own special banner, its own
name, and its own number
 Within the legion, centuries also had a banner
 The legion had trumpet players, drummers and
other noisemakers
 A Roman legion on the march was certainly
spectacular
 A whole legion could be punished for
failing to fight well in battle – even if the
Romans did win the battle itself!
 When a legion moved camp, they would
break apart the old camp and march away
 When they stopped for the night, they
would build a new camp, complete with
walls, towers, and even roads