Roman Times

2 Pages 503 Words

From early times right down to the 3rd century A.D, the Roman army was based on its legions. A legion varied in strength from 4,000 to 6,000 men, and was subdivided onto ten cohorts. Its leader used the title of legatus. His staff officers were called tribuni. Senior non-commissioned officers were called centurions, who varied greatly in rank. The soldiers of the legion were picked men: They were all Roman citizens and received a higher pay than the auxillary troops - that is, foreigners who serve with the Roman army.
A legion consisited of heavily armoured infantry (foot soldiers). The Roman infantry became a feared force, well disciplined and well trained. Their weapons were two pila or javelins each and a short thrusting gladius or sword. Cavalry was supplied by the auxilaries ( second line troops ) and was organised mainly in units 500 strong.
When it was on campaigns the army was accompanied by a number of specialists. One was the camp commandant, who was responsible for the organisation of the camp. The Romans were very careful about their camps - no Roman army halted for a single night without digging a trenches and fortifying its camp. Each soldier took his share in establishing the camp and striking the camp the next day. Another specialist was the quaestor, whose duty was to look after all the money matter. then there were the engineers and all kinds of craftsmen and artisans. They were responsible for siege operations and for the rather primative Roman"artillery", which consisted of big catapults and complicated machines a little like crossbows. These were mainly used for hurling big rocks and stones at the walls of a defence place. The engineers also had to build the moveable towers that were used in sieges - the Roman soldiers went up inside these towers so that they could see over the walls of a fortified!
place and shoot their stones and arrows into it. The engineers also made the scaling ladders that were used for ...