cohors Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World
... (pl. cohortēs ) In the early Roman republic the infantry provided by the allies were organized in separate cohortes of varying strength, each under a Roman or native prefect . In the legions the cohort was first used as a tactical unit by Cornelius Scipio Africanus in Spain, but for over a century it was employed alongside the manipular organization ( see manipulus ) before the latter was superseded in the field. The cohort was made up of three maniples, or six centuries. There were ten cohortes in a legion. From the time of Cornelius Scipio...
cohors Reference library
Henry Michael Denne Parker, George Ronald Watson, and Jonathan C. N. Coulston
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...were ten cohortes in a legion. From the time of P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus , the general's personal bodyguard was known as the cohors praetoria . By the middle of the 1st cent. bc , the term was used also to describe the group of personal friends and acquaintances which accompanied a provincial governor. Both these usages led to developments in the empire. This entourage was the origin of the emperor's cohors amicorum ( see amicus augusti ); the military cohortes praetoriae were formalized in the praetorian guard ( see praetorians ). In the...
arms and armour
limitanei
Vindolanda tablets Reference library
J. David Thomas
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...of thin, wooden leaves, written in ink with a pen. Only a handful of tablets of this type was previously known, and the concentration of such numbers at one site is unique. They date between c. ad 90 and 120 , when the fort was occupied first by Cohors I Tungrorum and later by Cohors IX Batavorum ( see cohors ). The Vindolanda material includes the largest group of Latin letters ever discovered ( see letters, latin ). There are also literary fragments, shorthand texts, military reports, applications for leave, and accounts. The letters often bear on the...
Brigantium Reference library
Simon J. Keay
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...Brigantium Flavium, suggests it was a recipient of Vespasian's grant of the Latin right ( see ius latii ). There is no evidence, however, for municipal institutions even though tombstones are known and it appears as a statio on two itineraries ( Ravenna Cosmography ). The cohors Celtibera was stationed there prior to the early 5th cent. A lighthouse still stands 2 km. (1 ¼ mi.) to the north ( CIL 2. 2559). A. Tranoy , La Galice romaine (1981). Simon J....
Vindolanda tablets Reference library
J. David Thomas
The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (2 ed.)
...were made of thin wooden leaves, written in ink with a pen. Only a handful of tablets of this type was previously known, and the concentration of such numbers at one site is unique. They date between c. ad 90 and 120 , when the fort was occupied first by Cohors (cohort) I Tungrorum and later by Cohors IX Batavorum. The Vindolanda material includes the largest group of Latin letters ever discovered. There are also literary fragments, shorthand texts, military reports, applications for leave, and accounts. The letters often bear on the official and private...
Vindolanda tablets Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World
...type, but most were made of thin, wooden leaves, written in ink with a pen. Very few such tablets were previously known, and the concentration of such numbers at one site is unique. They date between c. ad 90 and 120 , when the fort was occupied first by Cohors I of Tungrians and later by Cohors IX of Batavians. The Vindolanda material includes the largest group of Latin letters ever discovered ( see letters, latin ). There are also literary fragments, shorthand texts, military reports, applications for leave, and accounts. The letters often bear on...
Cornovii Reference library
Sheppard S. Frere and Martin J. Millett
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...the Welsh metal mines. Few villas occur, although there were a large number of less Romanized farmsteads in the Severn valley. Romanized settlement largely concentrated at Viroconium. Industries include salt (at Droitwich), copper, and lead workings. The Notitia records a Cohors I Cornoviorum at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. V. Gaffney and R. White , Wroxeter, the Cornovii and the Urban Process 1 (2007). Sheppard S. Frere / Martin J....
manipulus Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World
...each commanded by a centurion ( see centurio ), the senior having overall responsibility. Intervals between maniples in battle formation were covered by the ranks behind, but were perhaps closed during advance. In the late 2nd cent. bc a larger tactical unit, the cohort ( see cohors ), replaced the...
Glevum Reference library
Sheppard S. Frere and Martin J. Millett
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
..., Roman Gloucester, was founded as a military base for the conquest of Wales. A fortress of Legio XX Valeria ( see legion ) was constructed at Kingsholm in c. ad 48 / 9 when P. Ostorius Scapula was moving against the Silures. A tombstone of Cohors VI Thracum may imply an auxiliary fort also. Legio XX moved to Usk in c. 57 . The fortress beneath modern Gloucester was then constructed for its return c .67 . It was occupied until c. 75 . In 96–8 the vacant fortress was settled as a colonia ( ILS 2365), but was perhaps overshadowed by the...
limitanei Reference library
R. S. O. Tomlin
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...stations on the frontiers ( limites , see limes ), as distinct from units of the mobile army ( comitatenses ). This distinction existed earlier, but was completed by Constantine I . They comprised the surviving legions and auxiliary units ( alae and cohortes ( See cohors )), now much reduced in size, and new units of cavalry ( equites and cunei ) and infantry ( auxilia and milites ). They were grouped into armies commanded by duces ( see dux ). They remained fighting troops during the 4th cent. and were sometimes upgraded into the mobile...
manipulus Reference library
John Brian Campbell
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...each commanded by a centurion ( see centurio ), the senior having overall responsibility. Intervals between maniples in battle formation were covered by the ranks behind, but were perhaps closed during advance. In the late 2nd cent. bc a larger tactical unit, the cohort ( see cohors ), replaced the maniple. L. Keppie , The Making of the Roman Army (1984); M. Sage , The Republican Roman Army. A Sourcebook (2008), 69–72. John Brian...
centurions Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World
...were the principal professional officers in the Roman army. In the post‐Marian army each of the ten cohorts ( see Cohors ; Marius ) had six centurions, except in the case of the first cohort. Between these centurions there was little difference in status apart from seniority. The first cohort had, probably from early in the empire, only five centuries and was double the size of the others. Its centurions were prīmus pīlus ( see primipilus ), princeps , hastātus , princeps posterior , and hastātus posterior . Within this group strict seniority...
numeri Reference library
John Brian Campbell
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...agents) or equites singulares Augusti , and to units recruited from un-romanized peoples, which, preserving their military customs and techniques, in some cases remained distinct from the usual army structure. However, since numerus was also used to designate a cohors , ala ( see alae ), or legion , it was not a technical term applied only to special types of unit. Therefore, the use of numerus to describe a national or ethnic unit, for instance numerus Syrorum sagittariorum (‘unit of Syrian archers’), does not imply that such units...
centurio Reference library
Henry Michael Denne Parker and George Ronald Watson
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...The centurions were the principal professional officers in the Roman army. In the post-Marian army each of the ten cohorts ( see cohors ; Marius (1) , C. ) had six centurions, whose titles, except in the case of the first cohort, were: ( secundus , tertius , etc.) pilus prior , pilus posterior , princeps prior , princeps posterior , hastatus prior , and hastatus posterior . Between these centurions of the lower-ranking cohorts there was little difference in status apart from seniority. The first cohort had, probably from early in the empire,...
tribūnī mīlitum Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World
...for one year. The other five tribunes were equestrians ( tribuni angusticlāviī ), who were often more experienced in army life. By the mid‐1st cent. ad a pattern had emerged in which many equestrians held at least three military posts— prefect of an auxiliary cohort ( see cohors ), tribunus militum , prefect of an auxiliary ala ( see alae ). Tribunes also commanded individual cohorts in the urban troops. See cursus honorum...
auxilia Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World
...calculate the total number of auxilia . By the Flavian period they probably numbered about 180,000, rising to over 220,000 in the mid‐2nd cent. The auxilia consisted of infantry cohorts and cavalry wings ( alae ), and part‐mounted cohorts containing cavalry and infantry ( see cohors ). Regular auxiliary regiments were commanded by Roman officers of equestrian rank, either tribunes or prefects, and the most senior was the prefect of an ala . Auxiliary infantrymen were probably paid at five‐sixths the rate of a legionary, receiving 750 sesterces a year...
legion Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World
...age and experience, made up two ranks, followed by the most experienced soldiers ( triāriī or ‘third rank men’). The legion was supported by 300 cavalry. 2. Marius to Actium Marius is credited with a change in the tactical structure of the legion from maniple to cohort ( see cohors ); there were ten cohorts, each containing six centuries of 80 men, making the strength of a legion 4,800, although the first cohort may have been larger. Around this time an eagle ( aquila ) was adopted as the symbol of each legion, personifying its permanent existence. The ...
Raetia Reference library
John Frederick Drinkwater
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
...Raetia was made an equestrian province by Claudius ( see centurio ; praefectus ; equites , Imperial period ; provincia ). The procuratorial governors ( see procurator ) resided in Augusta Vindelicorum (mod. Augsburg) and commanded troops: 4 alae and 11 cohortes ( see cohors ) in ad 107 ( CIL 16. 55), and 3 alae and 13 cohortes in 166 (ibid. 121). The province suffered badly in the Marcomannic wars, and it was then that the newly raised Legio III Italica Concors ( see legion ) was quartered in Raetia at Castra Regina , its commanding...
