The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

as h a s t a tus po s teri o r, t h en pri n ceps po s teri o r, rising to h a s t a tu s , t h en pri n cep s ,
and finally the most coveted of posts, primus pilus, which translates literally as
“first spear.”
The legionary fortress at Inchtuthill in Scotland, dating to the late first century
ad, provides unequivocal evidence that the first cohort of the legion there
was divided into five double-strength centuries. Next to the headquarters building,
five houses with courtyards stood at the ends of five pairs of barracks. One
of the houses was more refined than the other four, with a larger courtyard and
under-floor heating in some of the rooms, and it is postulated that this was the
residence of the primus pilus. No archaeological or epigraphic evidence attests
the name of the occupants of the fortress, but Inchtuthill is now ineradicably
a s s oc i a ted with l egio XX Va l eria Vi ctri x , wh i ch for mu ch of its re s i den ce in
Britain was housed at Chester (Deva). Archaeological excavations at Chester are
re s tri cted because the modern city overlies the fortre s s , so it cannot yet be
shown whether the layout compares or contrasts with Inchtuthill.
The late Roman author Vegetius provides additional evidence that the first
cohort was double the size of the others. Writing of the legionary cavalry (equites
legionis) of the third century, Vegetius indicates that the cavalry of the first
cohort was twice the strength of the horsemen of each of the ordinary cohorts
(Epitoma Rei Militaris 2.6). Thus, there is some evidence that the first cohort in
some of the legions were double strength, but it is still not possible to state categorically
that all legions in all provinces and at all times had a double first cohort.
It has been suggested that the first cohort was largely composed of veterans,
but this does not answer the question whether all legions adopted the same
policy. There may have been special circumstances in which the first cohort was
strengthened, for instance, for a campaign. Some modern armies recruit extra
soldiers in wartime, so it is possible that only a few of the legions had an enlarged
first cohort, and it is also possible that this was not intended to be a permanent
situation.
The Legionary Cavalry
The Roman A rmy 101
E ach legi on con t a i n ed 120 mounted men (e q u i tes legi o n i s) . O n ly one source ,
F l avius Jo s ephu s , a t tests to this nu m ber, and stri ct ly interpreted this simply
means that when Josephus wrote his description of the army in Judaea under
Vespasian and Titus, the legionary cavalry numbered 120 men. In the absence of
any other evidence, it is usually extrapolated from Josephus’s statement that the
same number applied to all legions of the first two centuries ad.
For administrative purposes, the equites legionis were allocated to different
legionary centuries, which may signify that they all trained as infantrymen on
enlistment, and after being appointed as cavalrymen they remained on the reg-