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

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The Roman A rmy
d i ers ,” and Tac i tus (Agri col a 18.2) uses it to de s c ri be the military units of a ll
types in Britain.
Th ere is arch aeo l ogical and ep i gra phic evi den cethat from the second cen tu ry
onw a rdethnic units of va rying sizes were establ i s h edin fron ti erfort s , in parti c ular
in the Odenwald regi on of G erm a ny, wh ere small forts of 0.6 hect a re were
ga rri s on ed pri n c i p a lly by nu m eri Bri t to nu m— Bri tish tri be s m en perhaps wi t hd
rawn from nort h ern England and sout h ern Scotland by Tra ja n , or po s s i bly by
Had ri a n . These units are de s c ri bed on inscri pti ons ei t h er as nu m eri Bri t to nu m ,
or simply as B ri t to n e s . It seems that the title was not as important as the et h n i c
n a m e , and of tenthis name was fo ll owed by another distinguishing name derived
f rom the place wh ere the unit was stati on ed , for example B ri t tones Tri pu ti en se s ,
or B ri t tones Elanti en se s . Si m i l a rly, nu m eri com po s ed of s o l d i ers from the eastern
provi n ces were de s i gn a ted by an ethnic name and a place name, su ch as the num
erus Syro rum Ma lven s i u m , a unit of Syrians in Af ri c a , and the nu m eru s
Pa l myren o rum Po rol i s sen s i u m , Pa l myrenes stati on ed at Poro l i s sum in Dac i a .
The origins of the numeri can probably be traced to the occasional employment
of irregular troops on campaigns, such as the Palmyrene archers who were
attached to the Roman army in Judaea under Vespasian and Titus in ad 70–71.
Similarly, groups of Moorish tribesmen (Mauri) were attached to the troops of
the governor of Mauretania Caesariensis in ad 68 and may have been the foreru
n n ers of the nu m eri Ma u ro ru m in Dac i a . Al t h o u gh these troops prob a bly
took part in campaigns, the functions of the numeri stationed on the frontiers
may have been to patrol the less populated regions and to protect convoys, parti
c u l a rly in Dacia wh ere they may have patro ll ed the ro utes to and from the
mining areas. They may have acted as scouts beyond the frontiers, if the titles of
the numeri exploratorum from the British and German frontiers are indicative
of their purpose. One of these units, the numerus exploratorum Germanicianorum
Divitiensium, occupied the large fort of Niederbieber from the early third
century ad and may have been at least 1,000 strong. There was no uniformity of
unit size in the numeri, which were perhaps organized on a tailor-made basis
for different purpo s e s . The nu m eri were frequ en t ly com m a n ded by legi on a ry
centurions, who were sometimes given the title praepositus. This did not denote
a specific rank such as prefect or tribune, but was a title often given to an officer
in a temporary command. Sometimes the centurion in command of a numerus
was also called curator, or the unit was described as “in charge of ” (sub cura) a
cen tu ri on . In the third cen tu ry, com m a n ders of nu m eri were more of ten prefects
and tribunes.
O f f i cers
During the Republic, the officers next in line to the consuls were the six tribunes
of the legion and the prefects commanding the Alae Sociorum. Subordinate to