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Men-at-Arms PUBLISHING
Roman Centurions
31 BC–AD 500
The Classical and Late Empire
Raffaele D’Amato • Illustrated by Giuseppe Rava
© Osprey Publishing •
Men-at-Arms • 479
Roman Centurions
31 BC–AD 500
The Classical and Late Empire
Raffaele D’Amato • Illustrated by Giuseppe Rava
Series editor Martin Windrow
© Osprey Publishing •
ROMAN CENTURIONS 31 BC–AD 500
THE CLASSICAL AND LATE EMPIRE
INTRODUCTION
For the safety of the Emperor, the vow that I,
Lucius Maximus Gaetulicus, son of Lucius,
of the tribe Voltinia, from Vienna, made
as a new recruit in Legion XX Valeria Victrix
– to Imperial Victory, All-Divine and Most Reverend –
I have now fulfilled as chief centurion of
Legion I Italica, in the consulship of Marullus
and Aelianus, after 57 years of service
(Inscription of AD 184 from Novae in
Lower Moesia – modern Bulgaria)
I wanted to hold slaughtered Dacians. I held them.
I wanted to sit on a chair of peace. I sat on it.
A fighting centurion of Legio II I wanted to take part in famous triumphs. It was done.
Augusta, from the Arc d’Orange I wanted the full benefits of a chief centurion. I have had them.
in southern France, 29 BC or
AD 21; see Plate A2 for I wanted to see naked nymphs. I saw them.
reconstruction. (Inscription from Africa by anonymous veteran of
(in situ; author’s photo) Trajan’s Dacian Wars – AE, 1928, 27)
hen an imperial Roman soldier signed his
contract for 25 years of military service, his
W greatest ambition was to e a centurion
– the most experienced, reliable and admired class of
officers in the Roman military machine. The senior
officers manded and staffed Roman
formations were essentially non-specialists, with little or
no formal training, so the army relied upon the
centurions for the crucial level mand between
the military tribunes and mon soldiers.
In modern terms, we might characterize the legionary
centurionate as a large and anization of
‘warran