Centurion Position in Battle

[Frank]

Besides the men you mention, there were also the equites legionis on the rolls of the century - about two men in each, in fact. Did they keep their horses in barracks too?

If we look to cavalry camps, the cavalrists and their horses lived in mixed barrack. One side of the barrack was a stable for 3 horses and the other side rooms for 3 soldiers, iirc. But we did not find this type of barracks in a legions camp so far. Even if they are easy to identify, because the ground of a stable is contaminated.

- there were plenty of men on the century's strength who had other tasks; they may not have been present in barrack or camp tents, and perhaps not in the battle formation either. Yet another known unknown to throw out our calculations!

And this is important for the topic of this thread, which is battle formation of a centuria.

No legate with a brain let his cornicularius fight and die. Also the beneficarius tribuni was probably at the side of his tribune, ready to perform whatever task is needed during combat. Also the optio valetudinarii and his capsularii had better things to do during a battle than fighting. And additionally hundreds of soldiers were hundred of miles away in the adminstration centers of the province.

Therfore I guess that the strength of every century in a battle was different. Something between 50 and 70 men perhaps. So if the legate orders, that the line has to be 8 men deep, some centuries are broader than others. Nice blocks of 10 x 8 men are most probably just happening in Hollywood movies.