08-12-2014, 07:18 AM
Nathan wrote:
Vegetius was trying to describe the legion of a previous era, but he might have been deceived by these apparently decimal command titles into thinking that the basic unit numbered 100 men.
And here lies the problem. In regard to the organisation of the Late Roman legion I have not been able to create a centurion command structure. However, it lends itself well to an ordinarius and an optio. Vegetius reference to every ten men being commanded by a decani I have found to be correct for the Late Roman legion and it seems to be what has replaced the centurion system. If one was a centurion living at the time of the legion being made smaller, there would have been concerns among the centurions about how their seniority would be affected. As there doesn’t seem to be a mutiny among the centurions during Diocletian’s reign, the situation must have been handled to the liking of the centurions. The transfer would suggest all centurion ordinarius became an ordinarii (Latin singular pural is at best a tragedy so forgive me), and all junior centurions in the legion become an optio.
One possible method of doing this is after the legion is made smaller, it is still organised into sixty centuries.
Vegetius was trying to describe the legion of a previous era, but he might have been deceived by these apparently decimal command titles into thinking that the basic unit numbered 100 men.
And here lies the problem. In regard to the organisation of the Late Roman legion I have not been able to create a centurion command structure. However, it lends itself well to an ordinarius and an optio. Vegetius reference to every ten men being commanded by a decani I have found to be correct for the Late Roman legion and it seems to be what has replaced the centurion system. If one was a centurion living at the time of the legion being made smaller, there would have been concerns among the centurions about how their seniority would be affected. As there doesn’t seem to be a mutiny among the centurions during Diocletian’s reign, the situation must have been handled to the liking of the centurions. The transfer would suggest all centurion ordinarius became an ordinarii (Latin singular pural is at best a tragedy so forgive me), and all junior centurions in the legion become an optio.
One possible method of doing this is after the legion is made smaller, it is still organised into sixty centuries.
