08-12-2014, 11:08 AM
Quote: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.
How do you find that to be the case?
It used to be believed, I think,* that the centurionate had vanished at some point in the late third - fourth century, but more recent research suggests otherwise. The word centurio survives into Greek, as I've mentioned, and references elsewhere strongly suggest that the ordinarius was a centurion (if, perhaps initially, a more senior one).
Centurions may have commanded less men (or, arguably, more men!) than during the principiate, but they seem to have remained as the central block of the command structure, albeit under different names. Since decani are only mentioned by Vegetius, I think, and he lists them separately to ordinarii/centenarii, I don't see any reason to conflate these roles.
* By Mommsen, Seeck and Crosse, c.f. Hepworth p.24)
Quote:Vegetius...had access to works now sadly lost to us and he must have got his figures from those... it may be how they looked up to the time Diocletian and Constantine reformed the army.
The Beatty papyri (mentioned so often) would suggest against the idea of decimal organisation in the legions of the tetrarchy or immediately previously, I think. Although, of course, they are very open to interpretation!
Nathan Ross
