10-03-2014, 10:05 PM
Quote:We know that by the late republic and empire periods that Rome had started issuing equipment to troops but this is one of the exceptions, not the rule. For three thousand years the most common way to equip troops was to require specific wealth classes to provide specific gear purchased and maintained at their own expense. Evidence of a Roman state arsenal dating to the relevant time period would be more helpful.
You are correct. At the same time Rome started supplying arms in great quantities was also the time period when class and wealth stipulations were abolished and also coincided with the Dilectus, for the recruitment of Roman legions, no longer occurring in Rome itself, as after the Social War, legions were frequently raised in other locations of Rome's territory by imperium holding Roman magistrates.
FYI, Steven is referring to Cicero's Cicerco. pro Rabirio Perduellionis Reo 20.
Cicero’s work references the consuls Marius and Valerius equipping senatorial supporters with arms (a collection of possibly hundreds, maybe at most a few thousand, individuals, not multiple legions) taken from temples and public armories to be used in a street battle in the forum against the rabble army of the tribune Saturninus during the December 10th, 100 BC Revolt of Saturninus. That temples with weapon caches and public armories existed is obvious, Rome didn't just throw away or give away all the arms collected during war, captured or extra, nor other extraneous equipment. It would have needed to be stored and maintained. But this is a far cry from the massive support structure necessary to equip all the Roman legions. Hundreds of thousands of individual pieces of equipment would take up a lot of space and require a ton of upkeep and support.
