Signaculum and Sacramentum

[Titus Labienus]

Do we have any evidence of the signaculum or the sacramentum in the first century B.C., say in Caesar's legions? Especially with regard to the sacramentum, if we do have evidence of its use, do we know the formula of the oath?

Thanks!

[Paul Elliott]

AFAIK you will have to work backwards from Vegetius, one of the few writers who spells this kind of thing out explicitly.

[jho]

I believe that there is fairly extensive evidence for the sacramentum in Republican times.

If you are referring to the oath of allegiance to a specific person, I believe Sulla is reported (by Plutarch?) to have been the first to have the soldiers swear allegiance to him personally. This is from the top of my head. On the specific formula I will have to check my sources when I get home.

[jho]

Just found this through google:

sacramentum

[Titus Labienus]

Thanks, Jens. I will check my Plutarch this afternoon. I am checking the link you sent right now.

[Titus Labienus]

Jens, that link was a huge help. In his article, Van Slyke, a professor at Ave Maria College in Michigan, cited several references, but the most helpful were Caesar's Bellum Civile II.28 and II. 32. Both of these contain references to soldiers swearing an oath to a certain Domitius. This would have been Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus who commanded the left wing against Caesar at Pharsalus. What this shows clearly is that the sacramentum was taken by the soldiers of Caesar's time to their commander. This changes in the empire to an oath of loyalty to the emperor.

Thank you so much! That was tremendously helpful.

[JEaton]

Further to the above, Epictetus writing during the imperial period says:

'For the soldiers, when they enter military service, swear an oath to value the safety of the emperor above everything'