The Roman Cavalry: From the First to the Third Century AD

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In conclusion, there were few significant differences in training, fighting capability or tactical role between legionary infantry and their auxiliary counterparts – it seems as though either could fight in the main battle- line or act as light infantry. I suspect that the auxiliaries were often given the ‘dirty jobs’ where taking a few casualties wouldn’t matter (it was probably bad form to get citizens killed unnecessarily). The legions, on the other hand, were more or less guaranteed to be reliable and would be used where success was imperative, regardless of casualties. Cataphractarii regiments apparently remained few in number in the army of the Principate (to AD 284). They became more numerous in the Late Roman army, especially in the East. However, a number of the "eastern" units have Gaulish names (including the Biturigenses and Ambianenses), indicating their western origins. [11] Nineteen units are recorded in the Notitia Dignitatum, of which one was an elite schola regiment of imperial horse guards. All but two of the rest belonged to the comitatus (field armies), with a minority rated as elite palatini troops. There was just one regiment of cataphract horse archers. As you can see we have plastic multi-part Roman Auxilia and they come with a stunning metal command group of Centurion, Optio, Cornicen and Signifer. Under the reforming emperor Diocletian ( r.284–305AD), himself an Illyrian equestrian officer, the military equestrian "takeover" was brought a stage further, with the removal of hereditary senators from most administrative, as well as military posts. Hereditary senators were limited to administrative jobs in Italy and a few neighbouring provinces (Sicily, Africa, Achaea and Asia), despite the fact that senior administrative posts had been greatly multiplied by the tripling of the number of provinces and the establishment of dioceses (super-provinces). The exclusion of the old Italian aristocracy, both senatorial and equestrian, from the political and military power that they had monopolised for many centuries was thus complete. The senate became politically insignificant, although it retained great prestige. [79] As hoplite warfare was the standard early in this era, cavalry might have not played a substantial role in battle except for chasing after routed enemies. [11] Republican cavalry (338–88BC) [ edit ] North face of the Mausoleum of Glanum, southern France, showing a cavalry battle, c. 40 BC Recruitment [ edit ]

The cavalry role of equites dwindled after the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), as the number of equestrians became insufficient to provide the senior officers of the army and general cavalrymen as well. Equites became exclusively an officer-class, with the first class of commoners providing the legionary cavalry. The horsemen of the later Roman Republic were unlikely to be Roman at all. Caesar famously recruited his cavalry from among the Gauls and Germans that he fought and allied with during his campaigns of conquest.

One of the best descriptions of these cavalry to survive, was made by the Late Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus: Roman cavalry ( Latin: equites Romani) refers to the horse-mounted forces of the Roman army throughout the Regal, Republican, and Imperial eras. that the main battle-line was the preserve, exclusively, of the legions, being supported on the flanks by the light troops of the auxilia (this would make sense if (ii) above were true – however, as we shall see, it is not); At the Battle of Turin the emperor Constantine I destroyed a numerous force of enemy cataphracts; he manoeuvred his army in such a way that his more lightly armoured and mobile cavalry were able to charge in on the exposed flanks of the cataphracts. Constantine's cavalry were equipped with iron-tipped clubs, ideal weapons for dealing with heavily armoured foes. [7] Development [ edit ]

Their professionalism led emperors to rely on them ever more heavily, especially in difficult conflicts such as the Marcomannic Wars (166–180). But because they were only equestrians, they could not be appointed to the top military commands, those of legatus Augusti pro praetore (governor of an imperial province, where virtually all military units were deployed) and legatus legionis (commander of a legion). In the later 2nd century, emperors tried to circumvent the problem by elevating large numbers of primipilares to senatorial rank by adlectio. [76]

The troops and their war horses

Supplement your cavalry with their own Roman Cavalry Command, offering equipment options of horn and standard. This met resistance in the Senate, so that in the 3rd century, emperors simply appointed equestrians directly to the top commands, under the fiction that they were only temporary substitutes ( praeses pro legato). Septimius Severus ( r.193–211AD) appointed primipilares to command the three new legions that he raised in 197 for his Parthian War, Legio I, II & III Parthica [76] Gallienus ( r.253–268AD) completed the process by appointing equites to command all the legions. [77] These appointees were mostly provincial soldier-equestrians, not Italian aristocrats. [78] Theodor Mommsen argues that the royal cavalry was drawn exclusively from the ranks of the patricians ( patricii), the aristocracy of early Rome, which was purely hereditary. [6] Apart from the traditional association of the aristocracy with horsemanship, the evidence for this view is the fact that, during the republic, six centuriae (voting constituencies) of equites in the comitia centuriata (electoral assembly) retained the names of the original six royal cavalry centuriae. [4] [Note 1] These are very likely the " centuriae of patrician nobles" in the comitia mentioned by the lexicologist Sextus Pompeius Festus. If this view is correct, it implies that the cavalry was exclusively patrician (and therefore hereditary) in the regal period. (However, Cornell considers the evidence tenuous). [7] Early Republic (509–338 BC) [ edit ]

A marriage law of 18 BC (the lex Julia) seems to define not only senators but also their descendants unto the third generation (in the male line) as a distinct group. [47] There was thus established a group of men with senatorial rank ( senatorii) wider than just sitting senators ( senatores). The swords were appraised by Professor Simon James from Leicester University who says that these weapons are middle imperial Roman swords commonly referred to as a spatha. They were in use in the Roman world probably by the 160s, through the later second century and far into the third century AD.Pompey achieved many victories including against the slave revolt of Spartacus, going on to form part of the First Triumvirate along with Caesar and Marcus Crassus – who shared in many of their victories in Gaul. According to Roman legend, Rome was founded by its first king, Romulus, in 753 BC. However, archaeological evidence suggests that Rome did not acquire the character of a unified city-state (as opposed to a number of separate hilltop settlements) until c. 625 BC. [1] Julian the Apostate Orations 1, panegyric to Constantius [1] in English at the Tertullian Project with introduction on the manuscripts

Spear ( hasta): during the Roman Kingdom and much of the Roman Republic the hasta was used by the cavalry. It was very good when charging into enemy infantry. In the late 4th and in the 5th century, therefore, the senatorial class at Rome and Constantinople became the closest equivalent to the equo publico equestrian class of the early Principate. It contained many ancient and illustrious families, some of whom claimed descent from the aristocracy of the Republic, but had, as described, lost almost all political and military power. [85] Nevertheless, senators retained great influence due to their enormous inherited wealth and their role as the guardians of Roman tradition and culture. [86] This was the main road in the middle and it would have been humming with activity with the soldiers coming out and washing themselves in the morning and at the end of the day.

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The Roman army used citizen cavalry for much of its history. However, by the time of the 1st century BC citizen cavalry disappeared from the Roman army. Citizen cavalry was replaced by foreign auxiliary cavalry. The auxiliary cavalry was made up of Numidians, Spaniards, and Gauls. Numidian, Spanish, and Gallic cavalry were superior to Roman cavalry. During the Second Punic War the Roman cavalry suffered many defeats, demonstrating the inferiority of native Roman cavalry. [43] Training and formations [ edit ] As their name implies, equites were liable to cavalry service in the legion of the mid-republic. They originally provided a legion's entire cavalry contingent, although from an early stage (probably from c. 400 and not later than c. 300 BC), when equestrian numbers had become insufficient, large numbers of young men from the first class of commoners were regularly volunteering for the service, which was considered more glamorous than the infantry. [29]