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

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Equestrians were also the chief financial officers (also called procuratores Augusti) of the imperial provinces, and the deputy financial officers of senatorial provinces. At Rome, equestrians filled numerous senior administrative posts such as the emperor's secretaries of state (from the time of Claudius, e.g. correspondence and treasury) and the praefecti annonae (director of grain supplies). [55]

The system also led to political conflict between equites publicani and the majority of their fellow- equites, especially senators, who as large landowners wanted to minimise the tax on land outside Italy ( tributum solis), which was the main source of state revenue. [41] This system was terminated by the first Roman emperor, Augustus (sole rule 30 BC – 14 AD), who transferred responsibility for tax collection from the publicani to provincial local authorities ( civitates peregrinae). [42] Although the latter also frequently employed private companies to collect their tax quotas, it was in their own interests to curb extortion. During the imperial era, tax collectors were generally paid an agreed percentage of the amount collected. equites publicani became prominent in banking activities such as money-lending and money-changing. [40] Picture of an equestrian dressed in his rank toga and tunic, the angusticlavia. Privileges [ edit ]

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Equestrians exclusively provided the praefecti (commanders) of the imperial army's auxiliary regiments and five of the six tribuni militum (senior staff officers) in each legion. The standard equestrian officer progression was known as the " tres militiae" ("three services"): praefectus of a cohors (auxiliary infantry regiment), followed by tribunus militum in a legion, and finally praefectus of an ala (auxiliary cavalry regiment). From the time of Hadrian, a fourth militia was added for exceptionally gifted officers, commander of an ala milliaria (double-strength ala). Each post was held for three to four years. [53] Senators' sons followed a separate cursus honorum (career-path) to other equites before entering the Senate: first an appointment as one of the vigintiviri ("Committee of Twenty", a body that included officials with a variety of minor administrative functions), or as an augur (priest), followed by at least a year in the military as tribunus militum laticlavius (deputy commander) of a legion. This post was normally held before the tribune had become a member of the Senate. Cavalry horses also placed a large strain on an army's resources. They required large amounts of food and water; consuming a kilo of barley and twenty-five liters of water each day. among these were scattered cavalry with cuirasses ( cataphracti equites), whom they call clibanarii, masked, protected by coverings of iron breast-plates, and girdled with belts of iron, so that you would fancy them statues polished by the hand of Praxiteles, rather than men. And the light circular plates of iron which surrounded their bodies, and covered all their limbs, were so well fitted to all their motions, that in whatever direction they had occasion to move, the joints of their iron clothing adapted themselves equally to any position.” Ammianus (16.10.8)

Cllr Paul Hodgkinson, Cotswold District Council Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Health and Emma Stuart, Corinium Museum Director. 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 ] 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 Roman cavalry was certainly not the primary weapon of the Roman army, which heavily relied on its infantry to win battles and wars. However, the cavalry provided several vital services which were essential for expanding Rome's territories. One of the best descriptions of these cavalry to survive, was made by the Late Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus: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. 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. This is one of the three public loos that’s been left here at Vindalanda. You’d have had twelve wooden seats along here. You’d sit down, do your business straight into the drain below and probably have a chat with some of your friends as you did so.

Exploratores– reconnaissance units (from explorare – to scout) – examples include two numeri exploratorum attested in the 3rd century in Britain: Habitanco and Bremenio (both names of forts). Irregular UnitsBy the time of the 3rd century, the Constitutio Antoniniana granted all peoples citizenship rights, and citizen cavalry was in use technically. Gallienus in 260 created a mobile reserve cavalry corps to respond to the empire's threats. Responding to Persian cavalry known as the Grivpanvar, large numbers of heavily armored cavalry units such as cataphractarii, clibinarii, started to appear by the 4th century. These units were armed with a large spear, a sword and a bow. [11] However, the primary strength of the Roman army remained the infantry. a b Sabin, Lecturer Department of War Studies Philip; Sabin, Philip; Whitby, Michael Jeffrey; Wees, Hans van; Whitby, Michael (2007-12-06). The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-78274-6. In view of this, it seems clear to me that the auxilia are worthy of further study, and worthy of a more prominent place in our armies of little men. So, let us consider the auxilia, their organisation, and how and why this might be different to the legions. Organisation And from those letters we just have an enormous amount of information about the Roman soldiers but others as well and exactly what they thought about living right at the edge of the empire on Hadrian’s Wall.