Caesar's Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar's Elite Tenth Legion and the Armies of Rome (56 page)

Crew—144 rowers; 10 to 15 sailors; and 40 marines.

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furlough fees In camp, one legionary in four could take leave by paying a set fee to his centurion. In a.d. 69 the state took over the responsibility for paying centurions these fees.

gemina legion “Twin” legion formed by merger of two existing legions.

GLADIUS

Roman legionary sword twenty inches long, double-edged, with a pointed end.

golden spear Military bravery award, inferior to Civic Crown and torque.

IMPERATOR

Title. Literally, chief or master. Highest honor for a general. Became reserved for emperors after their armies’ victories. The title “emperor” grew from
imperator
.

imperial Relating to the period of Roman history from 27 b.c. to the fall of the empire.

legion Regiment. Main operational unit of the Roman army. From
legio
(levy, or draft). Republican legion nominal strength, 6,000 men; imperial, 5,345

enlisted men, 72 officers. Ten cohorts, plus, in imperial times, own cavalry unit of 124 men. At the beginning of the first century there were 28 legions, numbered 1 to 28. By a.d. 100 there were 30 legions, but in the intervening period 5 had been wiped out, 11 abolished, and 18 new legions formed.

legionary Soldier of a legion. Mostly a draftee, always a Roman citizen. Most recruited outside Italy in imperial times. Republican recruits were aged seventeen to twenty and served sixteen years. Imperial recruits were twenty, and from late in the reign of Augustus served twenty years.

lictors Attendants of senior Roman officials, carrying their fasces.

lustration The
Lustratio exercitatio,
or Purification Exercise, a religious ceremony performed by legions in March. Standards were purified with perfumes and garlands prior to new campaigns.

maniple Company. Legion subunit, of 160 men in imperial times. Three to a cohort.

mantlet Wooden shed, on wheels, used in siege works.

marching camp Fortified camp built by legions at the end of a day’s march.

marine A soldier with the navy. Freedman. Served twenty-six years; paid less than an auxiliary.

mural crown Crown of gold awarded to the first Roman soldier over an enemy city wall.

onager The “wild ass,” a heavy
Ballista
invented by Greeks in the third century b.c.

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g l o s s a r y

OPTIO

Sergeant major. Deputy to centurion and decurion. Unit records and training officer. One to a century, four to legion cavalry units.

ORBIS

The Ring; the Roman legion’s circular formation of last resort.

palatium Residence and military headquarters of the emperor at Rome. The first Palatium complex was established by Augustus on the Palatine Hill, from which the name derived. All emperors’ headquarters were thereafter called the Palatium, no matter where they were located. It is from Palatium that the word

“palace” originated.

PALUDAMENTUM

General’s cloak. Scarlet in republican times. In imperial times, legion commanders wore a scarlet cloak; commanders in chief, a purple cloak.

praetor Senior magistrate and major general. Commanded legions and armies.

praetorian gate Gate of a legion camp facing the enemy.

praetorian guard Founded by the Republic to guard Rome. Imperial military police force. Only unit usually based in Italy south of the Po River. Recruited in Italy, better paid and with a shorter enlistment period than legionaries—sixteen years in imperial times. From a.d. 23 based at
castra praetoria
at Rome. Varied between seven and fourteen cohorts of a thousand men, plus Praetorian Cavalry, strength unknown. Accompanied the emperor when he left Rome and took part in military campaigns he personally led.

PRAETORIUM

Headquarters in a legion camp.

prefect Commander of auxiliary units, Praetorian Guard, and City Guard; a citizen of Equestrian status. Prefects also governed Egypt and, between a.d. 6 and 41, Judea.

procurator Roman official superior to prefect; deputy of a provincial governor.

QUADRIGA

Roman chariot drawn by four horses. Golden
quadriga
used in Triumphs.

quaestor “Investigator.” Lowest-ranking Roman magistrate. Responsible for treasury matters. Minimum age thirty from 82 b.c. Served consuls and provincial governors—chief tax collector and quartermaster; forty in Caesar’s time, reduced to twenty by Augustus.

scorpion
Scorpio,
quick-firing artillery piece using metal-tipped spears, or

“bolts.”

second-enlistment men Legionaries who voluntarily served another sixteen-or twenty-year enlistment with their legion when their first enlistment expired.

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senate Rome’s most powerful elected body. Members needed a net worth of one million sesterces and qualified for legion commands and consulships. Minimum age thirty in imperial times.

SIGNIFER

Literally a signaler, the standard-bearer of legion subunits.

TESSERA

Small wax sheet on which was inscribed the legion or army watchword for the day.

TESSERARIUS

Legion guard/orderly sergeant. Distributed the
tessera
to his men.

TESTUDO

The “tortoise.” Legionaries locked shields over their heads and at their sides.

third-enlistment men Legionaries voluntarily serving a third enlistment.

TIRO

A legion recruit.

TOGA VIRILIS

Toga worn by young Roman men after coming of age in their fifteenth year.

torque A neckchain of gold, one of the Roman military’s highest bravery awards.

tribunal Reviewing stand in a legion camp; built in front of tribunes’ quarters.

tribune Legion and Praetorian Guard officer. Six of equal rank in republican legions shared command. In imperial legion, a junior tribune,
tribunus angusticlavius,
was an officer cadet serving a mandatory six months; five to a legion. One senior tribune,
tribunus laticlavius,
was a full colonel and second-in-command of his legion. Praetorian tribune numbers are unknown. Tribunes of the Plebs were elected officials at Rome; their republican powers were absorbed by the emperor.

triumph Prestigious parade through Rome in a golden
quadriga
by a victorious general, followed by his soldiers, prisoners, and spoils. Officially granted by a vote of the Senate.

triumphal decorations Crimson cloak, crown of bay leaves, and laurel branch awarded senior generals celebrating a Triumph. Later given in lieu of a Triumph.

watch Time in Roman military camps was divided into watches of three hours, at the end of which sentries changed, on a trumpet call. The officer of the watch was a tribune.

watchword Password in a Roman military camp. Changed daily, at sunset.

winter camp Permanent base where a legion usually spent October to March.

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:

Actium, Battle of, 185, 188–92, 198

Cleopatra liason, 188–89, 190–94

Acts of the Apostles, 298

grandson Germanicus, 199, 200

Adrianople, Battle of, 268

personality of, 87, 150

Aedui tribe, 13, 14, 15, 35, 42–43, 56

post-Pharsalus return to Rome, 131,

Aelia Capitolina, 266, 267

135, 136, 137, 145

Aemilius, Lucius, 15

in Second Triumvirate, 181–88

Afranius, Lucius, 79–86, 87, 153–54, 159,

suicide of, 194

163

tactical deficits, 100, 106, 185, 189

escape from Pharsalus, 128, 133

Appian, 294

escape from Spain, 103, 115

Ariovistus, king of the Suebi, 21–23

execution of, 164

Armenia, 107, 200, 201, 205, 207–10,

African War, The,
152, 154, 156, 159, 160

225, 226, 234, 279

Agricola, Julius, 260

Arminius (Hermann), 199, 200, 270

Agrippa, Marcus, 190, 191–92, 200, 286

Artabanus, king of Parthia, 201

Agrippina the Elder, 200, 202

Artaxias, king of Armenia, 200, 201

Albania, 74, 78, 93–103, 109, 133, 183.

Artemidorus of Cnidia, 177

See also
Durrës

Artorius, Marcus, 186

Albinus.
See
Brutus Albinus, Decimus Arverni tribe, 53–62

Albinus, Aulus, 87

Asprenas, Nonius, 2, 166, 167–68, 172

Alesia, siege of, 57–59, 60, 172

Atrebate tribe, 25–27, 31, 34–35, 40–41

Alexander, Tiberius, 232–34, 243, 252,

Atrius, Quintus, 44, 45, 48

277

Augustan Legions, 269–71

Alexander the Great, 7

Augustus (formerly Octavian), 150, 214,

Allobroges brothers, 105–6, 112, 114

219

Andalusia (formerly Baetica), 1–12,

Actium and, 185, 191–92

78–79, 165, 166–67, 211

administrative ability, 195

Antioch, 201, 202, 217, 218, 224, 228

Antony and, 180–81, 188–94

Antistius (physician), 178

legion bases, 217

Antonia Fortress, 198, 199, 238, 243, 246,

legion reforms, 195–97

248–49, 250, 251

organizational/tactical sense of, 189

Antony, Gaius, 78, 87–92, 107, 118, 137

Philippi and, 182, 183–88

Antony, Mark, 58, 174, 179–94, 261

Second Triumvirate and, 181–88

Augustus defeat of, 188–94, 282

Tiberius as successor, 199

background, 70

unpublished memoirs of, 185–86

as Caesar ally, 66, 70–73, 78, 86–106,

Avienus, Gaius, 122, 145, 156

115, 118, 128

Caesar’s annoyance with, 99–100, 150

Baal (deity), 207, 248

Caesar’s assassination and, 176–77

Baetica.
See
Andalusia

309

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i n d e x

Balbus, Lucius (nephew), 67

Dictator title, 89, 97, 175–78

Balbus, Lucius Cornelius, 7, 10, 17

engineering feats, 82, 102, 122, 244

Caesar’s memoirs and, 169, 292, 293

epileptic attacks, 162

Balkans, 76–78, 175.
See also
Illyricum first military reversal, 57

ballistics, 239

in First Triumvirate, 61

Bassus, Lucillus, 259, 260

in Gaul, 13–29, 61–66, 262

Bedriacum, Battle of, 216, 232

as hero, 11–12, 28, 60, 133, 165

Beirut, 198, 233, 274, 278

“I came . . . conquered” quote, 145, 268

Belgae tribes, 24–29, 31, 50–52

invasion of Italy, 67–75

Beth-horon, Battle of, 229, 238

laurel leaf crown, 6, 177

Bibulus, Marcus Calpurnius, 94–96, 98, 99

legions, 7, 49, 52, 65, 72, 76, 119, 120,

boar emblem, 267

136–37, 144, 149–52, 154–58,

Boduognatus, king of the Nervii, 25–28

165–69, 270–71, 281, 282.
See also

boiling oil defense, 226

specific numbered legions

booty.
See
plunder

luck of, 90, 93–94, 99, 108, 122, 154

Boudicca Revolt, 274

oratorical skill, 18, 91, 146–48

Boudicca’s chariot, 32

personal qualities, 21, 31, 67, 72–73,

Brindisi (Brundisium), 73–78, 87–99, 115,

142, 148, 150–51, 166

118, 122, 137, 150

poetry by, 38

Britain, 29, 30–49, 92, 198, 221, 274, 282

Pompey relationship, 7, 66–67, 69, 142,

Brutus, Marcus, 128, 136, 140

282

Antony’s campaign against, 180–88

Rubicon crossing, 67–70, 97

background, 131–32

scarlet cloak, 2, 59, 177

stabbing of Caesar by, 178

secret cipher, 38

Brutus, Marcus Junius (father), 131

stationed in Spain, 1–12, 282

Brutus Albinus, Decimus, 54, 58, 85–86,

strategic ruses, 52, 56, 67–68, 80, 92,

176, 179–81

93, 97, 109–10, 159

Bulgaria (Moesia), 221, 228, 247, 255,

tactics, 44, 68, 77, 122, 155, 157

269

watchwords, 168

bull emblem, 7, 18, 285

“You, too . . . ” quote, 178

Burrus, Sextus Afranius, 205

Zela battle, 32, 145, 268

Byzantine Empire, 267

Caesar, Lucius (the elder), 70–71

Caesar, Lucius (the younger), 70–71, 72,

Caecina, Aulus, 216

164

Caesar, Julius

Caesar, Sextus, 85

age and achievements, 121–22

Caesar’s memoirs, 292–93

ambition of, 31, 142

African War
and, 152, 154, 156, 159

appearance, 6

disparagement of Labienus, 73, 112

assassination “conspiracy” against, 73,

on Durrës defeat, 109

176–78, 282

Hirtius as editor, 67

British campaign, 29, 30–49, 92, 198

misrepresentations in, 5, 15, 73, 78,

as Brutus’s rumored father, 131–32

103, 104, 109, 131, 133, 136

Commentary. See
Caesar’s memoirs

on Pharsalus, 114, 120, 125

condemnation of Cato by, 164

on Spanish campaign, 85

conflict with Pompey.
See
civil war Caligula, Emperor, 117, 204, 215

daily newspaper founding by, 218

caligulae
(sandals), 215

defections/mutinies against, 3, 4, 72–73,

Cantabrian War, 198, 286

86–88, 105–6, 107, 110, 112, 114,

Capito, Insteius, 207

118, 130–31, 133–37, 145–47,

Carnute tribe, 54, 61, 62

155–57, 165, 166

Carrhae, Battle of, 35–36, 65, 111, 117,

dictation to secretaries, 37–40

175, 186, 208, 282

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