These consisted of about 5 000 infantry soldiers divided into ten cohorts of six centuries, which were further divided into 8-man units who ate and slept together, often a small cavalry squadron, and about 1000 non-combatants. A consul's legion was commanded by up to six elected military tribunes but if the general was not a consul at the time, it was under a legate or the general himself.
Titles | Base | Creator |
I Minervia | Rhine | |
I Italica | Lower Moesia | |
I Adiutrix | Misenum/Upper Pannonia | Nero |
II Adiutrix | Misenum fleet | Nero |
I Germanica | Bonna | |
II Parthica | Septimius Severus | |
II Augusta | Rhine, Britain | |
III Augusta | ||
III Syrenaica | Arabia | |
III Gallica | Syria | |
IV Scythica | Syria | |
IV Macedonia | Rhine | |
V Macedonica | Moesia | |
VI Valeria Victrix | Lower Germany, Britain | |
VI Ferrata | Palestine | |
VII Claudia | Danube | |
XI Hispana | ||
X Gemina | Upper Pannonia | |
X Fretensis | ||
XI Claudia | ||
XIV Gemina Marcia Victrix | Rhine | Augustus |
XV Primigenia | Vetera | |
XV Apollinaris | Upper Euphrates | |
XVI Gallica | Novaesium | |
XX Valeria Marcia Victrix | Britain | |
XXI Rapax | ||
XXII Primigenia | Upper Germany | |
XXX Ulpia Victrix | Lower Rhine |
imperator (Emperor) | originally meant 'general' |
legatus | commander (had to be of senatorial rank) |
prefectus | prefect |
praefectus fabrum | civilian appointed by general to equip and supply all the army's needs |
tribunus (senior + junior) | legate's staff |
primipilus (primus pilus - first spear) | leading centurion |
princeps | senior auxiliary centurion |
specularius | spy |
cornicularis | head of commissariat |
centurion | commanded 100 men (about 60 per legion) |
decurion | commanded 10 men |
contubernalis | subaltern or military cadet |
miles gregarius | ordinary soldier or legionary |
Imaginifer | standard bearer |
auxiliaries | non-citizen legions, often conquered tribesmen |
A crown or corona was a military decoration awarded for acts of bravery.
Crown
(most important first) |
Translation | Awarded for: |
Corona Graminea | grass crown | saving a whole legion or army |
Corona Civica | civic crown, oak leaves | saving lives of fellow soldiers, and holding the ground to the end of the battle |
Corona Aurea | gold crown | killing an enemy in single combat and holding the ground to the end of the battle |
Corona Muralis | crenellated gold crown | being first over the walls when storming a city |
Corona Navalis | gold crown decorated with ships' beaks | bravery during a sea battle |
Corona Vallaris | gold crown | being first across ramparts of an enemy camp |
This collection of names compiled by Kate Monk. Copyright January 1997, Kate Monk. Last updated April, 97. Copies may be made for personal use only.