Utente:Cristiano64/Esercito romano: differenze tra le versioni

Versione delle 18:54, 10 ott 2014

Versione delle 19:01, 10 ott 2014

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=== Legionary infantry ===

==== Levy and conditions of service ====

Service in the legions was limited to property-owning Roman citizens, normally those known as ''iuniores'' (age 16-46). Elders, paupers, debtors, convicts, freedmen and slaves were excluded, save in emergencies. The service that each recruit was assigned to depended on his property-assessed social class. Each soldier was originally expected to pay for his own equipment, so persons of the lowest class below assessed wealth of 400 ''drachmae'' (in c. 216 BC) were not eligible for service in the legions. According to the Greek author [[Polybius]], these were assigned to naval service as oarsmen, which required no equipment.<ref name="Polybius VI.19"/> Of the other classes, the poorest troops would join the ''[[velites]]'' (singular form: ''veles'' = light infantry), who did not bear body-armour and whose equipment was thus less expensive than a heavy infantryman's.<ref>Goldsworthy (2001) 45</ref> Those with the highest property rating, and thus able to afford their own horse, joined the cavalry.<ref name="Polybius VI.20">Polybius VI.20</ref> The majority of Roman foot-soldiers came from the families of small farmer-freeholders (i.e. peasants who owned small plots of land).<ref>Goldsworthy (2003) 43</ref>

Conscription of recruits would take place in the [[Campus Martius]] (Field of Mars) on the outskirts of Rome under the supervision of the Consuls.

Service in the legions was limited to property-owning Roman citizens, normally those known as ''iuniores'' (age 16-46). Elders, paupers, debtors, convicts, freedmen and slaves were excluded, save in emergencies. The service that each recruit was assigned to depended on his property-assessed social class. Each soldier was originally expected to pay for his own equipment, so persons of the lowest class below assessed wealth of 400 ''drachmae'' (in c. 216 BC) were not eligible for service in the legions. According to the Greek author [[Polybius]], these were assigned to naval service as oarsmen, which required no equipment.<ref name="Polybius VI.19"/> Of the other classes, the poorest troops would join the ''[[velites]]'' (singular form: ''veles'' = light infantry), who did not bear body-armour and whose equipment was thus less expensive than a heavy infantryman's.<ref>Goldsworthy (2001) 45</ref> Those with the highest property rating, and thus able to afford their own horse, joined the cavalry.<ref name="Polybius VI.20">Polybius VI.20</ref> The majority of Roman foot-soldiers came from the families of small farmer-freeholders (i.e. peasants who owned small plots of land).<ref>Goldsworthy (2003) 43</ref>

At an early stage, however, the state assumed the cost of armour and weapons, probably when pay was introduced for both infantry and cavalry around 400 BC. However, it is unclear whether the cost of armour and weapons was deducted from pay: food, clothing and other equipment certainly were.<ref name="Polybius VI.39">Polybius VI.39</ref> Armour and weapons were certainly provided by the state by the time of the Second Punic War, during which the minimum property-qualification was largely ignored because of manpower shortages. This position probably continued after the war, at least as regards volunteers.