The following list indicates ranks and hierarchy structure from highest command to lowest common soldier in the Roman army: Senior Officers of the Roman Legion Cohort X: Made up of "The Good Troops".Cohort IX: One of the four weak cohorts and a likely place to find trainees and raw recruits.Cohort VIII: Contained "The Selected Troops".Cohort VII: One of the four weak cohorts and a likely place to find trainees and raw recruits.Cohort VI: Made up of "The Finest of the Young Men".Cohort V: Again, no special designation.Cohort IV: Another of the four weak cohorts.Cohort III: No special designation for this unit.Cohort II: Consisted of some of the weaker or newest troops.Its direct commander was the Primus Pilus, the highest ranking and most respected of all the Centurions. Cohort I: Was made up of the elite troops.They were arranged in battle so that the strongest and weakest units would be mixed throughout the formation maximizing moral and effectiveness. The basic designation of the 10 cohorts was the same throughout all the Legions. The First Cohort totaling 800 men (5 double-strength centuries with 160 men each) 9 Cohorts (with 6 centuries at 80 men each) for a total 4,320, and an additional 120 man cavalry for a grand total of 5,240 men not including all the officers. For example, Legio VI Hispaniensis was renamed Legio VI Victrix for exemplary service in quelling the entire region of Hispania. Occasionally, the name of a legion was changed to a word in recognition of an event. This could refer to the region where they were based (e.g. Individual legions were identified using Roman numerals, often with an additional name or title. Legio (legion): consisted of 10 cohorts.Īdditionally, each legion had a 120 man Alae (cavalry unit) called the Eques Legionis permanently attached to it, possibly to be used as scouts and messengers.In addition, the first cohort was double strength but with only 5 centuriae instead of the normal 6. Cohorts (cohort): included 6 centuriae or a total of 480 fighting men, not including officers.Centuria (century): was made up of 10 contubernium with a total of 80 men commanded by a centurion.Contubernium (tent group): consisted of 8 men.The basic structure of the army is as follows: In this page, we look at the overall fighting strength of a Roman Imperial legion, how it was organized, and the many different ranks of those within it. It is difficult to determine whether non-combatants like field surgeons and clerks were included in this 5,300 or helped bring the total number of men up to the official 6,000. In the Roman army, a full strength legion was officially made up of 6,000 men, but typically all legions were organized at under strength and generally consisted of approximately 5,300 fighting men including officers. Organization and Ranks of the Roman Imperial Legion
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