Decurio (military)
A decurio ("decurio leader", from Latin decem = ten) was the leader of a group of ten legionaries ( decuries ) in the Roman army in the early Roman times . Later the smallest unit of a legion was the tent community Contubernium of eight men, in which there was no longer any senior rank.
Originally, the Roman cavalry also knew a subdivision of each tower into three decuria, each with a decurion. This designation for the leaders of a cavalry division remained when there was only one leader per tower in the alen of the imperial auxiliary cavalry, i.e. 30 to 40 men. This decurio of the cavalry was equated with a centurio of the legion. Like the latter, the Decurio wore the eye-catching crest of a helmet ( crista transversa ). He received at least four times the pay of a common soldier and probably had three horses (a change horse and a pack horse ).
It is therefore always necessary to distinguish exactly in which context the rank appears: in the legions in the early Roman period and in the republic it was probably only a high rank ( immunis ), in the ales of the imperial era it was a very prestigious officer post .
The Byzantine army was also divided into Contubernia, which was headed by a Decurio ( Greek decarch ).
See also
literature
- Otto Fiebiger : Decurio 2. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, Col. 2352 f.
- Alfred Neumann : Decurio 3rd In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, column 1419 f.
- Marcus Junkelmann : The riders of Rome. Part 2: The military use. Zabern, Mainz 1991, ISBN 3-8053-1139-7 .
- Marcus Junkelmann: The riders of Rome. Part 3: Accessories, riding style, armament. Zabern, Mainz 1992, ISBN 3-8053-1288-1 .
- Brian Campbell: Decurio [4]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 3, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01473-8 , column 358 f.