Immune
Immunes ( Latin , plural of immunis "exempt from (public) service") were privileged soldiers in the Roman Legion who were exempt from normal service ( munera ) and had special tasks. They were hierarchically below the principales but above the simple legionnaire, but received only the simple pay . The rank - and the literal translation - corresponds roughly to the modern private , which role in today's armies is, however, only assumed by the main private (and the even higher ranks).
Immunes had a wide range of tasks . According to a fragment from the 2nd century, the following specialists were among the exempted from heavy duty :
- Architecti : builder
- Ballistrarii : Gun service
- Capsarii : Paramedic
- Cornicen : hornblowers
- Fabri : Forge
- Ferrarii : iron forge
- Gubernatores : helmsmen
- Lapidarii : stonemasons
- Librarii : scribe
- Medici : Doctors
- Mensores : land surveyors
- Naupegi : shipbuilder
- Sagittarii : archers or arrow makers
The list is not exhaustive. A decisive feature for the group of the immunes was the exemption from guard duties and from difficult tasks that the common soldier ( gregalis / miles gregarius ) had to fulfill. In contrast to the principales or the optiones , the immunes had no supervisory function.
Remarks
- ↑ Oliver Stoll : The flag guard in the Roman army . In: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 108, 1995, p. 113 ff. ( Online, PDF ).
- ↑ Cf. Yann le Bohec: The Roman Army. From Augustus to Constantine the Great , Stuttgart 1993, p. 73 and Stoll: The flag guard in the Roman army , p. 115.
- ↑ Tarruntenus Paternus in Digesten 50, 6, 7 ( Memento of the original dated December 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; see Hans-Joachim Drexhage, Heinrich Konen, Kai Ruffing: The economy of the Roman Empire (1st-3rd century): An introduction . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003430-0 , p. 215 f.
literature
- Alfred von Domaszewski : The hierarchy of the Roman army . 3. Edition. Böhlau, Bonn 1981, ISBN 3-412-05280-9 .
- Joachim Ott: The Beneficiarier: Investigations into their position within the hierarchy of the Roman army and their function . Steiner, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-515-06660-8 . (= Diss. Frankfurt 1993)
- Michael A. Speidel : Pay and economic situation of the Roman soldiers . In: Géza Alföldy , Brian Dobson, Werner Eck (eds.): Emperor, Army and Society in the Roman Empire . Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07654-9 , pp. 65-96.
- Gabriele Wesch-Klein : Social aspects of the Roman army in the imperial era . Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07300-0 . (= Habil. Heidelberg 1995)