Option
Optio (Pl. Optiones ; from the Latin optare "wish", from it "desired assistant") was a rank in the Roman army, especially the Roman legion . He was selected by the centurion as deputy and belonged to the principales , the lower officer ranks . Due to the broad field of activity, he is in the rank between a current sergeant and a lieutenant . There were a number of optio ranks such as the optio scholae, which could also be assigned to ordinary soldiers as special tasks in the form of ad hoc optiones .
One option could be the tactical deputy of the centurion. If this fell, the authority over the Centurie passed to the Optio centuriae , the highest-ranking Optio, who was selected for the deputy, even if theoretically the Signifer held a higher rank. In battle, the Optio had its tactical place behind the back row. Here his primary task was to ensure that the front ranks were maintained. Outside of the battle, the Optio was used in various ways, e.g. B .:
- Optio ad spem (ordinis) / Optio spei : Higher-ranking Optio, which was intended as an Optio centuriae for promotion to the Centurio and represented this administratively
- Optio ballistariorum : Commander of an artillery unit
- Optio carceris : administrator of the military prison
- Optio custodiarum : Commander of a guard
- Optio equitum : sub-commander of a cavalry unit
- Optio valetudinarii : hospital manager .
- Optio fabricae : Head of the weapons workshop
- Optio scholae
- Optio principis
The uniform of the Optio hardly differed from that of the crews, it probably wore a helmet with a lengthwise helmet plume (the helmet plume is said to have served as a point of reference in combat; however, the hasty one may also have taken on this function ), as well as a staff with a pommel that so-called hasty . With this pole he pushed soldiers who were retreating from the battle line back into line. He received one and a half times to double the wages of a simple legionnaire.
Options are already used in the Roman army at the time of the Punic Wars . During the imperial era , apart from legions and auxiliary troops, they were also found in all other military formations such as the Praetorians , the Vigiles or the Cohortes urbanae and in civil administration, e.g. B. as optio ab actis urbi , a kind of secretary of a city prefect.
See also
literature
- Ross Cowan; Angus McBride: Roman Legionaries: Republic (58 BC - 68 AD) and Empire (161 - 284 AD). German Ed., Siegler, Königswinter 2007. ISBN 978-3-87748-658-0 , pp. 50–51.
- Alfred von Domaszewski : The ranking of the Roman army , Bonn 1981 (3rd edition). ISBN 3-412-05280-9 .
- Joachim Ott: The Beneficiarier. Investigations into their position within the hierarchy of the Roman army and their function , Stuttgart 1995 (= Diss. Frankfurt 1993). ISBN 3-515-06660-8 .
- Tadeusz Sarnowski: Nova ordinatio in the Roman army of the 3rd century and a new Primus Pilus consecration from Novae in Lower Moesia . In: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 95, 1993, pp. 197–204 ( PDF file; 726 kB ).
- 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).
Remarks
- ^ Joachim Ott: The Beneficiarier. Investigations into their position within the hierarchy of the Roman army and their function , pp. 12-16.
- ↑ a b Martin Mosser: The stone monuments of the Legio XV Apollinaris . Research Society Wiener Stadtarchäologie, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-902086-09-2 , p. 69.
- ↑ Dietwulf Baatz: Catapult clamping bushes from Auerberg. In: Günter Ulbert : Der Auerberg I. Beck, Munich 1994. ISBN 3-406-37500-6 . Pp. 173-189; here p. 185.