Principales

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Principales ( lat. From princeps , dt. First in a sequence ) were the lower officers or non-commissioned officers in the Roman Legion . In a legion there were about 480 men who were counted among the principales , although this number could fluctuate. Basically they were in rank below a centurion and above the immunes (private); they were exempt from normal service ( munera ) and fulfilled special tasks within the legion, cohort or centurie. For this they received one and a half times to double the wages of a simple legionnaire. A small proportion were able to rise from the principalis rank to the centurion, for the majority their careers ended here.

The individual ranks of the principales were based on their tasks:

  • Aquilifer : the highest-ranking standard bearer of the Legion, in the rank immediately after the centurion, usually an honorary post.
  • Cornicularius : Head of the office, administration or archives of the Legion.
  • Signifer : Standard bearer of the Centurie.
  • Optio : The Optio centuriae was the deputy of the Centurio; other options had other tasks.
  • Beneficarius : secretary of a legate or tribune; outside the Legion "street policeman".
  • Tesserarius : "Parole bearer", a kind of sergeant and head of the guard room.

The principales from Aquilifer to Optio received double wages and, according to today's understanding, would be more likely to be described as officers, the last two received one and a half times the wages and should rather be regarded as NCOs. The Roman Legion only differentiated on the basis of the area of ​​responsibility and reputation and did not further differentiate between officer and non-commissioned officer rank.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The exact classification as a (lower) officer (lieutenant) or non-commissioned officer (sergeant) is difficult due to the wide range of tasks and not uniform in research.
  2. ^ Gabriele Wesch-Klein: Social aspects of the Roman army in the imperial era , p. 30 f.

literature

  • Alfred von Domaszewski : The hierarchy of the Roman army. 3rd unchanged edition. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1981, ISBN 3-412-05280-9 ( Bonner Jahrbücher supplements 14).
  • 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 ( Historia Einzelschriften 92), (also: Frankfurt (Main), Univ., Diss., 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. Commemorative for Eric Birley. Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07654-9 , pp. 65-96 ( Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies 31).
  • Gabriele Wesch-Klein : Social aspects of the Roman army in the imperial era. Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07300-0 ( Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies 28), (At the same time: Heidelberg, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1995).