Triarians
Triarians (Latin: triarii the third), sometimes also Triarians , were the elite of the Roman legion . Initially, membership of the triarii was only defined by income, since in the context of conscription only the wealthy had the necessary means to buy the expensive armor and weapons. In the early days of the Roman Empire, the Triarians were very similar in their equipment to the Greek hoplites . At that time they made up only about a fifth of the heavy infantry .
After the division into income classes in the 2nd century BC Was abandoned, they were basically armed with spears ( pilum ), "tower shield" ( scutum ), dagger and short sword ( gladius , later more often the long sword spathe ) (sometimes with the hasta ), but mostly , like the other departments of the legion in better quality and now made up a third of the legion. However, they continued to have a high level of prestige as experienced veterans and supported the legion's staggered line-up. They were in the third meeting , the last ranks of the Roman order of battle , which gave them their name. Often, however, they were also honored as "pili".
Should Velites , Hastati and Principes fail in battle, the Triarians came into play. The Roman idiom res ad triarios rediit ("now it is the turn of the triarians"; "now the triarians must fight", literally: "the matter has gone back to the triarians") means that it has come to the extreme and the last Reserves need to be mobilized.
See also
literature
- Kate Gilliver: On the Road to Empire. A history of the Roman army. Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1761-0 .
- Marcus Junkelmann : The Legions of Augustus. The Roman soldier in an archaeological experiment (= cultural history of the ancient world . Vol. 33). 9th expanded edition. von Zabern, Mainz 2003, ISBN 3-8053-0886-8 .