Vitis (badge of rank)

Depiction of a centurion with Vitis on a grave medallion from Flavia Solva

The vitis was a staff made of grapevine , which was carried by Roman centurions as a symbol of their rank.

This cane-sized staff was carried on the right side of each centurion. It was a symbol of the rank held by the centurion and could also serve as an instrument of punishment . The second symbol of rank of the centurion was the helmet with a crossed plume ( crista transversa ).

The Vitis on the tombstone of Centurio Titus Calidius Severus from Carnuntum (middle register, middle), next to it a helmet with a diagonal crest

The vitis as a badge of power is addressed by Pliny , for example . One case of the hard work of the Vitis has been handed down to Tacitus : In a military camp in the Roman province of Pannonia , the centurion Lucilius was murdered in a riot in AD 14, "to whom the soldier's wit was nicknamed" Another "[ Cedo Alteram ] had given. Because if he had broken his vitis in two on the back of a soldier, he used to call out a new one in a loud voice, and then again and again. "

literature

• Victor Chapot : Vitis . In: Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines . Vol. 5, Paris 1919, p. 929.
• Hannsjörg Ubl : Weapons and uniforms of the Roman army of the principate era based on the grave reliefs of Noricum and Pannonia . Dissertation University of Vienna 1969, pp. 416–434 = Weapons and uniforms of the Roman army of the principate epoch based on the grave reliefs Noricums and Pannonia (= Austria antiqua vol. 3). Uni-Press Graz, Graz 2013, ISBN 978-3-902666-29-1 , pp. 231-240.
• Stefan F. Pfahl : Badge of rank in the Roman army of the imperial era. Wellem, Düsseldorf 2012, ISBN 978-3-941820-12-8 , pp. 20-24.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 14, 19.
2. ^ Tacitus, Annales 1, 23.