Roman Empire at War: A Compendium of Battles from 31 B.C. to A.D. 565

Preface

The primary purpose of this compendium is to provide readers with a basic, one-volume reference of the most significant battles in Roman Imperial history. The information in each entry is drawn exclusively from ancient, late antique and early medieval texts, in order to offer a brief description of each battle based solely on the information provided by the earliest surviving sources which chronicle the event. Such an approach will provide the reader with a concise foundation of information to which they can then confidently apply later scholarly interpretation presented in secondary sources in order to achieve a more accurate understanding of the most likely battlefield scenario.

In writing the battlefield descriptions I have not sought to subject the evidence contained in the original sources to intense analysis, nor have I attempted to embellish upon the surviving accounts, beyond that which was necessary to provide clarity to the modern reader. In essence, I’ve allowed the original writers to speak for themselves. My task was simply to harmonize the disparate information in order to provide a better appreciation of what the ancients describe as occurring on the field of battle.

A task of this nature cannot be truly and properly addressed unless one is willing to undertake an exhaustive reading of the ancient authors. Otherwise, one runs the risk of overlooking any number of battles to which the classical writers will in many cases devote only a few lines in their texts. The names of battles included in this work are typically derived from one or more of the extant sources consulted, and so in many cases may not bear the name perhaps more commonly used to identify a specific engagement in general or popular studies of Late Roman history. When an exact name is not given in the sources, the battle is identified by the nearest community (Rome, Carthage, Nisibis, etc.) or recognizable geographical feature (Severn River, Ponte Salario, Actium Promontory, etc.).

I cannot claim emphatically that this work includes every single Roman battlefield contest mentioned in the original sources that might be deemed by some modern historian to be a major encounter. Engagements which, in this author’s judgment, appear to have been nothing more than skirmishes – relatively small, brief, unintended clashes of no significant strategic value for either hostile party involved – have not, with rare exceptions, been selected for inclusion.

Also omitted are those battles discussed or alluded to by one or more ancient writers for which there is simply no identifiable name, location or landmark, a circumstance especially applicable to the Late Empire. Likewise I have generally avoided sieges, a particular form of hostile encounter that is commonly reported in sources pertaining to the Near Eastern wars of the Late Empire, but which occurred throughout the history of Rome. Some of these more celebrated events are included nonetheless, so readers will find descriptions of sieges ranging from Amida to Volandum.

Finally, I have chosen to end my study with the reign of Justinian I for two fundamental reasons: first, because he was the last emperor who aspired to reunite much of the former Roman Empire; and second, because he was the last imperial ruler to speak Latin, and as such symbolizes for me, in a very poignant way, the passing of a great age in Mediterranean history.

Part One

Introduction to Roman Imperial Warfare

The Roman Imperial Army

The Roman Legion, First Century BC–early Fourth Century AD

‘The Roman army, clashing their shields and spears together, as was their custom and uttering their battlecry, advanced against the foe.’

Polybius I.34.23

Throughout the long history of Imperial Rome, the army served as a touchstone of power for the state. The growth of Roman political influence was oftentimes synonymous with the expansion of military strength, and the power of the army became a measure of the state’s vitality. In similar fashion, the evolution of the army reflected the social, political and cultural changes which shaped and reshaped the empire over the course of five-and-a-half centuries.

Unlike its Early Republican predecessor, the Roman army of the Late Republic and Principate consisted entirely of professional troops divided into legions and auxilia. By the time the Emperor Tiberius assumed the purple in AD 14 the army’s total manpower strength was approximately 300,000, divided in roughly equal measure between the two component forces. This division was the continuation of a practice originating in the Republic.

Soldiers (milites) in legionary service were Roman citizens, and largely voluntarii, though conscription was still an option during the Empire, especially in times of crisis or preceding a major campaign.¹ As early as the emperorship of Augustus (30 BC–AD 14) most recruitment, particularly in Italy, was voluntary, while the delectus (levy) was increasingly reserved for the raising of legionaries in the provinces.

Provincial recruitment became more important for the Roman army throughout the first century as the enlistment of soldiers from Italy declined precipitously during the Early Empire. By the time of the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117–138) most recruits serving in the western legions were from Gaul, Spain and northern Italy, while those in the East consisted largely of soldiers drawn from the eastern regions of the Empire.²

Soldiers were typically recruited from the poorer citizen classes, and were expected to be in sound health and meet certain minimum height requirements. These qualifications of the candidate were determined through an interview, called a probatio or inquisitio, conducted by Roman authorities in Italy, while it was carried out by the local governor in each province.³ This screening also involved a medical examination at which time the applicant’s physical qualifications were assessed. According to Vegetius, recruits who entered service with the first cohort of a legion or a cavalry ala were required to be of strong carriage, and at least 5ft 10in tall.⁴ In reality, the necessities of active service in the ancient world most probably resulted in many recruits not meeting this ideal height standard.⁵ If accepted for army service, the sacramentum was administered, by which the tiro (recruit) swore personal allegiance to the emperor. He was then sent to his assigned unit to complete basic training before assuming the duties of a legionary.

Service was thereafter for a period of sixteen to twenty-five years, with most recruits entering active service in their late teens or early twenties.⁶ Once posted to a unit, the soldier’s time was divided between wartime and peacetime responsibilities. When not engaged in combat operations, units were routinely employed to provide physical labour for the completion of engineering projects ranging from road building to fort construction, but peacetime duties ordinarily involved mundane daily tasks such as patrols, drill, field training and camp fatigues.⁷

Soldiers received regular wages, which were supplemented by a portion of booty from campaigns and special bonuses called donativa paid on occasion by the emperors in recognition of their supreme authority, and to further secure the loyalty of the legions to their imperial person.⁸ Each soldier (miles) was routinely paid three times a year, and from these payments stoppages were typically made for clothing and equipment, while a further portion was garnered by the miles’ cohort in the form of savings. An additional annual payment was also made to a burial account (ad signa).⁹ On the successful completion of his military service, the legionary was discharged with a gratuity equal to about thirteen years’ pay.¹⁰

Upon leaving service, veterans were recognized by the Roman army as missus honesta missione (honourably discharged), missio causaria (discharged due to ill-health or injury)¹¹ or missio ignominiosa (dishonorably discharged).¹² During the emperorship of Augustus, veterans were often settled together in military colonies, though it became increasingly common from the late Julio-Claudian period onward for veterans to reside in a village (canabae or vicus) near their former legion’s base, or even to return to their native province.

One determining factor was often whether the discharged soldier had acquired a family during his tenure of service. Until the emperorship of Septimius Severus (AD 193–211), soldiers of the Empire were prohibited from marrying. In many cases this restriction did not hinder their effort to establish a long-term relationship with local women and raise families.¹³ Ultimately, this circumstance not only impacted the local economies where veteran settlements were established, but in a very real sense the future of the Roman army, as the male offspring of ex-soldiers commonly provided a rich pool of new provincial recruits for those legions posted semi-permanently on the Empire’s frontiers.

Cohortal Legion, c.105 BC–313 AD

Between the era of Scipio Africanus (d. 183 BC) and the time of Julius Caesar (d. 44 BC), the manipular construction of the legion was superseded by a tactical organization based on the cohors. The exact evolution of this change is unknown. The historians Livy and Polybius allude to the cohort in their accounts of the fighting in Spain during the Second Punic War, but the manipulus, or maniple, was still the basic unit around which the 4,200-man legion was constructed, and appears to have remained so until the eve of the first century BC.¹⁴ The cohort was essentially an amalgamation of three maniples, and early uses of a cohors, like that described by Polybius in his account of Scipio’s battle against Indibilis, suggest this modification was valuable under certain situations as a more robust tactical response to an enemy threat.

By the first century BC a new ‘cohortal’ legion, consisting of 5,000–6,000 men arrayed in ten cohorts, replaced the earlier manipular formation. In composition, the cohort consisted of 480 soldiers, divided into six centuries of eighty men. The size of the first cohort was subsequently reorganized during the second half of the first century AD in order to accommodate five double centuries of approximately 800 legionaries in total. With the change from manipulus to cohors, the tactical distinctions between the older unit’s heavy infantrymen called hastati, principes or triarii disappeared. In addition, the accompanying lightly-armed skirmishers known as velites were completely eliminated as a distinct fighting force. All troops were now armed alike with a spear called a pilum. These changes are typically ascribed by many modern scholars to the body of reforms introduced by the consul Caius Marius, in part because the last textual references regarding the maniple and velites in battle are found in Sallust’s account of Caecilius Metellus’ campaign against Jugurtha, in 109–108 BC.¹⁵

Attached to each legion was a small force of 120 cavalry, the equites legionis, and various support personnel. The contingent of cavalry was recruited from within the ranks of the legionaries, so consisted of Roman citizens. The primary role of the cavalry force was as scouts and couriers. Because of its ability to perform a variety of tasks, this type unit remained critical to the legion, and its size did not alter from the time of its inception until it was increased by the addition of some 600 riders during the emperorship of Gallienus.¹⁶

The Cohortal Legion: the officers, and career structure below the centuriate during the Principate

By the reign of Caesar Augustus, a legatus was recognized as holding permanent command of a legion by special appointment of the emperor. Whereas under the Republic a legatus was selected by a regional governor from among personal friends, family or political supporters; during the Empire the choice fell within the purview of the emperor to make the selection based on similar criteria. In no case were such posts ever determined by election. Legates were typically of senatorial rank, selected from among ex-praetors and ex-quaestors. This practice continued until the second half of the third century AD when the Emperor Gallienus issued an edict prohibiting senators from assuming army commands.¹⁷

In the Principate a provincial army was commanded by a governor (legatus Augusti pro praetore) whose title and rank were determined by the location of their posting: propraetors of senatorial rank governed provinces where legions were deployed, while those provinces without a permanent legionary presence were typically under the authority of a procurator of equestrian status. In both cases the appointed magistrate exercised the authority of an imperial legatus, while each legion in the provincial army was under the direct command of a legatus legionis.¹⁸

The legatus legionis was the senior officer in the legion. Because of past military and political service, this officer was commonly in his thirties, and might expect a two- or three-year posting. His authority extended over both the legion and supporting auxiliary units.¹⁹

Assisting the legate in his responsibilities was the tribunus laticlavius, recognized as the senior tribune and second-in-command of the legion. Such officers typically sought a political rather than military career, and as a result served only a one-year term of military service in the legion prior to age 25, before entering the Senate as a quaestor. Because of their unique station, each such officer wore a broad, or laticlavian, purple stripe on the toga, denoting their senatorial aspirations.²⁰

Next in line of authority was the praefectus castrorum, who was the senior professional officer in the legion and commonly possessed years of field experience, having previously served as the senior centurion, or primus pilus, of a legion. His responsibilities included oversight of camp construction and maintenance, transport supervision of the legion’s equipment during deployment, maintenance of supplies and munitions, and command of the legion’s artillery during military operations. In the absence of the two senior officers, the praefectus castrorum commanded the legion. Over time, the authority invested in this position increased. After the reign of Septimius Severus (AD 193–211), the title was altered to praefectus legionis, and under Emperor Gallienus (AD 260–268) this officer supplanted the legatus legionis as the senior officer of the legion.²¹

Assigned to each legion were the tribuni legionis augusticlavii, five tribunes of equestrian rank who typically aspired to either civil or military careers. The expectation of military service was much higher for these officers than for their laticlavian counterparts, and each officer could anticipate additional military service in the auxilia. Young equestrians entering the army normally advanced through the following sequence of posts: praefectus cohortis (commanding officer of an auxiliary cohort – peditatae or equitatae); tribunis angusti-clavius; and praefectus alae (officer commanding a cavalry detachment – an ala). Each such officer wore a narrow, or angusticlavian, purple stripe on their toga. The angusticlavian tribunes of a legion were usually about five to ten years older than the unit’s laticlavian officer, and routinely possessed more service experience.²²

Following the tribuni angusticlavii were the sixty centurions of the legion. Each centurion (centurio; plural centuriones) commanded one of the legion’s centuries. The senior centurions were recognized as prior centuriones and the junior centurions as posterior centuriones. Because the distribution of the centurions continued to reflect the older three-part division of heavy infantrymen (hastati, principes and triarii) found in the manipular model, each centurion was still identified specifically as hastatus prior, hastatus posterior, princeps prior, princeps posterior, pilus prior or pilus posterior. The single exception to this arrangement was the centurions of the first cohort, known as the primi ordines. Accompanying the reorganization and enlargement of the cohors I in the first century AD was a reordering of its centurions in the following descending order of seniority: primus pilus, princeps, hastatus, princeps posterior and hastatus posterior.²³

Below the rank of centurion, the command structure of a legion was relatively simple and straightforward, though it was characterized by a very wide array of specific posts and duty stations, all of which are not fully understood today.²⁴ These junior officers were denoted as either principales or immunes, and were as a rule exempt from the ordinary fatigues of the common legionary; principales because of privilege of rank and immunes because they performed special duties. Principales typically received double pay (a duplicarius) or pay-and-a-half (a sesquiplicarius) for their jobs, while immunes received the same base pay as all other soldiers.²⁵

These officers were denoted also by their service responsibilities. Some posts were specifically associated with the operational activities of the centuries and cohorts, while others were defined by their administrative duties within the various officia of the provincial governor, legionary commander (legatus legionis), camp prefect (praefectus castrorum) and the tribune of the legion (tribunus laticlavius).²⁶

Within the century there were three ranks below that of centurion: signifer,²⁷ optio²⁸ and tesserarius.²⁹ Of this trio, the signifer was the officer primarily responsible for the century’s bookkeeping, pay, savings and operational paperwork. During field operations, command of the century in the absence of the centurion was the duty of the optio.³⁰ Promotion of the optiones was from cohort to cohort, advancement beginning in the Cohors X and progressing upward to the Cohors I.³¹ Both he and the centurion were assisted by the tesserarius, who received the daily watchword and oversaw the posting of the century’s pickets.

Below the tesserarius was the custus armorum.³² The role of this subordinate officer is not clearly understood by modern scholars. It is known that he was associated with the legions’ armamentaria (weapons stores), though the exact manner in which these officers performed their duties is largely uncertain. However, it is quite possible that they were responsible for the daily storage, maintenance, requisition and distribution of arms and equipment to active and on-duty personnel.³³

A second body of junior officers in the legion was the various clerks, secretaries and assistants which collectively formed the administrative staff, the tabularium legionis. This office contained librarii (clerks), including the librarii horreorum responsible for granary records, and the librarii depositorum who collected soldiers’ savings. Also included in this office were exacti (accounting clerks) and frumentarii, officers responsible for the collection and distribution of grain. The highest staff posts in the tabularium legionis were those of commentariensis (senior clerk) and cornicularius (office manager). The cornicularii, because they were adjutants to the legion’s ranking officers, were in charge of the various officia, and thus helped to ensure administrative cooperation within the legion. All of this activity was centred around the principia (legionary headquarters) and praetorium (the legionary commander’s residence).³⁴

A proliferation of ranks and posts appeared during the second and third centuries AD below that of the centurion. Some of these positions were not characteristic of the first century imperial legion, but quite possibly represent a later and more refined organizational system for the maintenance and supply of the legionary unit.³⁵ Within the legion itself was a wide variety of specialists classified as immunes. Unlike the previous personnel mentioned, many of these individuals were responsible for providing a variety of support services including the actual manufacture or repair of weapons and armour. Numerous such craftsmen worked in the various fabricenses of the legion and were overseen in their production activities by the praefectus fabrum. Ancient sources confirm that these officia were clearly capable of providing a wide array of materials for consumption by a legion. A partial list of these posts is preserved in Justinian’s Digesta seu Pandectae, which is itself copied from an earlier second century AD work provided by the praetorian prefect and military jurist Tarruntenus Paternus in his de rei militari. Among the posts recorded are: specularii (glass fitters); fabri (craftsmen and smiths); sagittarii (arrowsmiths); aerarii (coppersmiths); buccularum structores (helmet makers who specialized in the fashioning of cheek pieces); carpentarii (wagon makers); scandulaarii (roofers); gladiatores (swordsmiths); aguilices (water engineers); acuarii (bowmakers); plumbarii (leadsmiths); ferrarii (ironsmiths); lapidarii (stoneworkers); gui calcem cocunt (lime burners); gui silvan infindunt (woodcutters); gui carbonem caedunt ac torrent (charcoal burners); in eodem numero haaberi solent lani (butchers); venatores (hunters); optio fabricae (in charge of a workshop); polliones (millers of flour); and custodes armorum (armourers).³⁶

The Auxilia of the Principate, 27 BC–AD 284

The legions of the Empire relied heavily on highly trained support units called auxilia. Auxilia were commonly of two types during the Principate: cavalry (ala, pl. alae) and infantry (cohors peditata, pl. cohortes peditatae). A first century derivative of the infantry cohort was the cohors equitata (pl. cohortes equitatae), a mixed unit of infantry and cavalry. Such units as these, regardless of their individual tactical composition, consisted entirely of non-citizens (peregrini) enrolled for twenty-five years’ service.

The division of auxilia into infantry, cavalry and irregular troops provided the Roman army with an important element of tactical flexibility and thereby greatly augmented the strategic mission of the legions. As expansion declined and the Empire’s borders began to solidify in the late first century, auxilia were increasingly used in conjunction with legionary forces to secure the frontiers.³⁷

During the Republic and early Empire, auxiliary units were recruited in the provinces before deployment abroad, and each was given an identification number and cognomen (name). Unit names therefore commonly reflected the tribe, country, city or region of origin from which the auxiliary force was initially raised, or the emperorship under which the unit was first created. These descriptive names continued to be used to identify the unit even after subsequent local recruitment in the province of their posting had completely erased the unit’s original cultural characteristics. Such dilution of regional character was furthered when the equipment and organizational structure of the various auxiliary units in the Empire was standardized in the late first century. Once all of the auxiliary forces in the Empire were similarly equipped, much of the units’ individual identities were lost with the elimination of their native weapons and clothing.³⁸

Because of the vast expanse of territory and the general nature of terrain in certain parts of the Empire, especially in regions like Syria and North Africa, mounted auxiliary troops were especially ideal for patrol and reconnaissance duties. Further, cavalry could respond much more quickly to sudden crisis situations along the fringes of Roman territory and were ideal for the tracking and pursuit of infiltrators, particularly if the breach was perpetrated by mounted riders.³⁹

Roman auxiliary cavalry were of two types: the cohors equitata and ala.⁴⁰ Because of their skilled horsemanship, Gauls provided the largest percentage of mounted troops by the late first century, with significant contributions made by other European peoples including the Thracians, Celtiberians and Germans. At this time cavalry accounted for approximately one-sixth of the army’s total manpower.⁴¹

Of the two basic types of units which contained cavalry, the cohors equitata was far more flexible for tactical purposes than the ala because it was a mixed formation consisting of cavalry and infantry. According to Pseudo-Hyginus in his De Munitionibus Castrorum, a cohors miliaria equitata contained 1,000 men, of which 240 were mounted troops. The cohors quingenaria equitata included 120 equites. These mounted elements were then primarily divided into eight and four turmae (troops or squadrons), respectively.⁴²

Duty rosters which have survived on papyrus from Dura-Europos in Mesopotamia list cavalry from cohortes equitatae as commonly employed on scouting patrols, as dispatch riders, mounted escorts for infantry formations, supply convoys, foraging parties, camp harvesters, payroll shipments and travelling dignitaries.⁴³ In essence, these mounted detachments were used in an extensive variety of tasks where infantry was either ineffective or impractical.⁴⁴

Like their mounted counterparts, infantry cohorts were organized as units of either 500 or 1,000 men. These were then subdivided into centuries. According to Pseudo-Hyginus, those units organized as quingenaria consisted of six centuries commanded by an equal number of centurions. The larger cohors miliaria was comprised of ten centuries of eighty men.⁴⁵

The command structure within an auxiliary cohort below the rank of centurion was similar to that of the legionary cohort. However, the centurions of an auxiliary unit were promoted exclusively from the ranks and, unlike their legionary counterparts, remained for the duration of their service life within the same cohort. Below the rank of centurion every century contained an optio, signifer, and terrerarius, with each possessing duties similar to those already mentioned above for legionary officers.⁴⁶

The size difference of the cohorts was also reflected in the ranks and title of their respective commanding officers. The senior officers of a cohors quingenaria peditatae was an equestrian who bore the title praefectus cohortes and was appointed to his post by a provincial governor. This