Centurion

Each legion had a total of 60 centurions to command each century of its ten cohorts. The centurions were the backbone of the professional army, the career soldiers who ran the day-to-day life of the soldiers as well as issuing commands in the field. Being paid more than ten times more than the ordinary soldier, the centurions could afford better clothing and equipment and thus could be distinguished from the men by the quality of their appearance.

The evidence for how centurions may have looked is largely drawn from grave stele. In some cases, the person (or persons) who had the stele commissioned had the deceased portrayed in their military panoply. From these images it seems there were three distinctive items emblematic of a centurion’s rank: the vine stick, the transverse helmet crest, and greaves.

Vitis The vitis, the staff or cudgel of vine wood, was considered synonymous with the centurionate. During the early Principate it was usually a straight staff, slightly curved at the top. Later the vitis acquired a mushroom-shaped head, which survived into the Byzantine period. It symbolised the Centurion’s authority and was used to discipline soldiers by castigatio (being struck with his staff) [1].

Carriage of the vitis is attested on gravestones, monuments and mosaics from the 1st- to the 4th-century CE; for example, on the stelae of Favonius Facilis from Colchester or that of Aurelius Mucianus perhaps from Nicomedia or Rodosto-Perinthus. It is unlikely that a Centurion would carry his vitis in battle as both hands would be needed to wield his sword and shield.

Crista transversa In battle the centurion would be recognizable from the silvered insignia on his helmet (galea). Vegetius [2] mentions: “iron helmets, but fitted with silvered and transverse crests, that they might be more easily distinguished by their men.” Vegetius’ comments are supported by a helmet recovered from the River Kupa at Sisak in Croatia dated to the second quarter of the 1st-century CE. This helmet of the Wiesenau type (Robinson’s Imperial Gallic type C or D) shows evidence of three layers of decorative plating in silver and gilding applied at different times during tis use. The small ring preserved on one side, and a corresponding hole on the other where a ring has been lost, indicate a system for attaching a transvers crest. Both features strongly suggest the richly decorated helmet of a Centurion.

At least throughout the 1st-century CE, continuing the tradition of the Republican period, the crest was usually (but not always) the crista transversa, that is, it was affixed across the helmet from side to side [3]. Crests are depicted as feathered plumes or of horsehair. Of what colour is not known, although later military treatise mention helmet crests being the same colour as the shield.

Ocreae Leg armour (ocreae, “greaves”) was a constant in the panoply of centurions in the 1st- and 2nd-centuries CE. Embossed greaves are visible on many monuments and centurion’s tombstones. A rare surviving pair of centurion’s greaves are of silvered bronze, with embossed lion’s heads on the knees.

The primary purpose of greaves is to protect the tibia, the lower leg bone that is very close to the skin and therefore extremely vulnerable to just about any kind of attack. Trauma to the shin can render the leg useless or greatly hamper the ability to manoeuvre in any way. To counteract this, metal greaves lined with leather or felt padding were worn. The padding was important to “cushion” any blow between the metal plating to the shin.

Swords Befitting their status, centurion’s swords and scabbards were richly decorated with silver and bronze fittings and plates. On gravestones the sword is depicted worn on the left side of the body, the dagger on the right, contrary to the ordinary milites gregarii. From regular use, carrying the large, curved, rectangular scutum (shield) in the left hand makes it far more practical to wear the sword on the right. In this configuration, the shield does not interfere with drawing the sword in the right hand. By adjusting the initial handgrip, both the shorter gladius and longer spatha can be drawn quickly and smoothly from a scabbard suspended on the right side of the body. It is unclear, therefore, why centurions are depicted with their sword worn on the left. Perhaps it is a throw back to an earlier practice, or mirrors how very senior Roman officers carried their parazonium [4].

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Endnotes:

1. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales (The Annals of Imperial Rome), Book 1, 23. During a mutiny of the Pannonian legions, the centurion Lucilius met his end. Camp humourists had nicknamed him Cedo Alteram ("fetch another") from Lucilius’ habit, as one vitis broke over a soldier's back, of calling at the top of his voice for a second, and ultimately a third. ▲

2. Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Epitoma Rei Militaris (Epitome of Military Science), Book II, 13 and 16. ▲

3. This is clearly visible on only two gravestones: those of T. Claudius Severus from Carnuntum and of M. Petronius Classicus Marrucinus from Poetovium. ▲

4. The Roman parazonium tended to have a leaf-shaped blade approximately 40 to 50 cm (15"-19") long. In Roman statuary, the weapon is cradled in the bearer's left arm or as depicted on Trajan's Column, stuck into the left side of the officer's chest band. In this sense, the parazonium appears to be a mark of rank and probably would be exchanged for a gladius should the senior officer be threatened on the battlefield. ▲