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Author Topic: Did the Roman Army have 'elite units'?  (Read 10136 times)

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Offline Will Hooton

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Did the Roman Army have 'elite units'?
« on: January 17, 2012, 02:03:01 pm »
Virtually all famous historical armies had a select unit of crack troops, like the Macedonian Argyraspides and Companion Cavalry. The Thebans had the Sacred Band and the  Achaemenean dynasty of Persia had it's Immortal Guard.

Now I know the Romans had the Praetorian Guard and the Speculatores, but niether of these had any front line combat role in the battle field. As I understand the Speculatores were practically just a recon unit with a few other duties.

Did the Romans, both before and after the Marian reforms have any crack infantry troops?

Offline Optimo Principi

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Re: Did the Roman Army have 'elite units'?
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2012, 04:16:47 pm »
Yes, they were called Legionaries!  :)
Good question, Will! In all fairness, the average 1st Century Legionary was probably just as rigourously trained and drilled as the best any rival army had to offer..

That being said I have read about divisions such as the "Immunes": higher paid Legionaries who had specialised skills such as artillery or construction engineering - surely the Commandos of the Roman Army?

There were also much-feared auxiliary cavalry units such as the Alae that had various specialities in battle.

Offline benito

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Re: Did the Roman Army have 'elite units'?
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2012, 04:45:01 pm »
Well trained and well drilled. And in case of cowardice in combat no dishonorable discharge. Decimation.

Offline Belisarius

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Re: Did the Roman Army have 'elite units'?
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2012, 05:28:16 pm »
The praetorian - certainly in their later variation- as Palatini...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatini_%28Roman_military%29

Also 'crack' specialised units from individual provinces (i.e. Cretian Archers) would have seen themselves as elite (though, of course not general purpose).

Finally, Equites Catafracti?

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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Did the Roman Army have 'elite units'?
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2012, 05:50:05 pm »
Vegetius, De re militari, 1.17:

"Young men should also be taught how to use plumbatae, which are also called mattiobarbuli.  Two legions in Illyricum, comprising six thousand soldiers each, once wielded these weapons with such skill and courage that the men themselves were called mattiobarbuli.  These legions were so successful at winning battle after battle that Diocletian and Maximian, upon becoming emperors, ordained that as a reward for their valor these mattiobarbuli should assume the epithets 'Jovian' and 'Herculean' and that they should be considered the crack troops of the army.  Each soldier normally carried five mattiobarbuli attached to his shield, and, if they threw them effectively, these shield-bearing footsoldiers could virtually fulfill the role of archers.  For they could inflict severe damage to enemy soldiers and their horses before it came to hand-to-hand fighting, indeed while the enemy was still outside the range of javelins." (my translation from the Latin).

See my thread "S. Estiot on a rare bust type of Probus and the Tetrarchs" at the bottom of p. 1 of Classical Numismatics

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Offline Will Hooton

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Re: Did the Roman Army have 'elite units'?
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2012, 07:21:14 pm »

That being said I have read about divisions such as the "Immunes": higher paid Legionaries who had specialised skills such as artillery or construction engineering - surely the Commandos of the Roman Army?


Interesting. If not Commandos, then definitely Army Specialists.

Curtis and Belisarius bring up an interesting point. Many special units didn't stand out just for their training, but for the weapons they carried, just like the English and Welsh longbowmen of the 14th and 15th century. The Plumbata, while perhaps not as vicious a weapon as the Pila, was probably quite an effective weapon since it's use continued well into the Byzantine era.

 

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