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[German version] The cornicines were military musicians ( aeneatores). They played the cornu, a wind instrument curved into a circle and made of bronze; the distinction from the bucina is difficult. These soldiers were taken from among the poorest citizens and were already represented in the Servian centuriate (Liv. 1.43). On their own the cornicines gave the standards the command to change position, and jointly with the   tubicines the signals in battle (Veg. Mil. 2.22;3.5). Under the Principate the cornicines were held in higher regard than in the Republic, as their menti…

[German version] were the musicians of the Roman legions and were already documented in the Servian centuria regulation. They included the tubicines, cornicines and bucinatores, who transmitted the officers' orders in the camp, while marching and during battle. The word aeneatores appeared only once in the imperial period (CIL XIII 6503): in the 4th cent. AD they were mentioned in Amm. Marc. 16,12,36 and 24,4,22.  Bucinatores;  Cornicines;  Tubicines Le Bohec, Yann (Lyon) Bibliography 1 A. Baudot, Musiciens romains de l'Antiquité, 1973 2 R. Meucci, Riflessioni di archeolog…

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[German version] The term testudo ('tortoise') was used by the Roman military in two senses; it described on the one hand various tactical formations in battle, and on the other hand various engines deployed in besieging cities. In the first case it consisted of soldiers, who, standing in a line, held their rectangular shields side to side without gaps in front of themselves, in such a way as to confront the enemy with a wall, as it were,  of wood and iron (Liv. 32,17,13). When the soldiers formed u…

[German version] in the basic meaning of the word meant a communal lodging of soldiers; it applied either to a tent camp during an expeditio or to barracks in a fixed encampment (Tac. Ann. 1,41,1). Two extensions of meaning developed from that: the term was used for a group of soldiers sharing a lodging, and from that it was used to describe a shared sense of trust and solidarity among those soldiers (Suet. Tib. 14,4; Caes. B Civ. 2,29). This included the officers. The …

[German version] were already mentioned in Caesar (B Civ. 1,75,2; 3,88,5); according to Vegetius (Mil. 2,7), they were soldiers who owed their promotion to the beneficium of their superiors and were freed from the   munera . They were assigned to an officer, in whose service they performed legal and financial duties that required a certain competency. Beneficiarii can be found in all units, in the marines, in the auxilia, in the legions …

[German version] (derived from trabs, 'tree trunk', 'beam'; diminutive of taberna, 'hut', 'shop'). In the Roman military context, tabernaculum describes all forms of housing for soldiers (Cic. Brut. 37). Provisional shelters could be built from a variety of materials, such as reeds and wood (Liv. 27,3,2-3; Frontin. Str. 4,1,14). Tents were made of leather (Liv. 23,18,5; Tac. Ann. 13,35,3; 14,38,1); in the winter, they were insulated against the cold with straw (Caes. B Gall. 8,5,2). The arrangement of the tents i…

[German version] I. Greece The main literary source for the armaments of Greek armies of the Geometric period is the 'Iliad', and the main archaeological sources are weapon finds and vase depictions mostly from grave goods. These genres of source materials cannot always be demonstrated to be consonant, as Homer has some of his heroes use weaponry from the Mycenaean period, and these are no longer archaeologically attested (e.g. boar's tooth helmet, Il. 10,261-265; long or 'tower' shield, Il. 7,219-2…

[German version] Two Latin words, impedimenta and sarcina, were used to describe the baggage train that accompanied the Roman legions. Impedimenta referred to the heavy packs containing the supplies and equipment of the entire legion. They were transported by pack animals (Pol. 6,27; 6,40; Liv. 28,45; Caes. B Gall. 5,31,6). These packs held tents, the officers' belongings, hand mills for the grain, food supplies, weapons, and after a victory,  war booty and money. Originally, the word impedimenta was used only in reference to things. However, as language evolved, it als…

[German version] The Roman army regarded as a desertor anyone who did not appear at roll-call (Liv. 3,69,7) or who during a battle was beyond the range of the trumpet or who left his unit in time of peace without permission, without commeatus (Suet. Oth. 11,1; SHA Sept. Sev. 51,5; Dig. 49,16,14) (‘distanced himself from the signa’). The punishments were merciless: depending on the case a person was at risk of slavery (Frontin. 4,1,20), mutilation (SHA Avid. Cass. 4, 5) or death (the condemned person was beaten with canes and then thrown down from the Tarpeium saxum…

[German version] The ensigns of the Roman army fulfilled an important tactical function: the transfer of commands from the commander; in this case they were accompanied by the sound of the cornu (Veg. Mil. 2,22). Due to their importance, they achieved an almost religious validity (cf. for instance Tac. Ann. 1,39,4). According to tradition, Romulus provided the first legion with animal symbols such as the eagle, the wolf, the horse, the wild boar and the minotaur (Plin. HN 10,16). At that time, each of the thirty maniples supposedly received a signum (Ov. Fast. 3,115; Plut. Romulus 8)…

[German version] I. Greece Shields were primarily used to protect soldiers in battle; as a crater from Mycenae ( c. 1200 BC) vividly shows, shields were already part of the equipment of warriors in the Mycenaean period. Homer mentions a round shield (ἀσπίς/ aspís) which was embossed with sheet bronze and strengthened with the skins of oxen (Cattle) (Hom. Il. 12,294-297; 13,156-166). In the middle there was a shield boss (ὀμφαλός/ omphalós; Hom. Il. 13,192). A strap (τελαμών/ telamṓn; Hom. Od. 11,609-614) enabled the shield to be carried without holding it in the hand. The…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East In the ancient Near East, the procurement of WB was directed towards obtaining important raw materials (e.g. metals - Egypt: gold from Nubia, silver from Cilicia, copper from Cyprus (Middle Kingdom); Assyria: iron from Iran, silver from Cilicia; Cilices, Cilicia) and items required for further warfare (e.g. horses, chariots in Assyria, 1st millennium BC) or served to supply the royal court with luxury goods for purposes of prestige. WB must be distinguished from '…

[German version] Originally, the accensi (also accensi velati, ‘clothed (only) with a cloth cloak’) were members of the army who were too poor to equip themselves. They accompanied the legions and, positioned behind the other soldiers, had to replace the dead using their weapons (Fest. 369 M; Liv. 8,8,8; Cic. Rep. 2,40). They were recruited according to their census income. After the introduction of pay for soldiers (in our record in 406 BC) they no longer appeared in this form. From then on the term accensi described a small, little respected part of the troops that was recruit…

[German version] The verb exauctorare refers to the judicial act, by which a Roman military commander could release a soldier or an entire unit from their oath of allegiance. Such an act could be carried out at certain times defined in law, in the Republican era for example following a victory, at the time of the Principate at the end of a soldier's compulsory military service (Suet. Aug. 24,2; Suet. Tib. 30; Tac. Ann. 1,36,4; Tac. Hist. 1,20,6). In exceptional circumstances, this might be linked wi…

[German version] [1] Part of the Roman atrium house Part of the Roman atrium house ( House;  Atrium). The term ala designates two opposing rooms, open in their full width and height, that form the cross axis in front of the tablinum or main room of the house. Alae were very common in Roman home construction; Vitruvius lists the correct proportions for design (6,3,4). The origin of the design type is unclear. The conjecture that, in Vitruvius' description of the Tuscan temple (4,7,1), the term for the two outer cellae of the Etruscan temple ( Temple) is alae (instead of aliae, as the text has…

[German version] Military exercises ( exercitium, exercitatio militaris, decursio), for a long time little studied by historians, contributed considerably to the military success of the Roman army and appear to have been conducted on the Field of Mars ( Campus Martius ) in early times. From the late 3rd cent. BC, military exercises were developed further in both practice and theory. Cornelius [I 71] Scipio Africanus organized manoeuvres systematically in Spain in 210 BC (Pol. 10,20; Liv. 26,51,3-7) and then in Sicily…

[German version] I. Classical Antiquity The sword used in Rome's early period is referred to as ensis or gladius in the transmission (Verg. Aen. 7,743; 9,431; 12,458; Liv. 1,43,2). According to Livy, the soldiers of the first three classes ('divisions') in the Servian order of centuriae were equipped with swords (Liv. 1,43,2). The Gallic sword was longer and had no pointed tip, the Hispanic sword was short, had a tip and was more suitable for thrusting than for slashing (Liv. 22,46,5). In the period of the 2nd Punic W…

[German version] In the Roman army, the decimatio was a rarely applied form of punishment for a whole unit (Pol. 6,38; Frontin. Str. 4,1,34; 4,1,37; Quint. Decl. 348). The tribunes selected every tenth man by drawing lots; the punishment could also be reduced by selecting just one man in a hundred (SHA Opil. 12,2). The victims decided on in this manner were not executed with an axe but clubbed to death (Tac. Ann. 3,21,1). This punishment, considered to be very severe, was applied in case of serious mis…

[German version] I. Greece The consequences of a war in Ancient Greece for individuals, cities or kingdoms depended on its duration and size, and a systematic or general assessment is thus not unproblematic. Several authors describe the terrible sight of a battlefield (Xen. Hell. 4,4,12; Xen. Ages. 2,14f.; Plut. Pelopidas 18,5; cf. Thuc. 7,84f.). During a hoplite battle in the classical period, on average 5% of the victors and 14% of the vanquished would fall [4]; in addition there would be the woun…