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A. Military camp [German version] [I 1] General The Roman soldiers always made sure that they were protected by fortifications. This also applied when they only stopped for a night on campaigns. In the evening of their arrival the field camp had to be set up and destroyed again on the morning of departure. The plural castra was the name given to any kind of military camp, the singular castrum certainly existed but was not used in mil. vocabulary. Castellum is the diminutive form of castra (Veg. Mil. 3,8) and also had a civilian meaning. The origin of the Roman camps is uncertain; because …

[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] The origin of the word burgus is disputed by researchers: either a Germanic (CIL XIII 6509) or else a Greek origin (πύργος; pýrgos; Jos. BI 1,99-100) are assumed. The word, which appears before the middle of the 2nd cent. AD and is still attested under Valentinian I, denotes a small fortified watchtower (ILS 396) or is used as a diminutive for   castellum (Veg. Mil. 4.10).; the burgus was generally used for surveillance (CIL VIII 2494-2495: burgus speculatorius). Le Bohec, Yann (Lyon) Bibliography 1 D. Baatz, Bauten, MAVORS XI, 1994, 83-85.

[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 contubernium seems not to have been a tactical unit, although in Vegetius (Veg. Mil. 2,13) the contubernium is used as a synon…

[German version] In a brief reference in Servius (Serv. Aen. 7,664: “pilum proprie est hasta Romana”), the pilum, a throwing-spear, is taken for the typical Roman spear. Among the earliest evidence for the use of the pilum in the Roman army is the depiction of the Battle of Panormus in 250 BC (Pol. 1,40). In Livy (8,8), the first two battle rows of the legions in the time around 340 BC are called the antepilani ('soldiers in front of the pilum bearers'). In his description of the Roman army, Polybius speaks of the γρόσφοι/ grósphoi as the javelins of the youngest soldiers, and the ὑσσοί/ hyssoí as …

[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] In early times the armamentaria or arsenals were situated in Rome itself; with the expansion of the Roman Imperium they were also installed in cities close to the theatres of war. In the legionary camps of the Principate the armamentaria were in the principia, those for the navy in the ports (CIL VI 999, 2725; VIII 2563); in Rome there was an armamentarium in the castra praetoria. The weapons were stored according to type, not army unit, and were guarded by the armorum custodes; the armamentarium was under the authority of a curator operis armamentarii and a magister, who was…

[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] 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 or crucified). The decimatio…

[German version] The penal law in effect in the Roman army recognized two different categories of malfeasance. The first category concerned those offences which were also punished in the civilian world, such as theft or crimen maiestatis ( maiestas ). The second category included specific misconduct in military service, above all disobedience toward superiors, absence from the unit without leave, desertion ( desertor ), and treason ( perduellio ). The composition of the military tribunal and the punishments changed in accordance with the gener…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient In the early period (4th-3rd millennia), both in Egypt ( sqr-nḫ, 'those tied up for killing' [3]) and in Mesopotamia, POW were often killed on the battlefield. Killing - as a ritualized act - or parading POW and plunder before the ruler was ideological in character and hence a theme of pictorial representation  (southern Mesopotamia in 3100 BC: the killing of chained, naked POW in the presence of the ruler [5. 9]; 24th cent: naked male POW - probably immediately after their…

[German version] The term tribuli described metal spikes with four points so arranged that one of them always pointed upwards (Veg. Mil. 3,24,4); they represented a very dangerous obstacle for infantry and cavalry. They can be traced to the τριβόλοι/ tribóloi of the Greeks, who may have adopted them from the Persians (Polyaen. 4,17: Darius [3]); even the Celts were familiar with them. The Romans, who are supposed to have used  tribuli as early as  295 BC at Sentinum  (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 20,1), systematically deployed them in the wars with Antiochus [5] III and Mi…

[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] 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] 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] Military service in Rome was controlled by a variety of laws, the development of which was strongly influenced by established religious beliefs and collective mindsets. From the early days of the city, Roman citizens were obligated to perform military service; the ranks of the citizens were reinforced by the auxilia (auxiliaries) of the socii . When a citizen was drafted as a soldier, he was no longer subject to paternal authority ( patria potestas ), but rather had to subordinate himself to the disciplina militaris . The conditions of military …

[German version] In the military context a police post in a Roman camp (Tac. Ann. 13,24,1; Tac. Hist. 1,28,1) or the soldiers who guarded the gates (Caes. B Gall. 6,37,3; Liv. 3,5,4; 8,8,1). The palace of the principes in Rome was also guarded by a statio (Suet. Tib. 24,1). A small garrison watching over a road junction was also called a statio. These military strong points increased greatly in number during the Principate, assuring security; they were commanded by a beneficiarius or a centurio . The stationarii of Late Antiquity were to be found in border regions in the countrys…

[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 and in Rome. Some of them also performed tasks in the civil sphere and were used in the stationes for the protection of the long-distance roads. Le Bohec, Yan…

[German version] In the Republican period the corniculum was one of the   dona militaria (Liv. 10,44,5; Suet. Gram. 9; CIL I2 709 = ILS 8888); in the Principate the cornicula were then no more than insignia of rank. The exact meaning of the word is disputed. It is derived either from cornus (cornelian cherry) or from cornu (horn). Accordingly it meant either two small spears (cf. Pol. 6,39) or else small horns which hung from the helmets. The cornicularii represented the elite of the   principales and undoubtedly carried out administrative duties, since civil cornicularii are attested (Va…

[German version] The use of bow and arrow for war and hunting goes back a very long time, and was widespread even in prehistoric times. In the Near East, bows and arrows were important weapons of war. As demonstrated on reliefs from Mesopotamia, the Assyrian archers often stood in a war chariot (palace of Assurnaṣirpal II in Nimrūd ( Kalḫu), 9th cent. BC; London, BM); in the siege of cities, archers on foot were frequently deployed (relief of  Tiglatpileser III in Nimrūd, 8th cent. BC; London, BM)…