Early Warbands

[caldrail]

The evidence for the earliest armies of ancient Rome is very sparse, and the contemporary tales are interwoven with legend making it very difficult to be sure how accurate it is. The traditional tale of roman origin is that Romulus and Remus, both sons of the god Mars and suckled by a she-wolf, founded Rome in the 8th century BC. Research suggests the City of Rome actually came into existence after the amalgamation of the Quirinal and Palatine communities sometime around 600BC.

 

The warriors of Romulus's time fought on foot. Chariots were not used, and even Romulus's triumphal parade after killing King Acron was pedestrian. Romulus is supposed to have had a bodyguard three hundred strong called Celeres ('The Swift') giving rise to speculation about cavalry. It doesn't seem likely that true cavalry were used at this early date, and if horses were present, then they were employed to take the soldiers to the battlefield where they fought on foot, a category of soldier also used by the spartans. On the other hand, Livy and Cicero tell us that the three tribes were named Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres, and all three names were later associated exclusively with cavalry. According to Livy each had two centuries of cavalry assimilated in the later Servian reorganisation. The first reliable account of roman cavalry is dated at 403BC.

 

Only the wealthiest wore armour. In fact its entirely possible that the original division between patrician and plebian families was simply that only the patrician families could afford to be warriors. There must have been an etruscan influence too, as Rome was part of the same cultural area at that time.

 

Roman writers tell us that their society was divided into three tribes (the word tribe is derived from tri, or three) who are each supposed to have contributed 1,000 warriors, and thirty curiae, a word derived from that meaning 'assembly of armed men', and clearly the warriors of Romes earliest societies were the ones permitted to vote - enshrined in the oldest voting assembly of Rome, the Comitia Curiata. At this time the word legio meant 'levy', and the organisation of later times does not apply.

 

It isn't known exactly how these warbands organised themselves on the battlefield, and although hoplite warfare came later, some sort of less rigidly enforced formation must have been used. However its clear that early roman warfare was far from sophisticated, mostly concerned with small raids and cattle rustling, and set piece battles must have been rare. There were no generals, and important warriors led their men by example, providing booty and success against rival warbands.

 

There is a strong possibility of these men using a shield wall even at this early date. The Ancile is the legendary shield with miraculous properties, and interestingly, images of the rounded and convex rectangular roman shield (scutum) exist on 8th century stone carvings despite the trend of the time for circular shields.

 

There are other aspects to this. Etruscan cities of this period are known to have fielded their own armies, and therefore Rome was following the fashion with its legio of three thousand men. Further is the case of the salii, the priests of Mars. Two colleges existed in republican and early imperial period - The Salii Palatini and the Salii Collini. The first is connected with the ancile, the second with Quirinus, the sabine name for Mars and derived from their word for lance. Both were headed by a magister, from an etruscan word denoting military command. The salii were latin in origin, not exclusively roman, and other colleges existed in latin cities. Since the origin of these colleges is very old, the significance is that these men had formed warrior bands, perhaps limited to a dozen members who were not heads of families, dedicated to the worship of Mars in return for protection in battle. These rituals survived into later periods - the helmet of the salian colleges, the apex, is based on a conical helmet worn by early warrior-priests.

 

In fact, it appears that religion played a conspicuous part in early roman warfare. The salii held dances in March, along with horse races (Equirria), purification festivals for weapons (Quinquatrus), and another purification festival for battle trumpets (Tubilustrium). The close of campaigning in october resulted in three more such festivals, the {i]Armilustrium, Tigillum Sororium[/i], and the October Equus. The last named was a sacrifice of a horse to the god Mars.

 

Information gathered from -

Greece and Rome at War - Peter Connolly

Roman Warfare - Adrian Goldsworthy

A History of Rome - Le Glay, Voisin, Le Bohec

Early Roman Armies - Nick Sekunda, Simon Northwood, Richard Hook

Edited April 26, 2008 by caldrail

[Kosmo]

Very nice. Can you give a more precise time frame for this?

[caldrail]

Roman warfare prior to the adoption of hoplite formations and equipment. You're talking 7th, 8th, perhaps even 9th century BC.