Unit history
The unit's origin is uncertain but it appears that they were formed in the late 1st Century AD and existed during the reign of Trajan (98–117 AD). The unit is documented on Trajan's Column as active in the Dacian Wars (101–102 and 105–106). [2] It has been suggested that they were formed of Trajan's personal horseguards during his governorship of Germania Superior.
Although designated in inscriptions as a numerus , it appears to have been structured as a regular military (i.e., double-strength) ala of the Auxilia, under the command of a tribunus militum , who probably reported to the Praefectus Praetorio, the commandant of the Guard. [3] Initially, it probably contained 720 horsemen, divided into 24 turmae , or squadrons, of 30 men each. Numbers rose to around 1,000 under Hadrian (r. 117–138 AD) and the regiment was expanded to some 2,000 horse in the early 3rd century by the emperor Septimius Severus (r. 197–211 AD). [4]
Their home-base was in Rome, and their permanent camp was on the Caelian Hill. A second, supplementary, camp was built, also on the Caelian, when the unit was expanded under Septimius Severus; this has been excavated underneath the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (see Castra Nova equitum singularium).
It is believed that equites singulares were recruited from serving cavalrymen in the alae of the Auxilia, selected for their quality, and, since membership of the Praetorian Guard was strictly limited to persons holding Roman citizenship, were granted citizenship on enlistment, instead of having to serve 25 years to qualify for citizenship as did their fellow alares. [5] It has also been claimed that equites singulares were recruited in Italy among natural born Roman citizens. [6]
The equipment of the equites singulares was the same as for ordinary auxiliary cavalrymen. From the Great Trajanic Frieze incorporated in the Arch of Constantine in Rome, it appears that the emblem of the equites singulares was the scorpion, which was emblazoned on their standards and (fourfold) on their shields. The scorpion was the birth-sign of the emperor Tiberius, and presumably represented Tiberius' role as 'second founder' of the Praetorian Guard. [7]
It appears that after some campaigns, detachments of singulares were left behind in the provinces, to form the core of new regular alae, which retained the prestigious singulares title and crack reputation (e.g., the Ala I Flavia singularium stationed in Raetia in mid-2nd century). [8]
In AD 312, after the defeat of the emperor Maxentius at the battle of the Milvian Bridge, the regiment was disbanded, along with the rest of the Praetorian Guard, by the emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337 AD). [9] The unit may already have become redundant, if the scholae , elite cavalry regiments escorting the emperor, had already been established by the emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305 AD). Alternatively, the scholae may have been founded by Constantine as a direct replacement for the equites singulares. [10]
The Praetorian Guard was an elite unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors.
The equites constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an eques.
A Roman military diploma was a document inscribed in bronze certifying that the holder was honourably discharged from the Roman armed forces and/or had received the grant of Roman citizenship from the emperor as reward for service.
The Roman army was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom to the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and its medieval continuation, the Eastern Roman Empire. It is thus a term that may span approximately 2,206 years, during which the Roman armed forces underwent numerous permutations in size, composition, organisation, equipment and tactics, while conserving a core of lasting traditions.
The limitanei, meaning respectively "the soldiers in frontier districts" or "the soldiers on the riverbank", were an important part of the late Roman and early Byzantine army after the reorganizations of the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. The limitanei, unlike the Comitatenses, palatīni, and Scholae, garrisoned fortifications along the borders of the Roman Empire and were not normally expected to fight far from their fortifications.
A vexillatio was a detachment of a Roman legion formed as a temporary task force created by the Roman army of the Principate. It was named from the standard carried by legionary detachments, the vexillum, which bore the emblem and name of the parent legion.
The auxilia were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 27 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of infantry as the legions and, in addition, provided almost all of the Roman army's cavalry and more specialised troops. The auxilia thus represented three-fifths of Rome's regular land forces at that time. Like their legionary counterparts, auxiliary recruits were mostly volunteers, not conscripts.
Domitian's Dacian War was a conflict between the Roman Empire and the Dacian Kingdom, which had invaded the province of Moesia. The war occurred during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, in the years 86–88 AD.
The Scholae Palatinae were an elite military imperial guard unit, usually ascribed to the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great as a replacement for the equites singulares Augusti, the cavalry arm of the Praetorian Guard. The Scholae survived in Roman and later Byzantine service until they disappeared from the historical record in the late 11th century, during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos.
The structural history of the Roman military concerns the major transformations in the organization and constitution of ancient Rome's armed forces, "the most effective and long-lived military institution known to history." At the highest level of structure, the forces were split into the Roman army and the Roman navy, although these two branches were less distinct than in many modern national defense forces. Within the top levels of both army and navy, structural changes occurred as a result of both positive military reform and organic structural evolution. These changes can be divided into four distinct phases.
In modern scholarship, the "late" period of the Roman army begins with the accession of the Emperor Diocletian in AD 284, and ends in 480 with the death of Julius Nepos, being roughly coterminous with the Dominate. During the period 395–476, the army of the Roman Empire's western half progressively disintegrated, while its counterpart in the East, known as the East Roman army remained largely intact in size and structure until the reign of Justinian I.
Tiberius Claudius Maximus was a cavalryman in the Imperial Roman army who served in the Roman legions and Auxilia under the emperors Domitian and Trajan in the period AD 85–117. He is noted for presenting Trajan with the head of Dacian king Decebalus, who had committed suicide after being surrounded by Roman cavalry at the end of Dacian Wars.
The palatini were elite units of the Late Roman army mostly attached to the comitatus praesentales, or imperial escort armies. In the elaborate hierarchy of troop-grades, the palatini ranked below the scholares, but above the comitatenses and the limitanei.
The Castra Nova equitum singularium was an ancient Roman fort in Rome housing part of the emperor's cavalry bodyguard. The site of the fort now lies beneath the Basilica of St John Lateran. The Castra Nova, or "new fort", was one of two cavalry forts that provided a base in Rome for the mounted bodyguard of the Roman emperors.
Roman cavalry refers to the horse-mounted forces of the Roman army throughout the regal, republican, and imperial eras.
The Imperial Roman army was the military land force of the Roman Empire from 27 BC to 476 AD, and the final incarnation in the long history of the Roman army. This period is sometimes split into the Principate and the Dominate (284–476) periods.
By the size of the Roman army is meant the changes in the number of its contingents: legions, auxiliaries, Praetorian cohorts, Urban cohorts, vigiles, and naval forces over the course of twelve centuries – from 753 BC to AD 476.
The castra of ancient Rome represent the complex of camps that housed the various military corps located in the city of Rome.
