05-23-2012, 07:05 AM
I'd say that by the time of the first Byzantine Roman manuals, the army vernacular would be mixed. I guess that both Latin and Greek terminology would exist among the ranks, Latin as the official language of the state when promotions and rewards should be recorded, Greek when among mostly Greek-speaking recruits. A lochagos would hardly ever have been a centurion, to me it would be a very strange use of the word. In the far past, a lochos could be a considerably strong unit of unknown (or maybe deliberately unspecified strength). Xenophon uses it for a unit of 24 men (Persian lochos), in the Spartan army he defines it as 1/4 the size of a mora (the size of a mora is given as 500-900 men in the sources) but even uses it as a synonym to mora (Sciritis lochos). Thucydides also uses the term as a large unit made up of 4 pentecostyae, which should have about 50 men as their name would imply but may even have 128 men each (something to do with how he describes the strength of an enomotia), which would make a lochos 512 man strong... Thucydides too may be using the term lochos to describe a full mora, since he has individual lochoi being led by polemarchs. But as we are progressing past classical armies, a lochos tends to be a full depth file (8-16 men, sometimes even 32) and the lochagos usually is the file leader.
Generally, to the Greeks, a centurion would be easily translated as an ekatontarch, which was a term not generally used for the Greek armies but would also be totally understood by any reader. The closest thing to that would be a taxiarchos. Taxiarchos is the term used by Polybius, ekatontarchos (or ekatontarches) is used by Phocas and Uranus. Other mentions/terms are kentarchos, kenterion (which is naught but a transliteration of centurion in Greek) or ekatontarchos (Sylloge Tacticorum). The Suda Onomasticon Tacticon offers taxiarchos as a synonym to ekatontarches, De Re Strategica calls the closest thing to a centurion also a taxiarches. Arrian also writes of taxiarches or ekatontarches (when the taxis is comprised of 100 men). Asclepiodotus also gives ekatontarches as a synonym to taxiarchos, as does Aelian...
Nevertheless, the word centurion seems to be in full military use all the way into the 10th (even 11th) century AD. I have found it as kentyrion (Κεντυρίων) in many texts and never as a synonym to lochagos.
Generally, to the Greeks, a centurion would be easily translated as an ekatontarch, which was a term not generally used for the Greek armies but would also be totally understood by any reader. The closest thing to that would be a taxiarchos. Taxiarchos is the term used by Polybius, ekatontarchos (or ekatontarches) is used by Phocas and Uranus. Other mentions/terms are kentarchos, kenterion (which is naught but a transliteration of centurion in Greek) or ekatontarchos (Sylloge Tacticorum). The Suda Onomasticon Tacticon offers taxiarchos as a synonym to ekatontarches, De Re Strategica calls the closest thing to a centurion also a taxiarches. Arrian also writes of taxiarches or ekatontarches (when the taxis is comprised of 100 men). Asclepiodotus also gives ekatontarches as a synonym to taxiarchos, as does Aelian...
Nevertheless, the word centurion seems to be in full military use all the way into the 10th (even 11th) century AD. I have found it as kentyrion (Κεντυρίων) in many texts and never as a synonym to lochagos.
