02-09-2014, 03:08 AM
Bad news is I am not sure I can answer some of these questions.
Bryan wrote:
Was there a set amount of people in each century? Or were the numbers generally equal for the number of people that qualified for each class.
To answer this I believe it would require revealing the most important aspect of my research into the Century Assembly. Everyone would have the information to then reconstruct the tribal system.
Bryan wrote:
Were the centuria named or numbered?
I have no idea and I am not aware of any information to throw light on the question. They must have had a system of identification. Maybe someone else might know.
Bryan wrote:
Would a Roman citizen identity himself by his centuria, as he would his class and tribe? When would a Roman be assigned to a centuria? During the census upon adulthood?
What I can make out is before the introduction of the Tribal Assembly, a Roman citizen would be allocated to a homogenous century organised by class before voting on the field of Mars in the Century Assembly. After the introduction of the Tribal Assembly, when voting in the Tribal Assembly, a Roman citizen would be allocated to a heterogeneous century. Therefore, the Century Assembly equates to homogenous centuries and the Tribal Assembly equals heterogeneous centuries. I really am giving too much away here.
Bryan wrote:
If he were to be elevated to a higher class, he'd have to wait till the next census to be inducted into his new voting centuria?
I have no idea when this would occur.
Bryan wrote:
Would male family members all be in the same centuria?
I have no idea. These questions remind me of an incident I had with Prof. Ridley about my conclusions on the battle of Cannae. After giving him the study of the number of men, which conformed to Plutarch’s figure of 88,000 men, Prof. Ridley commented that my work was incomplete because I failed to supply the names of the 88,000 men. He was joking of course.
Bryan wrote:
Would the dilectus be based off the centuria or the tribe?
It is based on the tribal centuries. Before the 35th tribe is created, the men are taken from tribal centuries then distributed among the various legions. In this manner, every legion will have an equal number of men from each tribe. After the completion of the 35 tribes, depending on the number of legions levied, in a consular army, one legion will have half the number of tribes levied and the other Roman legion, the remaining half. So if 20 tribes are levied, one legion will have men from 10 tribes and the other legion the remaining 10 tribes. For Cannae, the Romans do not use all the tribes for the levy, and those tribes that are chosen for the levy (more than likely by lot), only provided 25% of their tribal centuries towards to the levy. The tribe is a two tier system. One tier is for voting and the other tier is for the levy. After the tribes were created in 241 BC, the Romans began expanding the tribes. However, during the republic, the Romans kept the number of centuries in a tribe at a constant number, but expanded the size of each century. So let’s say for example a tribe had 10 centuries each of 100 men. Overtime a century was expanded to 200 men. When it came to voting the tribe had 10 centuries (10 votes), but when the levy was conducted, the tribe has 20 centuries of 100 men.
Steven
Bryan wrote:
Was there a set amount of people in each century? Or were the numbers generally equal for the number of people that qualified for each class.
To answer this I believe it would require revealing the most important aspect of my research into the Century Assembly. Everyone would have the information to then reconstruct the tribal system.
Bryan wrote:
Were the centuria named or numbered?
I have no idea and I am not aware of any information to throw light on the question. They must have had a system of identification. Maybe someone else might know.
Bryan wrote:
Would a Roman citizen identity himself by his centuria, as he would his class and tribe? When would a Roman be assigned to a centuria? During the census upon adulthood?
What I can make out is before the introduction of the Tribal Assembly, a Roman citizen would be allocated to a homogenous century organised by class before voting on the field of Mars in the Century Assembly. After the introduction of the Tribal Assembly, when voting in the Tribal Assembly, a Roman citizen would be allocated to a heterogeneous century. Therefore, the Century Assembly equates to homogenous centuries and the Tribal Assembly equals heterogeneous centuries. I really am giving too much away here.
Bryan wrote:
If he were to be elevated to a higher class, he'd have to wait till the next census to be inducted into his new voting centuria?
I have no idea when this would occur.
Bryan wrote:
Would male family members all be in the same centuria?
I have no idea. These questions remind me of an incident I had with Prof. Ridley about my conclusions on the battle of Cannae. After giving him the study of the number of men, which conformed to Plutarch’s figure of 88,000 men, Prof. Ridley commented that my work was incomplete because I failed to supply the names of the 88,000 men. He was joking of course.
Bryan wrote:
Would the dilectus be based off the centuria or the tribe?
It is based on the tribal centuries. Before the 35th tribe is created, the men are taken from tribal centuries then distributed among the various legions. In this manner, every legion will have an equal number of men from each tribe. After the completion of the 35 tribes, depending on the number of legions levied, in a consular army, one legion will have half the number of tribes levied and the other Roman legion, the remaining half. So if 20 tribes are levied, one legion will have men from 10 tribes and the other legion the remaining 10 tribes. For Cannae, the Romans do not use all the tribes for the levy, and those tribes that are chosen for the levy (more than likely by lot), only provided 25% of their tribal centuries towards to the levy. The tribe is a two tier system. One tier is for voting and the other tier is for the levy. After the tribes were created in 241 BC, the Romans began expanding the tribes. However, during the republic, the Romans kept the number of centuries in a tribe at a constant number, but expanded the size of each century. So let’s say for example a tribe had 10 centuries each of 100 men. Overtime a century was expanded to 200 men. When it came to voting the tribe had 10 centuries (10 votes), but when the levy was conducted, the tribe has 20 centuries of 100 men.
Steven
