02-22-2008, 02:11 PM
Quote:Under the military system of the Republic, evocati ("those who are summoned") were time-served legionaries who were required by their commander to continue their service, probably on account of an emergency (e.g. Catiline calling upon evocati for Pistoria; Pompey calling upon evocati for Pharsalus).
See Ross Cowan's article in Ancient Warfare 2007-2 ("The real Pullo and Vorenus").
Cicero, in a letter of 51 BC, refers to one Decimus Antonius, praefectus evocatorum. Perhaps, wherever evocati were assembled, they were placed under the command of a prefect.
The concept changed somewhat under the system of the Empire, when evocati Augusti were explicitly time-served Praetorians, called upon to perform some specialist function, most commonly as a legionary centurion.
Thank you.
So would that mean that the role of praefectus evocatorum in the late republic is unknown?
And when the Evocati were assembled, do we know if they formed a unit of their own or if they were dispersed among the cohorts of the legion?
Edward Gale
