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Centurion
#1
Fratre,

I know centurions started off with junior centuries and gradually worked there way up. Although some were promoted quickly to higher positions. They were promoted based on experience, length of service, initiative, bravery, and a number of other officer qualities. And even then some never made it to lead first cohort. My questions are: Did some centurions spend there entire career with a one legion? I've read where some moved from legion to legion a lot in there career. Why? What would be the reason for a centurion to be transferred to so many legions? Did a centurion have any kind of say in what legion he was being sent to or the area of the empire? And could he be overlooked for promotion based on his performace?

Salve Sis,
Thomas
Thomas Guenther
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#2
(07-16-2018, 07:46 PM)Purplest Wrote: Did some centurions spend there entire career with a one legion? ... What would be the reason for a centurion to be transferred to so many legions?

Some centurions did stay with the same legion, paricularly in the earlier imperial period, Augustan to Julio-Claudian, when it appears that promotions were more in the hands of provincial governors, who could only promote within the legions in their province (or adjacent ones, it seems).

Later there was far more movement, and most centurions seem to have moved between at least two or three legions. Some moved far more often - Petronius Fortunatus moved thirteen times, back and forth across the empire. We don't really know why this happened - doubtless patronage played a part. But it does seem likely that the regular movement up the steps of the centurionate within each legion that Vegetius describes didn't happen in practice: a centurion who wanted or had earned promotion had to go wherever such a place was available. Sometimes they seem to have 'jumped' several steps in the hierarchy with a promotion; other times transferred men seem to have occupied the same position in a new legion, but perhaps one with better prospects for advancement.

The best study on centurion careers is J.R. Summerly's thesis Studies in the Legionary Centurionate (Durham University 1992), which has a mass of detail on all known centurions and their promotions and transfers over the centuries.

If you can find a copy of Ancient Warfare magazine, Special issue 2010, then D.B. Campbell's 'Backbone of the Legions: some centurions and their careers' also has lots of great detail on the topic.
Nathan Ross
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#3
Mr. Ross

When you say patronage I take it you are referring to loyalty to an emperor or higher up military official? Correct me if Im wrong. And, I can believe that, as today, people would go where they have the best chance for advancement. It's only logical. And like today, there's truth in the statement: It's all in who you know... ;-)
Thanks for the info on the magazine, etc.. I will have to see if I cant find a copy of them.

Thomas
Thomas Guenther
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#4
(07-17-2018, 12:36 AM)Purplest Wrote: When you say patronage I take it you are referring to loyalty to an emperor or higher up military official?

Patronage operated at every level of Roman society, but is largely invisible to us now. As Summerly says in his thesis, it's very difficult to judge how patronage worked in the promotion and transfer of centurions: occasionally we find a dedication to a patron on a centurion's tombstone, for example, but there's not much to go on.

Loyalty to an emperor - in a time of civil war or rebellion particularly - would certainly help in getting noticed and promoted, as would valour in battle. There seem to have been links between some very well-connected men and higher officials, like Praetorian Prefects, who would have favoured their own supporters. More likely, though, it was the personal ties between centurions and their immediate superiors - in particular tribunes and senatorial legates commanding legions or governing provinces - which were most useful.

Many centurions served on the staff of senior officers; other may have come from towns and cities that had patronage links with particular equestrian or senatorial office-holders. When the senior man moved to a new appointment -  a legate to a different legion, or a governor to a different and more prestigious province - he would have taken a few of his own 'clients' with him and installed them in better positions. The patron would have represented the interests of the centurion both to the imperial bureaucracy and (as they moved higher up the ladder) to the emperor himself.

(p.s. in case it wasn't clear from my last post, you can download a pdf copy of Summerly's thesis (main text and appendix) using the link above!)
Nathan Ross
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#5
Mr. Ross,

My mistake. I will use the link you sent. If you've read one of my other threads you know that I'm having a lot of trouble with one of my eyes right now. Thanks for the link!

As you said "Loyalty to an emperor - in a time of civil war or rebellion particularly" I know there were not only officers, but entire legions that showed loyalty and support of certain emperors. Some legions marching long distances to fight in support of them. If they won there were good chances for promotion and honorary titles, etc. awarded to the legions. But then there was the other side of the coin - If they lost to the opposing emperor they could be demoted or even whole legions disbanded as punishment.

Appreciate your input,
Thomas
Thomas Guenther
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