Officer Training in the Legions

[Lothia]

Ave Civitas,

I am in a quandry again. In my novel (set in the later Roman Empire) I have a problem with newly arrived Tribunes.

I think I understand how Roman soldiers were trained. I read a good discussion on Basic Training and training posts.

I (hope) that my assumption that Centurions were rankers promoted to higher stations and so were already trained. However, how were Tribunes trained?

Were they expected to show up for duty with their basic combat training completed (by a personal trainer?) and then just recieved tactial and operational training when they arrived at their legion?

Thanks again for your help.

Tom

[Tarbicus]

Tom, what period is your novel set in, as I think that fundamentally affects the very nature of a military tribune. But from what I know, that class of citizen who became tribune would probably have received martial training during his teens as par for the course of honour. Given Caesar's plea to senators to train recruits for him in the use of the sword, it could well be that they would be trained by older men of their own class, but I don't have any sources for that.

The whole issue of the Roman citizen-soldier is an interesting one, but period seems to affect that aspect. I personally think it reasonable to assume that the average citizen would be trained in the use of weapons from an early age, just as youngsters in 18th-C America would know how to use a rifle even if only for hunting, especially in more rural areas, which would then be of use in his expected or potential role as a citizen soldier/militiaman.

[Lothia]

Ave, Tarbicus,

Thanks for your quick response. I guess I did forget to mention the period.

The story, as it stands now is set in AD 335. My next book, which I am starting on in January, will be set in AD 336. If I live long enough, I may write about Edward Longshanks.

So, AD 335. That is why I was not sure how officers were trained then. As you mentioned, Julius Caesar and his officers were probably trained as they grew up. But this late in the Empire, I am not sure. Likewise, I have questions about the rules of Diocletian and whether they would effect the selection of officers.

Thanks again, Tarbicus. Any additional information you can send will be appreciated.

Tom

[Tarbicus]

Hmmm...

[Robert Vermaat]

I (hope) that my assumption that Centurions were rankers promoted to higher stations and so were already trained. However, how were Tribunes trained?

Hi Tom,

The Tribune was not a rank, but a tiitle, denoting men of different ranks.
Tribunes of the scholae were the highest in rank.
A tribune could also a kind of officer in command of regiment-like units or detachments thereof. Some trubunes had special tasks, like the tribuni civitates in Egypt, who performed governor-like functions combining military, administrative and judicial functions.

Did I Jim say 'warlord'? Nah, this was a legit job.

I'm afraid there's not that much known about the training of these officers, apart from what Vegetius have to say. By the time of Maurikios, army structure had already changed much further and I would not want to draw too many parallels. But the main thing is that a 'tribune' is not a rank, but a title.

Centuriones were retained in old-style units, in the new units these offficers were called centenarii.

I think all these men were career officers. We see only in degenerating elite units (like the scholae at some point) that ranks were sold.

[Carlton Bach]

One thing that is likely this late in the game is that officer ranks of all kinds would be filled primarily with soldiers. Principate tribunes had been men of senatiorial rank on their way to a political career, but this was no longer the way things were done then. As Vortigern says, not exclude the possibilirty of some ranks going to favourites, but by and large the officers of late Roman military units would have been career soldiers having learned their trade 'on the job'. There must have been some kind of exposure to the theoretical aspects of the military art, similar to what earlier senatorial officers got in their families and from their teachers. Some theorise that the unit of the protectores sacri lateris functioned as a kind of staf college, with promising candidates being promoted to protector, serving in the presence of the emperor and learning comnmand, then being sent out to officer postings. I don't thik the evidence holds up a firm conclusion, but it is certainly possible - proximity to the emperor seems to have been a career enhancing factor one way or another anyway. You might want to use this.

[Lothia]

Ave Civitas,

Thanks, V. Studies and C. Bach. I appreciate your responses and you both give me good material to ponder.

That is good information about the centenarii, but I don't know just how I would use those two titles without confusing the non-historical reader. I will have to fiddle with that a bit, but trust me, I will get it in, I think it is an important point for accuracy.

That is also interesting about a War College, Officer Candidate School. I had not heard of that before. Hmmmm. Thanks.

I hope you both had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Me.