Roman Army War College

[Lothia]

Ave Civitas,

I come again to the all knowing sages of Rome.

I know that Rome had established a training program for its field grade officers. I do not remember where I read that and I searched my texts (I have them almost all scanned in so searches by key-words is easier) for words that might land me in the middle of such a discussion, but alas. So here I am.

Does anyone know when it was established, who established it, what it was called, and where in Constantinople, it was located?

I thank you guys in advance.

Me.

[Ensifer]

I'll be interested to hear the answer to this question.

For whom was this war college intended? Men of centurion rank or above? Legionary commanders above centurion rank? Aristocrats? Commoners? Was it geared towards men of a specific geographical area, or would soldiers from across the empire have been sent there?

I had always assumed that centurions came from the rank and file and were trained on the job and that a lot of the upper echelon types were political appointments with minimal training and experience. In fact, I wasn't even aware that there was a real distinction between company grade and field grade commanders in the Roman army, as I thought centurions fulfilled both functions to one extent or another depending on their placement in the legion. Obviously the legionary "flag" officers were the political appointment, but I guess I sort of assumed that the modern distinction between field and company grade was at least partially a result of the nature of modern warfare. What with the mobility of modern armies and the range of modern weapons, a regiment's colonels/lt. colonels at their battalion HQs are not necessarily engaged on the front in the same way the senior centurions of a legion would have been. There's a real distinction between battalion level operations and company operations in modern armies, hence the field/company distinction.

At where in the process of promotion would soldiers have been sent off to war college? Or was it for political appointments before they took the field?

[Lothia]

Ave Ensifer,

Good questions and I should have written more of what I knew of the War College.

1. I believe it was established either during or after the reign of Diocletian, when there was a standing mobile army. But if that is certain, I don't know. That is why the posting.

2. I believe that by the 4th century AD there were no more political appointees to field grade positions.

3. Soldiers who showed promise were recommended to attend the War College as part of their preparation for assuming higher ranks (comes, dux) in the Roman army. Again, I am not certain and came to RAT to ask.

4. I believe you are right about the promotion progress of centurions, it still was a promotion by aptitude.

Thanks for your response. Hope this helps.

Me.

[sonic]

Do you mean the protectores?

[Lothia]

Ave sonic,

No, I don't think that the Protector Augusti Nostri were graduates of the War College, but it was a title given for accomplishments, like a medal for bravery.

Me.

[Longovicium]

Perhaps the Domestic Protectors mentioned midway down in this article?

[url:3nsia5ic]http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/ranks.htm[/url]

[Lothia]

Ave Longovicium,

That is exactly what I was looking for.

-- This group changed into a kind of school for officers, making men who were promoted from the ranks to become a protector before they were posted to their new ranks and duties. --

Thank you very much. I knew I came to the right place to ask this question..

Me.

[Longovicium]

Glad to help. AHM Jones' work 'The Later Roman Empire' provides much needed background to the development of the corps of the Domestici et Protectores which indeed formed a sort of staff college and which in theory provided all units with commanders (practice being different of course). In time, it devolved somewhat into a sinecure and many people bought commissions because of the privilege of the rank rather than a desire to serve in the army. As with all knowledge about the military of the later empire, however, I think it fair to say that there are frustrating gaps which leaves much of the structure and development of the corps frustratingly opaque!

[Robert Vermaat]

That is exactly what I was looking for.

My pleasure. :wink:

Francis, you have a very nice avatar, could you post the image it's taken from?

[Longovicium]

Hi Vortigern,

The image is from the fresco of the Tribune Terentius of the Cohors XX Palmyrenorum at Dura Europos

A full image can be found here:

http://whitemountainarmoury.com/magdalena/dura.php

and more information here, of course:

http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/stj/dura.htm

By the way, the Fectio site where my original citation comes from is a great resource which I have used before over in the RTW/BI Late Roman mod where I occasionally write an AAR or 2 and reference your work there.