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Frumentarii uniform
#1
Hi chaps

Does anyone have any idea what a frumentari's uniform consisted of? I've seen many references them 'working in uniform', but no clue as to whether it was any sort of special issue that would identify them to those in the know.

Thanks as ever,

Tony.
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#2
The frumentarii were all serving legionary soldiers, and as the Roman army had no 'uniform', I would suggest that the references you mention might be a bit dubious! However, there would have been ways to identify a soldier even without his arms and equipment: the military belt, probably the cloak and possibly the hobnailed caligae. Since a lot of the power of the frumentarii would depend on their status as detached soldiers working on Imperial orders, it would be in their interest to appear identifiably 'military' - at other times, perhaps when engaged in some of the less savoury activities attributed to them, they could lose the military trappings and blend in with the civilian population quite easily.

I would also say, incidentally, that the role of the frumentarii as the empire's 'espionage service' has been rather overplayed, particularly in novels etc. They were principally messengers, it would seem, even after they'd stopped being mere grain supply men. Their ability to travel around unchecked on 'imperial business' made them good sources of information, but the notoriety of the frumentarii could have been more to do with their high-handed way of requisitioning supplies than any KGB-like role.

- Nathan
Nathan Ross
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#3
Interesting. Were they double pay men or did they sometimes rank as Centurions?

Answer here: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cac ... 1P2Cw3_fsg
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#4
Thanks Nathan, very helpful. And you know what us novelists are like for grabbing anything vaguely promising and running with it...the frumentarii are just too good to ignore for a writer in need of a villain!
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#5
Quote:the frumentarii are just too good to ignore for a writer in need of a villain!

Uh-huh - Harry Sidebottom thought so too! He has the frumentarii as a 'secret service', with men operating undercover and never revealing their true identities etc. Maybe this is unlikely - frumentarii seem to have been very open about what they were, and declared their status on their gravestones. They had their own headquarters in Rome, and a promotion to frumentarius would have been something to be proud of. Then again, I'm sure the same could have been said of the KGB, back in the old days...

Quote:Were they double pay men or did they sometimes rank as Centurions? Answer here: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cac ... 1P2Cw3_fsg

That's an interesting piece. Rankov's 1990 essay Frumenatarii, the Castra Peregrina and the Provinical Officia argues an alternative view of recruitment for the frumentarii. Rankov believes that they were selected and 'promoted' by provincial governors and sent to Rome from the frontier armies. Most frumentarii seem to 'belong' to legions on the frontiers, and remain attached to them even unto death, as noted on their funeral inscriptions. Since frontier legionaries could only be selected by the governor of the province, Rankov thinks, they must have had a sort of dual gubernatorial/imperial patronage. Mann, though, claims here that there were little or no links between the frumentarii and the governors at all - they were solely the emperor's men. So how were they selected and promoted? Could the frumentarii have operated their own selection and promotion system amongst the frontier armies? How, and on what criteria, would a man be selected to join them? Or would they just apply?

Either way, as someone acting in a detached capacity a frumentarius would surely have been very loyal and dependable - perhaps it was this quality which was sought in potential recruits, rather than any great facility with the knife and garotte... Tongue

- Nathan
Nathan Ross
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#6
My frumentarius is very open about the whole thing...no skulking in the shadows for him!
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#7
Hello Tony

It is possible they did wear something distinctive.

Tertullian in De Corona Militis, 1.3. describes a soldier with a distinctive boot which he calls caliga speculatoria.

The soldier may therefore have belonged to the Speculatores Augustii.

In the third century Beneficarii carried not only a distinctive lance but the lance head design featured in their belt fittings and terminals. The design also appeared on the pottery they used like a brand. However I have always thought it odd that a soldier presumably carrying out undercover duties had a thumping great lance with him. I guess that was left behind at times!

Military clothing is often seen by the Romans themselves as distinctive. They refer to both military cloaks and red military tunics, so a military sagum cloak must have been very different from a civilian sagum cloak and probably colour and quality of material and dyes played a part.

Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.

"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.

"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
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#8
Thanks Graham, I must admit that my thoughts had turned to a beneficiarius style badge - from memory, Harry has his chap identified by a little disc on this bracelet, and I was also thinking about a particular colour of cloak...no problem, my lad just walks around telling people exactly what he is, so no need for special subtlety.
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#9
Quote:my lad just walks around telling people exactly what he is, so no need for special subtlety.

I reckon a tight black leather vest with FRUMENTARII stencilled across the chest would do nicely!

- :mrgreen:
Nathan Ross
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#10
Quote:I reckon a tight black leather vest with FRUMENTARII stencilled across the chest would do nicely!

It would be more authentic to wear a long dark Caracalla cloak with a brimmed straw hat worn low over the eyes! Smile

Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.

"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.

"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
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#11
I'm liking these suggestions! Not using them, you understand, but definitely liking them!
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#12
You would save a fortune on the soundtrack when is goes on the big screen though! :lol:
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
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