01-06-2013, 07:19 PM
Hi all,
Reverting to the original question, the commanding officer of a cohort in the roman legion, I have to admit that this has been an issue that has intrigued me for a long time. I personally can not share the proposed solution that the centuries in a late republican-imperial legion's cohort had not a single commander and that the six centurions cooperated in managing the cohort in combat.
We must bear in mind that in republican times previous to the the first century B.C half or more than half the strength of a consular army was composed of allied cohorts with each of them having a single commander, idem with the imperial era auxiliary cohorts and alae. If this was deemed necessary for these units to operate efficiently in combat and in campaign, why should it be different for the legionary cohorts? After all the allied cohorts fighted in the same way than the legionary ones in the same battleline and in the same battlefields.
Aside from that there is always the matter of how can be managed a unit of six centuries without a unified source of command. The cooperative-competitive between the centurions theory fails to take into account a very important point: what happens when different centurions in the same cohort think differently about different courses of action in the middle of a battle?, what could happen if several of them had personal rivalries or diverging ambitions that prevented them from helping one one another? This problem could be potentially disastrous for the cohort.
I personally think that we must look at the traditional way of organizing command in republican politics and military to find an answer: romans liked to divide power between equals, but assigning clear responsabilities and duties in an altertanting basis: consules shared command when operating together, tribunes shared command of their respective legions on a daily pattern, so in the same lines maybe simply the centurions rotated between them commanding their cohorts: same responsabilities, same pay and rank.
Reverting to the original question, the commanding officer of a cohort in the roman legion, I have to admit that this has been an issue that has intrigued me for a long time. I personally can not share the proposed solution that the centuries in a late republican-imperial legion's cohort had not a single commander and that the six centurions cooperated in managing the cohort in combat.
We must bear in mind that in republican times previous to the the first century B.C half or more than half the strength of a consular army was composed of allied cohorts with each of them having a single commander, idem with the imperial era auxiliary cohorts and alae. If this was deemed necessary for these units to operate efficiently in combat and in campaign, why should it be different for the legionary cohorts? After all the allied cohorts fighted in the same way than the legionary ones in the same battleline and in the same battlefields.
Aside from that there is always the matter of how can be managed a unit of six centuries without a unified source of command. The cooperative-competitive between the centurions theory fails to take into account a very important point: what happens when different centurions in the same cohort think differently about different courses of action in the middle of a battle?, what could happen if several of them had personal rivalries or diverging ambitions that prevented them from helping one one another? This problem could be potentially disastrous for the cohort.
I personally think that we must look at the traditional way of organizing command in republican politics and military to find an answer: romans liked to divide power between equals, but assigning clear responsabilities and duties in an altertanting basis: consules shared command when operating together, tribunes shared command of their respective legions on a daily pattern, so in the same lines maybe simply the centurions rotated between them commanding their cohorts: same responsabilities, same pay and rank.
SI VIS PACEM COLE IVSTITIAM
NVLLA SINE DIGNITATE FELICITAS
LVCIVS SERGIVS ANTONINVS - Toni Sagarra
NVLLA SINE DIGNITATE FELICITAS
LVCIVS SERGIVS ANTONINVS - Toni Sagarra