3rd Samnite War

[Florent]

I have a question about the roman army at this time. I have always considered that the Consular Armies were 2 legions and 2 Alae for a 20000 men Army but somebody said to me NO Alae. Thus Sentinum with 2 Consular Armies and 40000 Romans were made only of romans, No Alae ?

[M. Demetrius]

By alae, do you mean the "wings" (Latin: alae) of cavalry? Of course, you are talking about the armies of the Republic, in which case, even the cavalry may have been Romans, not foreign auxilia. The Equites (horsemen) were generally also Roman citizens, just like the legionaries. There may have been hired "barbarian" mercenaries from time to time, iirc.

[Florent]

No Wing of infantry thus 2 Roman legion + 2 Alae legion of Allies.
Cavalry ALae is Empire.

[M. Demetrius]

Ally is not the same as alae even though they sound alike.

[Florent]

Alae Sociorum => Wings of the Allies
2 Roman legions in the centerand anAlae legion on the flanks thus the name.
But the question is about the composition of a Consular Army in the 3 rd Samnite War in the 290 BC.

[Marja]

I believe the Campanians received Roman citizenship at some point, and their contingents would be in the legions, but the Latins didn't receive Roman citizenship until the Social War, and their contingents would be in the alae sociorum. I'm not sure who else would be in the alae sociorum.

I believe that the ratio of socii to legionarii might start below 1:1 and it reaches 3:2 by the Telamon campaign.

[Renatus]

According to Livy 10.26.14, before the battle of Sentinum the consuls Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius had an army of 4 legions, a large force of Roman cavalry, 1000 Campanian cavalry and an army of allies and Latins that outnumbered the Romans.

[M. Demetrius]

No fair not specifying information that is critical to produce the proper answer. If you'd started with the data you've added, it would have been much easier to give an appropriate reply. Hmph.

:errr: :twisted:

[Florent]

I had indicated 3rd Samnite War thus i had given the datas.
Anyway thank you all, the Alae were certainly there.