Late Roman Unit Sizes

[antiochus]

Nathan wrote:
As far as I know, there are no inscriptions mentioning centuries at all post Diocletian. I think the last dateable ones are related to legionaries transferred to the praetorian guard, perhaps by Maxentius. The decline of epigraphy generally during this period leaves little evidence to go on, but it seems possible that the century was phased out under Constantine. Vegetius only mentions it as part of his 'antiqua legio'.

Thanks Nathan, much appreciated. I will push on with the theory the iuniores were originally the prior centuries and the seniores were the posterior centuries. As the legion was defined by age division this seems (to me) quite plausible. It could also explain the absence of the term prior and posterior.

Nathan wrote:
In earlier times, the centuria had a signum but the cohort had no standard.

I understand a signa can mean a standard, banner or ensign, so it could belong to anything from a century to tribune cohort. However, and this is where I really get controversial (sorry Adrian) but a signa can also mean an orbis, the zodiac, and a group of stars or constellation. So if there are 30 degrees to a zodiac, then a 480 man cohort represents 16 zodiacs. Therefore, the signa could also be the cohort standard.