07-06-2001, 05:19 PM
Salve,<br>
<br>
There are no surviving references for height requirements for the praetorian guard. They are likely to have been selected for height based on evidence for other elite formations, though there is no surviving evidence directly proving that.<br>
<br>
Vegetius , 1.5. mentions a height of 6 foot or at least 5 foot 10 inches (Roman measurements, so slightly under modern English) for the <i> alares</i> and first cohorts of the legions.<br>
<br>
A law from AD367 in the Codex of Theodosius (7.13.3) handles about a reduction of the height requirement from 5 foot 10 to 5 foot 7 for Italian recruits for an unspecified branch of the armed forces. Another reference in this legal work shows that the <i> ripenses</i> (soldiers serving i units on river frontier) had lower standards to meet than the elite <i> comitatenses</i> field army troops.<br>
<br>
It was considered special that the <i> legio</i> I <i> Italica</i>, Nero's phalanx of Alexander, was recruited from Italians all of a length of six feet and bove as described by Suetonius.<br>
<br>
The average length of people in Roman times is a hotly debated issue, and while the average height may have been somewhat lower than today, the bones of a Roman first century soldier found at Velsen in the Netherlands showed him to be over 1,90, clearly contrasting with the stock image of the short Roman of popular imagination.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Sander van Dorst <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showLocalUserPublicProfile?login=sandervandorst>Sander van Dorst</A> at: 7/6/01 7:46:17 pm<br></i>
<br>
There are no surviving references for height requirements for the praetorian guard. They are likely to have been selected for height based on evidence for other elite formations, though there is no surviving evidence directly proving that.<br>
<br>
Vegetius , 1.5. mentions a height of 6 foot or at least 5 foot 10 inches (Roman measurements, so slightly under modern English) for the <i> alares</i> and first cohorts of the legions.<br>
<br>
A law from AD367 in the Codex of Theodosius (7.13.3) handles about a reduction of the height requirement from 5 foot 10 to 5 foot 7 for Italian recruits for an unspecified branch of the armed forces. Another reference in this legal work shows that the <i> ripenses</i> (soldiers serving i units on river frontier) had lower standards to meet than the elite <i> comitatenses</i> field army troops.<br>
<br>
It was considered special that the <i> legio</i> I <i> Italica</i>, Nero's phalanx of Alexander, was recruited from Italians all of a length of six feet and bove as described by Suetonius.<br>
<br>
The average length of people in Roman times is a hotly debated issue, and while the average height may have been somewhat lower than today, the bones of a Roman first century soldier found at Velsen in the Netherlands showed him to be over 1,90, clearly contrasting with the stock image of the short Roman of popular imagination.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Sander van Dorst <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showLocalUserPublicProfile?login=sandervandorst>Sander van Dorst</A> at: 7/6/01 7:46:17 pm<br></i>
