Costs of a legion

[Jona Lendering]

Does anyone have an idea what the upkeep of a legion in peace time did cost? An easy calculation suggests 6,000 x 225 denarii for the pay of the legionaries; but there must have been other expenses. Anyone any thoughts?

Jona

[Praefectusclassis]

We're talking about a pre-Domitianic legion here? :wink:
The easy way would indeed be to calculate the total number of soldiers multiplied by salary. 6000 is a bit high perhaps (80*60 / 80 * 54 + 160*5 would be more conventional), but that might compensate for the sesquiplicarii, duplicarii, equites and centurions who would earn considerably more.
I don't think I have ever read anything about the other costs for a legion. A legion would make purchases with traders for food, clothing, etc, but the soldiers suffered deductions from their pay for that. Otherwise, it would have been largely self-sufficient.

[Jona Lendering]

Let's assume a Domitianic legion in which a soldier received 300 denarii/year. (I'm trying to figure out what the income of the fiscus Judaicus -40,000,000 sesterces/year- signified for the Roman empire.)

• Cohorts 2-9 had 9*6*80=4320 men, and Cohort 1 had 5*160 men; 5120 men >>> 1,536,000 den.
  There were 58 centurios, who earned 5,000 den >>> 290,000 den.
  There were 120 cavalrymen, who earned 400 den >>> 48,000 den.

These figures are more or less "hard". I've now visited the library and can get a bit beyond thus. Yann Le Bohec offers a guess for the officers.

• Primipilus: 25,000
  Five equestrian tribunes: 5*2500 >>> 12,500
  One angusticlavian tribune: 10,000
  Praefectus castrorum: 25,000
  Prefect of the cavalry: 15,000

I think it is remarkable that a tribune earned less than a centurio, although as an equestrian, he did of course not need the money.

The legatus was, in the Severan age, reckoned to earn as much a procurator: >>> 60,000 (assuming he was a sexenarius).

Assumed sesquiplicarii:

• Tesserarii: 59*450 >>> 26,550
  Cornicens: 59*450 >>> 26,550
  Signifers: 59*450 >>> 26,550

Assumed duplicarius:

• optiones: 59*600 >>> 35,400

Assumed triplicarius:

• aquilifer: 900

Grand total: 2,137,450 denarii, or about 9,000,000 sesterces.

This is, I think, a reasonable guess for the payment of wages. Does anyone have an idea about additional bonuses (bootnail & shoe allowance, fodder allowance for cavalry)? How much money was spent for the upkeep of the fort? What was the prize of weapons and armor? Etcetera?

[Praefectusclassis]

I can't remember ever reading about it. Maybe someone else? If not, this might make a little article.

[Praefectusclassis]

Have you checked J.B.Campbell, The Emperor and the Roman Army 31 BC- AD 235, p.161ff. It has an extensive discussion of the cost of the army to the empire. Campbell does not consider such costs as you mentioned though.

[Kate Gilliver]

There's also some stuff in Campbell's War & Society in Imperial Rome, mostly in a footnote, but my copy's gone awol so I can't give you a page number or summary. If I recall correctly, Dominic Rathbone's got a chapter on the cost of the army in the forthcoming Cambridge History of Ancient Warfare, and the forthcoming Blackwell's Companion to the Roman Army has a chapter which includes the financial cost of the army. It'll probably be a toss-up as to which one comes out first but they're (allegedly) both due next year.