Military Banners?

[Gaius Honorius Felix]

I know that the roman army carried a number of banners and standards with them but I have a question about these banners. Which one was carried by the smallest group in a legion and what group?

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

that would be a signum for a century, see also this site: www.legionxxiv.org/signum/

But you also have a vexillum which could be carried by a vexillation.

[Gaius Honorius Felix]

Would a century be smaller than a vexillation? And would a century sometimes be smaller than 80 men? I remember reading somwhere that troops were sometimes put to other tasks and some centuries were divided between several forts? Anyway, thanks.

[Carlton Bach]

Would a century be smaller than a vexillation? And would a century sometimes be smaller than 80 men? I remember reading somwhere that troops were sometimes put to other tasks and some centuries were divided between several forts? Anyway, thanks.

'Vexillation' is basically Latin for 'semi-permanent detachment' and could be almost any number of men. Some probably numbered in their thousands, others may have been very small indeed, though it would hardly make sense to send a vexillation that was equal or smaller than a century - there were established units that size. By way of a reference point, CIL VIII 2564 from Lambaesis lists the duplarii that returneed from the eastern rexpedituion with a vexillation of Legio III Augusta, and these alone are 209 names.

Centuries themselves were very likely almost permanently under establishment strength, except in the immediate run-up to an expected war, because that is the way of armies. It is also likely that not all soldiers in a century were actually available for duty or combat at any one time. In fact especially the legions detailed large numbers of men on duties that took them far away from their base for extended periods of time. We dion't have details, but a centurion from north Africa supervising cloth industry works in Spain can't have been there for just a few days. Scribes in gubernatorial and prefectural officia, stationarii policing roads, engineers, horse-buyers, bear-trappers, frumentarii and brinkmakers all were kept on their century's books as far as we know.

Really, an Antonine or Severan legion going into battle probably looked less like 5000 determined killers than a bunch of guys trying very hard to look like 5000.