Historical Roman Legion Through Time

**Quilts** · 03-16-2007, 14:28

Originally Posted by K COSSACK

At the early stages of the republic (camillan) allied armies were equiped in there native fasion.

Later allies started looking like the Romans and finnaly Marian comes in and you know...

True and false.....

Which 'Allies' are we talking about? The Latin/Socii allies or the Italian allies? It's all very confusing and to be honest alot of books about Republican Rome brush over the allies so quickly you could not be blamed for not realising they existed at all.

As Rome expanded it's influence through Italy it-

1. Gave cities full Citizenship, or
2. Gave cities Socii status ie-Citizenship 'without the vote', or
3. Gave cities Latin Rights, or
4. Entered Alliances with cities, and/or
5. Established colonies of Roman/Socii/Latin citizens.

Irrespective of what form of 'alliance' was offered/accepted, the big point was that Rome determined 'foreign policy' on their behalf. By entering an alliance with Rome, they were not permitted to enter into an alliance with anybody else (even amongst themselves). So, other than cowtowing to Rome regarding foreign policy, and providing troops upon demand, they seem to have been left to themselves

So what does it all mean.....

My Opinion

1. Romans with full Citizenship formed the Legions.

2. The Latin/Socii allies (those with 'lesser citizenship') formed the Alae. They were the guys who were given a 'stake' in Romes internal/external interests by way of their 'citizenship', deficient or not. These guys would have fought just like Romans but were potentially not as well equipped due to wealth. I imagine a city was given a 'figure' of troops it would have to provide and that was that. No census of wealth to assess eligability etc.

3. The Italian allies seem to have formed 'Militias', for want of a better word, for defence in times of great need. We see evidence in this at different times-
a. The size of the armies that fought Phyrrus (well beyond Consular level) and,
b. The specifically mentioned (Polybius) Italian 'Militias' leading up to the Gallic Invasion around 226BC, to name a few.

One would imagine these guys would have fought in a more traditional manner. There is the possibility that they were called upon to provide manpower for foreign wars but I doubt it.

Anyway, enough eh.

Cheers,

Quilts