APPENDIX F
(IN ORDER OF PRECEDENCE)
|
Rank |
Description |
Equivalent |
|
Miles classicus |
A soldier in the Roman navy’s marine corps. |
Marine |
|
Miles gregarius |
Literally, a “common soldier” of the legion. |
Private |
|
Signifer |
Standard-bearer for legion cohort and maniple. No real authority. Unit banker. |
Corporal |
|
Aquilifer |
Eagle-bearer of the legion. Most prestigious post for a standard-bearer. |
Corporal |
|
Tesserarius |
Orderly sergeant; sergeant of the guard. |
Sergeant |
|
Optio |
Second-in-command of a century and of a cavalry squadron. Unit training, administration, and records officer. |
Sergeant major |
|
Decurio |
Decurion. Cavalry officer, commanding a |
Second |
|
squadron of legion cavalry. Several grades, based on length of service. |
lieutenant |
|
|
Centurio |
Centurion. Officer commanding a century, |
First |
|
maniple, and cohort. Sixty to a legion (including six primi ordines). Eleven grades, including primi ordines and primus pilus. Seniority usually determined by length of service. |
lieutenant |
|
|
Primi ordines |
Six most senior centurions of a legion, all serving in the first, double cohort. |
Captain |
|
Primus pilus |
Literally the “first spear,” the most senior centurion of the legion, one of the primi ordines. |
Captain |
|
Praefectus castrorium |
Camp prefect. A former centurion, the third-in-command of a legion, quartermaster, and officer in charge of major detachments separated from the legion. |
Major |
|
Tribunus angusticlavius |
Tribune of the thin stripe, a staff officer, serving a six-month officer cadetship. |
Lieutenant colonel |
|
Navarchus |
Commander of a warship in the Roman navy. |
Captain (naval) |
|
Praefectus |
Commander of an auxiliary cohort or wing. |
Colonel |
|
Tribunus laticlavius |
Tribune of the broad stripe, second-in-command of a legion. |
Colonel |
|
Praefectus praetoria |
One of two commanders of the Praetorian Guard, of equal rank. While, nominally, Prefects of the Guard held the rank of colonel, some rose through the ranks and were former centurions, while others were ex-generals, and on several occasions they commanded field armies. |
Colonel |
|
Praefectus classis Legatus legionis |
Commander of a squadron or a fleet in the Roman navy. Frequently a former or serving general, occasionally a freedman with no military experience. Legate of the legion. Legion commander. |
Admiral Brigadier general |
|
Praetor/ propraetor |
A praetor was a senior magistrate in Rome. Former praetors—propraetors— could hold the governorship of minor provinces and command a legion and armies in the field. |
Major general |
|
Consul/ proconsul |
A consul was the highest official in Rome after the emperor. The two consuls for the year shared the presidency of the Senate and gave their names to the year. Former consuls, proconsuls, could receive the most senior provincial governorships, commanding all military forces in their province. Roman field armies were normally commanded by men of consular rank. |
Lieutenant general |
The Roman Field Marshal or Five-Star General
Occasionally, emperors endowed generals of consular rank with special powers usually reserved for the emperor alone, on a temporary basis, for particular military operations. These powers made the generals involved senior to all other generals and officials in their sphere of operations, no matter what their seniority otherwise, and allowed them to lead troops across provincial boundaries. We would equate this special rank with a modern-day field marshal or five-star general. Agrippa, Tiberius, and Drusus would have been granted these powers by Augustus, Germanicus was under Augustus and then under Tiberius, Corbulo and Vespasian were under Nero, and Mucianus and Titus were under Vespasian.