DESCRIPTION

Roman Centurion Legio VI Victrix 1st Century BC 

Unpainted Tin Figure

1:32 Scale

Manufacturer: Handmade

Material: Tin

Historical reference

A centurion (/sɛnˈtjʊəriən/; Latin: centurio; Greek: κεντυρίων, kentyríōn or ἑκατόνταρχος, hekatóntarkhos) was a professional officer of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Centurions commanded a century of around 80 legionaries. The centuries (centuriae) commanded by the centurion theoretically derive from centum ("hundred"), but that connection is now disputed. It certainly meant "company" or "tribe", but senior centurions commanded cohorts or took senior staff roles in their legion. Centurions were also found in the Roman navy. In the Byzantine Army, they were also known by the name kentarch (κένταρχος, kentarchos). Their symbol of office was the vine staff, with which they disciplined even Roman citizens protected from other forms of beating by the Porcian Laws.

In the Roman infantry, the centurions initially commanded a centuria or "century". Centuries developed from the Roman tribal system under the Servian reforms and could contain 200 to 1,000 legionaries. Later, generals and emperors further manipulated these numbers with double and half-strength units. Julius Caesar, for instance, made the first cohort of 5 double-strength centuries.

Centurions received a much higher rate of pay than the average legionary. Veteran legionaries often worked as tenants of their former centurions.

During the Imperial era, centurions gradually rose in seniority in their cohort, commanding centuries with higher precedence, until commanding the senior century and therefore the whole cohort. The best centurions were then promoted to the First Cohort, called Primi Ordines, commanding one of the ten centuries and also taking on a staff role. The most senior centurion of the legion was the Primus Pilus who commanded the first century. All centurions, however senior, had their own allocated century. There was little difference between the ranks of centurions except for the Primus Pilus, who also participated in war councils. The Primus Pilus was so called because his own century was the first file of the first (rightmost) cohort. Only eight officers in a fully officered legion outranked the Primus Pilus: the legate (legatus legionis), commanding the legion; the senior tribune (tribunus laticlavius), second-in-command of the legion; the Camp Prefect (praefectus castrorum); and the five other tribunes (tribuni angusticlavii) who served as senior staff officers to the legate with a rank roughly equivalent to a modern Colonel.

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