Roman Army/Legions
· The legion was the basic unit of Rome's standing army of career soldiers, the legionaries, who were all Roman citizens and fought primarily as foot-soldiers (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· The most striking visual aspects of the Roman army were the standards, tall poles topped with various insignia and symbols, including many types of animals (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· Auxiliary troops were composed of noncitizens (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· The basic tactical fighting unit was the cohort, made of 6 centuries, each with its centurion, standard-bearer and horn-blower to relay commands and maintain discipline and unity (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· Besides fighting in the open, soldiers had to defend Roman cities and forts against sieges and to conduct sieges against enemy cities and forts.
· Discipline in the army was quite rigorous, and the general had life-and-death power over his soldiers (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· The worst punishment of all was decimation, usually applied to a whole cohort, in which every tenth man in the unit was randomly selected to be clubbed or beaten to death by the other soldiers (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· The most striking visual aspects of the Roman army were the standards, tall poles topped with various insignia and symbols, including many types of animals (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· Auxiliary troops were composed of noncitizens (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· The basic tactical fighting unit was the cohort, made of 6 centuries, each with its centurion, standard-bearer and horn-blower to relay commands and maintain discipline and unity (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· Besides fighting in the open, soldiers had to defend Roman cities and forts against sieges and to conduct sieges against enemy cities and forts.
· Discipline in the army was quite rigorous, and the general had life-and-death power over his soldiers (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
· The worst punishment of all was decimation, usually applied to a whole cohort, in which every tenth man in the unit was randomly selected to be clubbed or beaten to death by the other soldiers (The Roman Army in the Late Republic and early Empire).
