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For the play by Aristophanes called Equites in Latin, see The Knights.
A recreation of equites

The Equites (Latin: eques nom. singular; sometimes called "knights" in modern times because of the involvement of horses) constituted the lower of the two aristocratic classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the patricians (patricii), a hereditary caste that monopolized political power during the regal era (753 to 509 BC) and during the early Republic (to 338 BC). A member of the equestrian order was known as an eques (plural: equites).

During the Roman kingdom and the 1st century of the Republic, legionary cavalry was recruited exclusively from the ranks of the patricians, who were expected to provide 6 centuriae of cavalry (300 horses for each consular legion). Around 400 BC, 12 more centuriae of cavalry were established and these included non-patricians (plebeians). Around 300 BC the Samnite Wars obliged Rome to double the normal annual military levy from 2 to 4 legions, doubling the cavalry levy from 600 to 1,200 horses. Legionary cavalry started to recruit wealthier citizens from outside the 18 centuriae. These new recruits came from the First Class of commoners in the centuriate organisation and were not granted the same privileges.

By the time of the Second Punic War (218–202 BC), all the members of the First Class of commoners were required to serve as cavalrymen. The presence of equites in the Roman cavalry diminished steadily in the period 200–88 BC as only equites could serve as the army's senior officers; as the number of legions proliferated fewer were available for ordinary cavalry service. After c. 88 BC, equites were no longer drafted into the legionary cavalry, although they remained technically liable to such service throughout the Principate era (to AD 284). They continued to supply the senior officers of the army throughout the Principate.


In the later Republican period, Roman Senators and their offspring became an unofficial elite within the equestrian order. As senators' ability to engage in commerce was strictly limited by law, the bulk of non-agricultural activities were in the hands of non-senatorial equites. As well as holding large landed estates, equites came to dominate mining, shipping and manufacturing industry. In particular, tax farming companies (publicani) were almost all in the hands of equites.


During the 3rd century AD, power shifted from the Italian aristocracy to a class of equites who had earned their membership by distinguished military service, often rising from the ranks: career military officers from the provinces (especially the Balkan provinces) who displaced the Italian aristocrats in the top military posts, and under Diocletian (ruled 284–305) from the top civilian positions also. This effectively reduced the Italian aristocracy to an idle, but immensely wealthy group of large landowners. During the 4th century, the status of equites was debased to insignificance by excessive grants of the rank. At the same time the ranks of senators was swollen to over 4,000 by the establishment of a second senate in Constantinople and the tripling of the membership of both senates. The senatorial order of the 4th century was thus the equivalent of the equestrian order of the Principate.

Regal era (753–509 BC)[edit]


Roman tradition relates that the Order of Knights was founded by Romulus, who supposedly established a cavalry regiment of 300 men called the Celeres ("the Swift Squadron") to act as his personal escort, with each of the three Roman "tribes" (actually voting constituencies) supplying 100 horse. This cavalry regiment was supposedly doubled in size to 600 men by King Tarquinius Priscus (traditional dates 616-578 BC).[2] That the cavalry was increased to 600 during the regal era is plausible, as in the early Republic the cavalry fielded remained 600-strong (2 legions with 300 horse each).[3] However, according to Livy, king Servius Tullius (traditional reign-dates 578-535 BC) established a further 12 centuriae of equites, a further tripling of the cavalry.[4] But this is probably anachronistic, as it would have resulted in a contingent of 1,800 horse, incongruously large, compared to the heavy infantry, which was probably only 6,000-strong in the late regal period. Instead, the additional 12 centuriae were probably created at a later stage, perhaps around 400 BC, but these new units were political not military, most likely designed to admit plebeians to the Order of Knights.[5]


Mommsen argues that the royal cavalry was drawn exclusively from the ranks of the Patricians (patricii), the aristocracy of early Rome, which was purely hereditary.[6] Apart from the traditional association of the aristocracy with horsemanship, the evidence for this view is the fact that, during the Republic, 6 centuriae (voting constituencies) of equites in the comitia centuriata (electoral assembly) retained the names of the original 6 royal cavalry centuriae.[4][Note 1] These are very likely "the centuriae of patrician nobles" in the comitia mentioned by the lexicologist Festus. If this view is correct, it implies that the cavalry was exclusively patrician (and therefore hereditary) in the regal period. (However, Cornell considers the evidence tenuous).[7]

Early Republic (509–338 BC)[edit]

It is widely accepted that the Roman monarchy was overthrown by a patrician coup, probably provoked by the Tarquin dynasty's populist policies in favour of the plebeian class.[Note 2] Indeed, Alfoldi suggests that the coup was carried out by the Celeres themselves.[10] According to the Fraccaro interpretation, when the Roman monarchy was replaced by two annually elected praetores (later called Consuls), the royal army was divided equally between them for campaigning purposes, which if true explains why a later Polybian legion's cavalry contingent was 300-strong.[11]

The 12 additional centuriae ascribed by Livy to Servius Tullius were in reality probably formed around 400 BC. In 403 BC, according to Livy, in a crisis during the siege of Veii, the army urgently needed to deploy more cavalry, and "those who possessed equestrian rating but had not yet been assigned public horses" volunteered to pay for their horses out of their own pocket. By way of compensation, pay was introduced for cavalry service, as it had already been for the infantry (in 406 BC).[12]

The persons referred to in this passage were probably members of the 12 new centuriae who were entitled to public horses, but temporarily waived that privilege. Mommsen, however, argues that the passage refers to members of the First Class of commoners being admitted to cavalry service in 403 BC for the first time as an emergency measure. If so, this group may be the original so-called equites equo privato, a rank that is attested throughout the history of the Republic (in contrast to equites equo publico). However, due to lack of evidence, the origins and definition of equo privato equites remain obscure.



In addition, patricians may have retained their original 6 centuriae, which gave them a third of the total voting-power of the equites, even though they constituted only a tiny minority of the Order by 200 BC. Patricians also enjoyed official precedence, such as the right to speak first in senatorial debates, which were initiated by the princeps senatus ("Leader of the Senate"), a position reserved for patricians. In addition, patricians monopolized certain priesthoods and continued to enjoy enormous prestige.[16]

Later Republic (338–30 BC)[edit]


The period following the end of the Latin War (340-338 BC) and of the Samnite Wars (343-290) saw the transformation of the Roman Republic from a powerful but beleaguered city-state into the hegemonic power of the Italian peninsula. This was accompanied by profound changes in its constitution and army. Internally, the critical development was the emergence of the Senate as the all-powerful organ of state.[17]

By 280 BC, the Senate had assumed total control of state taxation, expenditure, declarations of war, treaties, raising of legions, establishing colonies and religious affairs. In other words, of virtually all political power. From an ad hoc group of advisors appointed by the Consuls, the Senate had become a permanent body of c. 300 life-peers who, as largely former Roman magistrates, boasted enormous experience and influence.[17] At the same time, the political unification of the Latin nation under Roman rule after 338 BC gave Rome a populous regional base from which to launch its wars of aggression against its neighbours.[18]

The gruelling contest for Italian hegemony that Rome fought against the Samnite League led to the transformation of the Roman army from the Greek-style hoplite phalanx that it was in the early period to the Italian-style manipular army described by Polybius. It is believed that the Romans copied the manipular structure from their enemies the Samnites, learning through hard experience its greater flexibility and effectiveness in the mountainous terrain of central Italy.[19]


Legionary cavalry also probably underwent a transformation during this period, from the light, unarmoured horsemen of the early period to the Greek-style armoured cuirassiers described by Polybius.[22] As a result of the demands of the Samnite hostilities, a normal consular army was doubled in size to 2 legions, making 4 legions raised annually overall. Roman cavalry in the field thus increased to approximately 1,200 horse.[19]


Political role[edit]

Despite an ostensibly democratic constitution based on the sovereignty of the people, the Roman Republic was in reality a classic oligarchy, in which political power was monopolised by the richest social echelon.[24] Probably by c. 300 BC, the centuriate organisation of the Roman citizen-body for political purposes achieved the evolved form described by Polybius and Livy (see table below). The comitia centuriata was the most powerful people's assembly, as it promulgated Roman laws and annually elected the Roman magistrates, the executive officers of the state: Consuls, Praetors, Aediles and Quaestors.[25]


As a result, the wealthiest echelon could ensure that the elected Magistrates were always their own members. In turn, this ensured that the Senate was dominated by the wealthy classes, as its membership was composed almost entirely of current and former Magistrates.[25]

Class Property Rating
(drachmae: denarii after 211 BC)
No. of votes
in electoral assembly
Equites (knights) hereditary/over 25,000?* 12 Officers/legionary cavalry
First Class 10,000 - 25,000? 80 Legionary cavalry
Second Class 7,500 - 10,000 20 Legionary infantry
Third Class 5,000 - 7,500 20 Legionary infantry
Fourth Class 2,500 - 5,000 20 Legionary infantry
Fifth Class 400 (or 1,100) - 2,500 30 Legionary infantry (velites)

Military officer role[edit]

A Roman coin issued during the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) showing (obverse) the god of war Mars and (reverse) probably the earliest image of a Roman cavalryman of the Republican era. Note helmet with horsehair plume, long spear (hasta), small round shield (parma equestris), flowing mantle. Roman cavalry was levied from the equites, and from volunteers of the second property class, until the early 1st century BC. Bronze quincunx from Larinum mint.

In the "Polybian" army of the mid-republic (338 - 88 BC), equites held the exclusive right to serve as senior officers of the army.[27] These were the 6 tribuni militum in each legion who were elected by the comitia at the start of each campaigning season and took turns to command the legion in pairs; the praefecti sociorum, commanders of the Italian confederate alae, who were appointed by the Consuls; and the 3 decurions that led each squadron (turma) of legionary cavalry (total 30 decurions per legion).[28]

Cavalry role[edit]

Main article: Roman cavalry

As their name implies, equites were liable to cavalry service in the legion of the mid-Republic. They originally provided a legion's entire cavalry contingent, although from an early stage (probably from c. 400 and not later than c. 300 BC), when equestrian numbers had become insufficient, large numbers of young men from the First Class of commoners were regularly volunteering for the service, which was considered more glamorous than the infantry.[29]

The cavalry role of equites dwindled after the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), as the number of equestrians became insufficient to provide the senior officers of the army and general cavalrymen as well. Equites became exclusively an officer-class, with the First Class of commoners providing the legionary cavalry.



The higher the rank of the opponent killed in combat, the more prestigious the spolia, and none more so than spolia duci hostium detracta, spoils taken from an enemy leader himself.[Note 3] Many equites attempted to gain such an honour, but very few succeeded for the obvious reason that enemy leaders were always surrounded by large numbers of elite bodyguards.[35]


Business activities[edit]

In 218 BC, the lex Claudia restricted the commercial activity of senators and their sons, on the grounds that it was incompatible with their status. Senators were prohibited from owning ships of greater capacity than 300 amphorae (about 7 tonnes) - this being judged sufficient to carry the produce of their own landed estates but too small to conduct large-scale sea transportation.[37]



The system also led to political conflict between equites publicani and the majority of their fellow-equites, especially senators, who as big landowners wanted to minimise the tax on land outside Italy (tributum solis), which was the main source of state revenue.[41] This pernicious system was terminated by the first Roman emperor, Augustus (sole rule 30 BC - 14 AD), who transferred responsibility for tax collection from the publicani to provincial local authorities (civitates peregrinae).[42] Although the latter also frequently employed private companies to collect their tax quotas, it was in their own interests to curb extortion. During the imperial era, tax collectors were generally paid an agreed percentage of the amount collected. Equites publicani became prominent in banking activities such as money-lending and money-changing.[40]


The official dress of equestrians was the tunica angusticlavia ("narrow-striped tunic"), worn underneath the toga, in such a manner that the stripe over the right shoulder was visible (as opposed to the broad stripe worn by senators.[43]) Equites bore the title eques Romanus, were entitled to wear an anulus aureus (gold ring) on their left hand, and, from 67 BC, enjoyed privileged seats at games and public functions (just behind those reserved for senators).[44]

The Augustan equestrian order (Principate era)[edit]


Differentiation of the senatorial order[edit]

The Senate as a body was formed of sitting senators, whose number was held at around 600 by the founder of the Principate, Augustus (sole rule 30 BC-AD 14) and his successors until 312. Senators' sons and further descendants technically retained equestrian rank unless and until they won a seat in the Senate. But Talbert argues that Augustus established the existing senatorial elite as a separate and superior order (ordo senatorius) to the equites for the first time.[43] The evidence for this includes:

  1. Augustus for the first time set a minimum property requirement for admission to the Senate, of 250,000 denarii, two and a half times the 100,000 denarii that he set for admission to the equestrian order.[44]
  2. Augustus for the first time allowed the sons of senators to wear the tunica laticlavia (tunic with broad purple stripes that was the official dress of senators) on reaching their majority even though they were not yet members of the Senate.[46]
  3. Senators' sons followed a separate cursus honorum (career-path) to other equites before entering the Senate: first an appointment as one of the vigintiviri ("Committee of Twenty", a body that included officials with a variety of minor administrative functions), or as an augur (priest), followed by at least a year in the military as tribunus militum laticlavius (deputy commander) of a legion. This post was normally held before the tribune had become a member of the Senate.

A family's senatorial status depended not only on continuing to match the higher wealth qualification, but on their leading member holding a seat in the Senate. Failing either condition, the family would revert to ordinary knightly status. Although sons of sitting senators frequently won seats in the Senate, this was by no means guaranteed, as candidates often outnumbered the 20 seats available each year, leading to intense competition.

The ordo equester under Augustus[edit]

As regards the equestrian order, Augustus apparently abolished the rank of equo privato, according all its members equo publico status. In addition, Augustus organised the Order in a quasi-military fashion, with members enrolled into 6 turmae (notional cavalry squadrons). The Order's governing body were the seviri ("Committee of Six"), composed of the "commanders" of the turmae. In an attempt to foster the equites' esprit de corps, Augustus revived a defunct Republican ceremony, the recognitio equitum ("inspection of the equites"), in which equites paraded every 5 years with their horses before the Consuls.[13] At some stage during the early Principate, equites acquired the right to the title egregius ("distinguished gentleman"), while senators were styled clarissimus, "most distinguished").[44]


Only those granted an equus publicus by the emperor (or who inherited the status from their fathers) were enrolled in the Order. Imperial equites were thus divided into two tiers: a few thousand mainly Italian equites equo publico, members of the Order eligible to hold the public offices reserved for the equites; and a much larger group of wealthy Italians and provincials (estimated at 25,000 in the 2nd century) of equestrian status but outside the Order.[48][49]


  1. The normal route was election to the post of Quaestor, the most junior magistracy (for which the minimum eligible age was 27 years), which carried automatic membership of the Senate. Twenty Quaestors were appointed each year, a number that evidently broadly matched the average annual vacancies (caused by death or expulsion for misdemeanors or insufficient wealth) so that the 600-member limit was preserved. Under Augustus, senators' sons had the right to stand for election, while equestrians could only do so with the emperor's permission. Later in the Julio-Claudian period, the rule became established that all candidates required imperial leave. Previously conducted by the people's assembly (comitia centuriata), the election was in the hands, from the time of Tiberius onwards, of the Senate itself, whose sitting members inevitably favored the sons of their colleagues. Since the latter alone often outnumbered the number of available places, equestrian candidates stood little chance unless they enjoyed the special support of the emperor.[50]
  2. The exceptional route was direct appointment to a Senate seat by the emperor (adlectio), technically using the powers of Roman censor (which also entitled him to expel members). Adlectio was, however, generally used sparingly in order not to breach the 600-member ceiling. It was chiefly resorted to in periods when Senate numbers became severely depleted e.g. during the Civil War of 68-9, following which the emperor Vespasian made large-scale adlectiones.[51]

Equestrian public careers[edit]



Equestrians exclusively provided the praefecti (commanders) of the imperial army's auxiliary regiments and 5 of the 6 tribuni militum (senior staff officers) in each legion. The standard equestrian officer progression was known as the tres militiae ("three services"): (1) praefectus of a cohors (auxiliary infantry regiment), followed by (2) tribunus militum in a legion, and finally (3) praefectus of an ala (auxiliary cavalry regiment). From the time of Hadrian, a fourth militia was added for exceptionally gifted officers, commander of an ala milliaria (double-strength ala). Each post would be held for 3–4 years.[53]

Most of the top posts in the imperial administration were reserved for senators, who provided the governors of the larger provinces (except Egypt), the legati legionis (legion commanders) of all legions outside Egypt, and the praefectus urbi (prefect of the City of Rome), who controlled the Cohortes Urbanae (public order battalions), the only fully armed force in the City apart from the Praetorian Guard. Nevertheless, a wide range of senior administrative and military posts were created and reserved for equestrians by Augustus, though most ranked below the senatorial posts.[54]


Equestrians were also the chief financial officers (also called procuratores Augusti) of the imperial provinces, and the deputy financial officers of senatorial provinces. At Rome, equestrians filled numerous senior administrative posts such as the emperor's secretaries of state (from the time of Claudius e.g. Correspondence and Treasury) and the praefecti annonae (director of grain supplies).[55]

In the military, equestrians provided the praefecti praetorio (commanders of the Praetorian Guard) who also acted as the emperor's chiefs of military staff. There were normally two of these, but at times irregular appointments resulted in just a single incumbent or even 3 at the same time.[55] Equestrians also provided the praefecti classis (admirals commanding) of the two main imperial fleets at Misenum in the bay of Naples and at Ravenna on the Italian Adriatic coast. The command of Rome's fire brigade and minor constabulary, the Vigiles, was likewise reserved for equites.[52]

Not all equites followed the conventional career-path. Those equestrians who specialised in a legal or administrative career, providing judges (iudices) in Rome's law courts and state secretaries in the imperial government, were granted dispensation from military service by emperor Hadrian (r. AD 117-138).[56] At the same time, many equites became career military officers, remaining in the army for much longer than 10 years. After completing their tres militiae, some would continue to command auxiliary regiments, moving across units and provinces.[57]


Relations with emperor[edit]






Oligarchical rule in the early Principate (to AD 197)[edit]

Because the Senate was limited to 600 members, equites equo publico, numbering several thousands, greatly outnumbered men of senatorial rank.[48] Even so, senators and equites combined constituted a tiny elite in a citizen-body of about 6 million (in AD 47) and an empire with a total population of 60-70 millions.[65][66] This immensely wealthy elite monopolised political, military and economic power in the empire. It controlled the major offices of state, command of all military units, ownership of a significant proportion of the empire's arable land (e.g. under Nero (r.54-68), half of all land in Africa proconsularis province was owned by just 6 senators) and of most major commercial enterprises.[67]

Overall, senators and equites cooperated smoothly in the running of the empire. In contrast to the chaotic civil wars of the late Republic, the rule of this tiny oligarchy achieved a remarkable degree of political stability. In the first 250 years of the Principate (30 BC - AD 218), there was only a single episode of major internal strife: the Civil war of 68-9.

The equestrian hierarchy[edit]

It seems that from the start the equestrians in the Imperial service were organised on a hierarchical basis reflecting their pay-grades. According to Suetonius writing in the early part of the second century AD, the equestrian procurators "who performed various administrative duties throughout the empire" were from the time of the Emperor Claudius I organised into four pay-grades, the trecenarii the ducenarii, the centenarii, and the sexagenarii, receiving 300,000, 200,000, 100,000, and 60,000 sesterces per annum respectively.[68] Cassius Dio, writing a century later, attributed the beginnings of this process to the first Emperor, Augustus, himself.[69]

There is almost no literary or epigraphic evidence for the use of these ranks until towards the end of the Second Century. However, it would seem that the increasing employment of equestrians by the Emperors in civil and military roles had had social ramifications for it is then that there begin to appear the first references to a more far-reaching hierarchy with three distinct classes covering the whole of the Order: the Viri Egregii (i.e. "Select Men"); the Viri Perfectissimi (i.e. "Best of Men"); and the Viri Eminentissimi (i.e. "Most Eminent of Men"). The mechanisms by which the equestrians were organised into these classes and the distinctions enforced is not known. However, it is generally assumed that the highest class, the Viri Eminentissimi was confined to the Praetorian Prefects, while the Viri Perfectissimi were the heads of the main departments of state, and the great prefectures, including Egypt, the City Watch (Vigiles), the Corn Supply (Annona) etc. and men commissioned to carry out specific tasks by the Emperor himself such as the military duces. The defining characteristic of the "perfectissimate" seems to have been that its members were of or associated socially (i.e. as clientes - see Patronage in ancient Rome of Great Men) with the Imperial court circle and were office-holders known to the Emperor and appointed by his favour. It is also possible that system was intended to indicate the hierarchy of office-holders in situations where this might be disputed.[70] The Viri Egregii comprehended the rest of the Equestrian Order, in the service of the Emperors.

The Viri Egregii included officials of all four pay-grades. Ducenariate procurators governing provinces not reserved for senators were of this category[71] as were the Praefecti Legionum, after Gallienus opened all legionary commands to equestrians.[72] However, it seems that after 270 AD the procuratores ducenarii were elevated into the ranks of the Viri Perfectissimi[73]



Rise of the military equestrians (3rd century)[edit]

The 3rd century saw two major trends in the development of the Roman aristocracy: (1) the progressive takeover of the top positions in the empire's administration and army by military equestrians and the concomitant exclusion of the Italian aristocracy, both senators and equites; (2) the growth in hierarchy within the aristocratic orders.

Augustus instituted a policy, followed by his successors, of elevating to the ordo equester the primus pilus (chief centurion) of each legion, at the end of his single year in the post.[74] This resulted in about 30 career-soldiers, often risen from the ranks, joining the Order every year. These equites primipilares and their descendants formed a section of the Order that was quite distinct from the Italian aristocrats who had become nearly indistinguishable from their senatorial counterparts.[44]



But this met resistance in the Senate, so that in the 3rd century, emperors simply appointed equestrians directly to the top commands, under the fiction that they were only temporary substitutes (praeses pro legato). Septimius Severus (r. AD 193-211) appointed primipilares to command the 3 new legions that he raised in 197 for his Parthian War, Legio I, II & III Parthica[76] Gallienus (r. AD 253-268) completed the process by appointing equites to command all the legions.[77] These appointees were mostly provincial soldier-equestrians, not Italian aristocrats.[78]


The 3rd and 4th centuries saw the proliferation of hierarchical ranks within the aristocratic orders, in line with the greater stratification of society as a whole, which became divided into two broad classes, with discriminatory rights and privileges: the honestiores ("more noble") and humiliores ("more base"). Among the honestiores, equestrians were divided into 5 grades, depending on the salary-levels of the offices they held.[80]

These ranged from egregii or sexagenarii (salary of 60,000 sesterces = 15,000 denarii) to the eminentissimi ("most exalted"), limited to the 2 commanders of the Praetorian Guard and, with the establishment of Diocletian's Tetrarchy, the 4 praefecti praetorio (not to be confused with the commanders of the Praetorian Guard in Rome) that assisted the Tetrarchs, each ruling over a quarter of the empire.[80]

The idle aristocracy (4th century)[edit]

From the reign of Constantine I the Great (312–37) onwards, there was an explosive increase in the membership of both aristocratic orders. Under Diocletian, the number of sitting members of the Senate remained at around 600, the level it had retained for the whole duration of the Principate.[80] But Constantine established Byzantium as a twin capital of the empire, with its own senate, initially of 300 members. By 387, their number had swollen to 2,000, while the Senate in Rome probably reached a comparable size, so that the upper order reached total numbers similar to the equo publico equites of the early Principate.[81] By this time, even some commanders of military regiments were accorded senatorial status.[82]

At the same time the order of equites was also expanded vastly by the proliferation of public posts in the late empire, most of which were now filled by equestrians. The Principate had been a remarkably slim-line administration, with about 250 senior officials running the vast empire, relying on local government and private contractors to deliver the necessary taxes and services. By the time of the Notitia, comparable positions had grown to approximately 6,000, a 24-fold increase.[83]


Constantine established a third order of nobility, the comites ("companions (of the emperor)", singular form comes, the origin of the medieval noble rank of count). This overlapped with senators and equites, drawing members from both. Originally, the comites were a highly exclusive group, comprising the most senior administrative and military officers, such as the commanders of the comitatus, or mobile field armies. But comites rapidly followed the same path as equites, being devalued by excessive grants until the title became meaningless by 450.[82]

In the late 4th and in the 5th century, therefore, the senatorial class at Rome and Byzantium became the closest equivalent to the equo publico equestrian class of the early Principate. It contained many ancient and illustrious families, some of whom claimed descent from the aristocracy of the Republic, but had, as described, lost almost all political and military power.[84] Nevertheless, senators retained great influence due to their enormous inherited wealth and their role as the guardians of Roman tradition and culture.[85]

Centuries of capital accumulation, in the form of vast landed estates (latifundia) across many provinces resulted in enormous wealth for most senators. Many received annual rents in cash and in kind of over 5,000 lbs of gold, equivalent to 360,000 solidi (or 5 million Augustan-era denarii), at a time when a miles (common soldier) would earn no more than 4 solidi a year in cash. Even senators of middling wealth could expect an income 1,000-1,500 lbs of gold.[86]

The 4th century historian Ammianus Marcellinus, a former high-ranking military staff-officer who spent his retirement years in Rome, bitterly attacks the Italian aristocracy, denouncing their extravagant palaces, clothes, games and banquets and above all their lives of total idleness and frivolity.[87] In his words can be heard the contempt for the senatorial class of a career-soldier who had spent his lifetime defending the empire, a view clearly shared by Diocletian and his Illyrian successors. But it is the latter who reduced the aristocracy to that state, by displacing them from their traditional role of governing the empire and leading the army.[88]


  1. ^ 6 centuriae: The original 3 cavalry centuriae were named after the tribes from which they were drawn: Ramnes, Tities and Luceres. When an additional 3 centuriae were established by king Tarquinius Priscus, the latter took the tribal names with the suffix posteriores, with the original 3 being called priores
  2. ^ Roman kingship: The Roman monarchy, although an autocracy, was not hereditary and based on "divine right", but elective and subject to the ultimate sovereignty of the people. The king (rex) was elected by the people's assembly (the comitia curiata originally) although there is strong evidence that the process was in practice controlled by the patricians. Most kings were non-Romans brought in from abroad, doubtless as a neutral figure who could be seen as above patrician factions. Although blood relations could and did succeed, they were still required to submit to election.[8] The position and powers of a Roman king were thus similar to those of Julius Caesar when he was appointed dictator-for-life in 44 BC. That was why Caesar's assassin Marcus Junius Brutus felt a moral obligation to emulate his claimed ancestor Lucius Junius Brutus, "The Liberator", the man who, Roman tradition averred, in 509 BC led the coup that overthrew the last king, Tarquin the Proud, and established the Republic.[9]
  3. ^ Spolia opima: The highest form of spolia duci hostium detracta (spoils taken from an enemy leader) were known as the spolia opima ("rich spoils"), which were displayed in the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius in Rome. According to the most widely understood version of the tradition, to earn the spolia opima one had to be a Roman commander-in-chief who killed the enemy paramount leader in single combat. The spolia opima were won only three times: by Romulus for killing Acro, king of the Caeninenses (ca. 750 BC); by Aulus Cornelius Cossus for killing Lars Tolumnius, king of the Veientes (in 437 or 425 BC); and by Marcus Claudius Marcellus for killing Viridomarus, king of the Celtic Gaesatae (in 222 BC).[31] However, the award to Cossus was a matter for some controversy, as, according to Livy, he was only a tribunus militum, and not commander-in-chief of the army at the time.[32] A minority tradition, originally preserved by Varro, antiquarian of the late Republic, held that spolia opima could be won by any Roman soldier who killed the enemy leader in battle.[33] According to Varro, there were three classes of spolia opima: First Class, spoils taken by the Roman commander-in-chief, which alone could be dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius; Second Class, spoils taken by a Roman officer; and Third Class, those taken by a common soldier.[34]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Cornell (1995) 94, 102
  2. ^ Livy I.36
  3. ^ Polybius
  4. ^ a b c Livy I.43
  5. ^ Cornell (1995) 193
  6. ^ Cornell (1995) 245
  7. ^ Cornell (1995) 250
  8. ^ Cornell (1995) 141–42
  9. ^ Plutarch Brutus 10-2
  10. ^ Cornell (1995) 238, 446 note 32
  11. ^ Cornell (1995) 182
  12. ^ Livy V.7
  13. ^ a b Online 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Equites
  14. ^ a b Oxford Patricians
  15. ^ Livy XXXIX.19, 44
  16. ^ Online Encyclopædia Britannica Patricians
  17. ^ a b Cornell (1995) 369
  18. ^ Cornell (1995) 351
  19. ^ a b Cornell (1995) 354
  20. ^ Cornell (1995) 366
  21. ^ Polybius VI.26
  22. ^ Polybius VI.25
  23. ^ Sidnell (2006) 152
  24. ^ Cornell (1995) 372
  27. ^ Smith (1890) Equites
  28. ^ Polybius VI.19, 26
  29. ^ Goldsworthy (2000) 49
  31. ^ Plutarch Romulus; Marcellus
  32. ^ Livy IV.20
  33. ^ Festus Lexicon "Opima Spolia"
  34. ^ Smith (1890) Spolia
  35. ^ Sidnell (2006) 153-4
  36. ^ Livy VIII.7-8
  37. ^ Livy XXI.63
  38. ^ Jones (1964) 6
  39. ^ Tacitus Annales IV.6
  40. ^ a b Encyclopædia Britannica Online Publicani
  41. ^ a b Talbert (1996) 341
  42. ^ Burton (1987) 426
  43. ^ a b Talbert (1996) 326
  45. ^ Pliny the Younger Letters VI.19
  46. ^ Suetonius Augustus 38.2
  47. ^ Online Roman Law Library Lex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus
  49. ^ a b Encyclopædia Britannica Online Ancient Rome
  50. ^ Talbert (1996) 333
  51. ^ Eck in CAH XI (2000) 215-6
  52. ^ a b Talbert (1996) 340
  53. ^ Goldsworthy (2003) 65
  54. ^ Goldsworthy (2003) 60, 64, 65
  55. ^ a b c Goldsworthy (2003) 64-5
  56. ^ a b Jones (1964)
  57. ^ Goldsworthy (2003) 66
  58. ^ Birley (1988) 46
  59. ^ Jones (1964) 31
  60. ^ a b c Tacitus Annales II.59
  61. ^ Talbert (1996) 342
  62. ^ Dio Cassius LIII.23
  63. ^ Tacitus Annales IV.13
  64. ^ Ritner (1998) 1-2.
  65. ^ Tacitus Annales XI.25
  66. ^ Scheidel (2006) 9
  67. ^ Thompson (1987) 556
  68. ^ Suet:Claud(24)
  69. ^ Cassius Dio(53:14)
  71. ^ Christol(xx)
  72. ^ Nagy(1965:305-7)
  73. ^ Pflaum(xx)
  74. ^ Goldsworthy (2000) 129
  75. ^ Goldsworthy (2000) 164-5
  76. ^ a b Goldsworthy (2000) 164
  77. ^ Tomlin (1988) 108
  78. ^ Holder (1982) 65
  79. ^ Jones (1964) 50, 525, 526
  80. ^ a b c Jones (1964) 525
  81. ^ Jones (1964) 527
  82. ^ a b Jones (1964) 528
  83. ^ Heather (2005) 228
  84. ^ Jones (1964) 545–56
  85. ^ Jones (1964) 561–62
  86. ^ Jones (1964) 554
  87. ^ Ammianus XXVIII.4
  88. ^ Jones (1964) 50, 525




  • Goldsworthy, Adrian (2000): Roman Warfare
  • Goldsworthy, Adrian (2003): The Complete Roman Army
  • Jones, A.H.M. (1964): Later Roman Empire
  • Sidnell, Philip (2006): Warhorse

Further reading[edit]

  • Brunt, P.A. (1983). "Princeps and Equites". The Journal of Roman Studies (The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 73) 73: 42–75. doi:10.2307/300072. JSTOR 300072. 
  • Greenough, J.B.; Kittredge, G.L. (17 June 2005) [1902]. "The Roman Constitution". The Society for Ancient Languages. Retrieved 22 August 2012.  ("This essay is reproduced in its entirety from 'Introduction: VI. The Roman Constitution', Select Orations and Letters of Cicero. ed. J.B. Greenough & G.L. Kittredge. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1902."
  • Hill, H. (July 1938). "Equites and Celeres". Classical Philology 33 (3): 283–290. doi:10.1086/362138. JSTOR 265360. 

External links[edit]