Continuous Serving Soldiers in the Pannonian Auxiliaries

Abstract

The ancient Roman army (exercitus) underwent a major transformation over the centuries. Although the backbone of the army was always made up of legions (legiones) of Roman citizens, auxiliaries (auxiliae) recruited from allied peoples were already employed in the Republican era. The emperor Augustus reorganised the auxiliaries from the ground up. He made it compulsory for non-citizen members of the imperial population (peregrini) (about 75%) to serve 25 years of paid service (stipendium) in auxiliary troops. After serving, a soldier who had been discharged with an honorable discharge (honesta missio) became a Roman citizen (civis Romanus), with a diploma (diploma militare), or received a severance payment or landed property. These auxiliary troops, divided into regular, infantry (cohortes) and cavalry (alae) regiments of 500 or 1000 men, became part of the imperial professional force as independent tactical units in the imperial era. The auxiliary troops stationed in the Pannonian camps of the bordermen (limes/ripa) were examined on the basis of ninety inscribed sources.