Roman cavalry
Roman cavalry (Latin: equites Romani) refers to the horse-mounted forces of the Roman army throughout the regal, republican, and imperial eras.
In the regal era, the Roman cavalry was a group of 300 soldiers called celeres, tasked with guarding the Kings of Rome. Later their numbers were doubled to 600, then possibly 1,800. All of the cavalrymen were patricians. In the republican era, the general name for the cavalry was equites and these united consisted of the equestrian class and the first class, with a group of 300 cavalrymen in every legion. They were divided into 10 groups of 30 men. Each group elected three leaders known as decuriones. Later the Roman cavalry stopped using Roman citizens as cavalrymen and relied on Auxilia and foreign recruits.
Roman cavalrymen wore a Corinthian helmet, bronze chestplate, and bronze greaves. Later mail was adopted into the army. Their arms included a lance (lancea), a long sword (spatha), and a short throwing spear.
Historians such as Philip Sidnell argue that the Roman cavalry was a crucial part of the republican army. However, other historians bring up defeats such as Cannae and Trebia as evidence against this claim. Cavalry tactics included fighting the enemy cavalry first, then attacking the enemy army from multiple directions to distract the commander and break their defensive line. In the Late Empire light cavalry and mounted archers were used for skirmishing.
Early cavalry (to ca. 338 BC)[edit]
Romulus 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 tribes supplying a centuria (century; company of 100 men). This cavalry regiment was supposedly doubled in size to 600 men by King Tarquinius Priscus (conventional dates 616–578 BC).[1] According to Livy, Servius Tullius also established a further 12 centuriae of cavalry,[2] but this is unlikely, as it would have increased the cavalry to 1,800 horse, implausibly large compared to 8,400 infantry (in peninsular Italy, cavalry typically constituted about 8% of a field army).[3] This is confirmed by the fact that in the early Republic the cavalry fielded remained 600-strong (two legions with 300 horse each).[4]
The royal cavalry may have been drawn exclusively from the ranks of the patricians (patricii), the aristocracy of early Rome, which was purely hereditary,[5] although some consider the supporting evidence tenuous.[6]. Since the cavalry was probably a patrician preserve, it probably played a critical part in the overthrow of the monarchy. Indeed, Alfoldi suggests that the coup was carried out by the Celeres themselves.[7] However, the patrician monopoly on the cavalry seems to have ended by around 400 BC, when the 12 centuriae of equites additional to the original six of regal origin were probably formed. Most likely patrician numbers were no longer sufficient to supply the ever-growing needs of the cavalry. It is widely agreed that the new centuriae were open to non-patricians, on the basis of a property rating.[8]
According to the ancient Greek historian Polybius, whose Histories (written ca. 140s BC) are the earliest substantial extant account of the Republic, Roman cavalry was originally unarmoured, wearing only a tunic and armed with a light spear and ox-hide shield which were of low quality and quickly deteriorated in action.[9] The traditional Roman cavalry rode small pony-sized horses around 14 hands high.[10]
As hoplite warfare was the standard early in this era, cavalry might have not played a substantial role in battle except for chasing after routed enemies.[11]
Tactics[edit]
Battle tactics[edit]
Before attacking the infantry the cavalry would try to destroy the enemy cavalry. Afterwards, the Roman cavalry would charge at the enemy army from multiple directions in an attempt to divert the commander's attention and break the enemy line. This attack was supposed to induce disorder into the enemy ranks and to shatter their morale of the enemy. Heavy cavalry would be placed on the wings of the Roman infantry line. Within the Late Roman army, light cavalrymen and mounted archers were placed in skirmishing positions in front of the Roman line. The light cavalry and mounted archers would quickly attack the enemy, before retreating and letting the enemy attack the comitatenses. Gallic auxiliaries would form border patrol and escort units called the cohortes equitatae and the equites alares would serve in the army, using throwing spears as a major weapon. The weapons of the cavalry were designed to disrupt the formation of the enemy.[43][44][45][46]
Quality[edit]
The Roman army used citizen cavalry for much of its history. However, by the time of the 1st century BC citizen cavalry disappeared from the Roman army. Citizen cavalry was replaced by foreign auxiliary cavalry. The auxiliary cavalry was made up of Numidians, Spaniards, and Gauls. Numidian, Spanish, and Gallic cavalry were superior to Roman cavalry. During the Second Punic War the Roman cavalry suffered many defeats, demonstrating the inferiority of native Roman cavalry.[43]
Training and formations[edit]
Roman cavalry trained using javelins, spears, slingshots, arrows, and small handheld catapults. The cavalry would learn feint attacks. Cavalry soldiers would train in formations that involved shooting arrows and throwing missiles. The training was designed to make sure the cavalry did not break in battle. Another formation the cavalry used was similar to the testudo: the cavalrymen would join with locked shields to increase the unit's protection.[46]