Centurion
The commander of a century in the Roman legions, roughly eighty men, the backbone officer of the Roman army.
Overview
The centurion commanded a centuria of about eighty legionaries, appointed from the ranks for valor and leadership, and formed the command spine of the Roman legion: sixty centurions per legion, five hundred men. The senior centurion of the legion, the primus pilus, stood first in the whole army hierarchy of centurions and could rise to camp prefect and beyond. Centurions carried a vine staff, the vitis, symbol of authority, and led from the front: casualties among them were heavy. The rank persisted for centuries and shapes modern officer ideals: promotion by merit, leading from the front, institutional permanence above individual commanders.
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