What types of Roman soldiers were there back in the days of the SPQR?
A large topic; I shall try to be brief. The heart of the Roman army was the legion. Typically, this was about 6,000 strong, divided into 60 Centuries, each commanded by a centurion (who can be regarded as sergeant-majors). In Republican times, legions were raised when needed and disbanded when wars were over. It mustered in three ranks, divided up by age. The front rank (youngest) were the Hastati, armed with javelins. The second rank (Principes) and the third rank (Triarii – veterans) carried longer spears. All were identically armoured. In Imperial Rome the weaponry changed. Each soldier carried two heavy throwing spears (Pilum) and a short stabbing sword. In addition to the legions, there were auxiliary (non-citizen) troops. These were variously Alii (second-division legionaries – and the source of the modern word Ally), light skirmishers (Velites), plus archers and cavalry. It is a curiosity that in the Roman army, cavalary were always auxiliary troops.
