The Roman Army Pax Romana

History remembers the legendary Roman legions as the one of the most deadly and respected fighting forces in the ancient world. Even today, stories of their great success and invincibility in the face of their enemies echo on. One can only wonder what the key to their extraordinary success was. How were the Romans able to conquer such a vast empire that spanned over three continents at its height and maintain that power for centuries? That key to Rome’s military success during the Pax Romana period (where the Roman Empire rose to its zenith) was the advanced military innovations that the Romans incorporated into its great army that encompassed military bureaucracy, battle tactics and military technology.

The old saying, “Success comes to those who are prepared” was comparable to the Roman army. This was due to the fact that The Romans prepared themselves with a very well developed military bureaucracy that planned everything out such as daily routines, how they marched and most importantly military ranks. This meant the roman army was extremely organized and orders followed through very smoothly down the chain of command which was essential to their success. The surviving duty roster RMR 9 (RMR stands for Robert Fink’s Roman Military Records on Papyrus) from of Legio III stationed at Cyrenaica gave a very good perspective of how the Roman army organized daily duties let alone military campaigns. “The tasks in the RMR 9 [included] ornatus Heli, tending the gear of the centurion Helius; […] various guard stations around the camp; scoparius, “sweeper”; and ad stercus, Cleaning latrines or mucking horses’ stalls (Phang, Companion pg.291)”. This surviving piece of duty roster showed how extremely organized the army was by assigning ev...

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...tary. Many of the Roman legion ideology and methods survive in the spirits of the modern army. This in turn demonstrated the immense power of the Roman legions.

Works Cited

Josephus, Flavius, and William Whiston. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. [Peabody, Mass.?]: Hendrikson, 1987. Print.

Phang, Sara, and James Thorne. A Companion to the Roman Army. Ed. Paul Erdkamp. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007. Print.

Tacitus, Cornelius, and J.C Yardley. The Annals. London: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.

Tacitus, Cornelius, and W. H. Fyfe. Gutenberg.org. AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. .

Warry, John Gibson. Warfare in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors, and Warfare in the Ancient Civilisations of Greece and Rome. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1995. Print.