Centuria

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Centuria (Latin plural centuriae) is a Latin substantive from the stem centum (a hundred), denoting units consisting of (originally only approximately) 100 men. It also denotes a Roman unit of land area: 1 centuria = 100 heredia. It is sometimes anglicized as century.

[edit] Political

In the political context the centuria was the constituent voting unit in the centuriate comices (Latin comitia centuriata), an old form of popular assembly in the Roman Republic, the members of which cast one collective vote.

Its origin seems to be the homonymous military unit, as citizens could serve in both until Gaius Marius' reform shifted the main form of military recruitment from conscription to professional contracts.

[edit] Military

The centuria was the pivotal tactical Roman legion unit after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. It originally consisted of a hundred soldiers; later 60 to (ideally) 80 men distributed among 10 contubernia (of 8 men each). The remaining number of men required for a full count of one hundred was taken up by various noncombatants attached for administrative, logistical or other purposes within the legion. Each contubernium (the minimal unit in the Roman legion) lived in the same tent while on campaign or the same bunk room in barracks. The whole centuria was commanded by a centurion who held a flag. Centuriae were grouped by pairs forming maniples, which were then grouped in cohorts.

As an exception, the first cohort consisted of the bravest men from the legion and had the same number of 6 centuriae, but since these were double centuriae (160 men) the size of the whole cohort totalled 960 men. Centurions of these centuriae were called primi ordinis, except the one from the very first centuria, who was referred to as primus pilus, or "first javelin".

(The term "centuria" was later used during the Spanish Civil War to describe the informal bands of local militiamen and international volunteers that sprang up in Catalonia and Aragon in October/November 1936.)

[edit] See also

• Roman military history
• Roman empire
• Tactics of the Roman century in combat