The Centurio was the Officer in charge of a Century of 80 men. A Century never consisted of 100 men, and in Republican times only consisted of 60 men.
The Centurio was normally a career soldier who had worked his way up through the ranks and was tough and experienced. In battle he would lead from the front, which meant they had a high mortality rate.
He carried his sword on the left side, unlike the Legionaries who carry it on the right, had silvered greaves on his legs, a cloak on his left shoulder and wore a large transverse crest on his helmet made of horsehair or feathers. If he had been given military awards, called Phalerae, he would wear these on a harness on his chest. Phalerae were awarded in sets of five, seven or nine and he sometimes wore these on behalf of the century he commanded.
The Centurio always carried a vine stick, which was a badge of office, but was also used on the men for casual corporal punishment. One Centurio on the Rhine was nicknamed “Cedo Alteram” (fetch me another) because he was always breaking vine sticks on the backs of his Legionaries. Centurions were graded in seniority and the five in charge of the Legion’s first Cohort were each in charge of 160 men. The top Centurion was called “Primus Pilus” or “First Spear”.
The Optio was the second in command of a Century. He was appointed by the Centurion whose option it was to chose him. Should the centurion fall in battle he would take command.
The distinguishing features of the Optio was that he carried a silvered knobbed staff, which would be used to encourage the soldiers under his command to carry out orders quickly, he wore a ring on his right hand and carried a leather pouch that contained a wax tablet, on which would be written passwords or orders of the day.
This particular Optio is wearing a mail shirt over a leather arming doublet and has expensive equipment to reflect his rank. He is also wearing torques hanging around his neck which were military awards based on the torques worn by Gallic warriors.
Each century had a standard bearer called a Signifer, who carried a standard called the Signum.
The standard was made of silvered discs and symbols. Each standard within the Legion was different so that the men of the centuries would know their own, would follow it and defend it to the death. In battle it would act as a rallying point for the century.
The Signifer was of equal rank to the Optio and wore an animal skin over his helmet as a mark of his status. The Legions seem to have used bear or wolf skins, the skins of large cats appeared to be reserved for the Emperors bodyguard in Rome. The Signifer wore a suit of scale armour (Lorica Squamata) or mail (Lorica Hamata) and for defence had a sword and a round shield. In battle he would be stationed in the middle of the century.
He had many administrative duties including looking after the pension savings of the men in his century
The Cornicen carries a Cornu, a large circular horn instrument that is used to relay orders on the march and during battle when verbal commands would not be heard.
The Cornucen would wear either a mail shirt (Lorica Hamata) or scale armour (Lorica Squamata) and have an animal skin over his helmet as a sign of his status. For protection he carries a sword and a small circular shield.
The Cornu in this picture is based on the remains of three Cornu that were found at Pompei and are now on display in the museum at Naples.
The Vexillarius is one of the standard bearers and is considered to be of officer rank.
He carries a flag-like standard that depicts the emblem of the Legion he belongs to and details the Legions name (this Vexillarius is from the 20th Legion “Valeria Victrix” whose emblem is the wild boar).
This particular Vexillarius wears an animal skin over his helmet as a sign of his status, in this case a wolf. For defence he carries a sword and a round shield. The Vexillarius would travel on detachment with smaller units, such as a century, should they be sent on patrol. Like some of the other standard bearers he would stand to the rear of the fighting men during battle. The soldiers would defend their standards to the death because losing one of them was a big dishonour.
The Imagnifer carries the Imago or image of the emperor. The emperor was worshipped almost like a god. To ensure the Roman army knew who their emperor was and so they could pay homage to him they carried the imago.
As a standard bearer the Imagnifer wore an animal skin over his helmet as a sign of his status. Some believe the Romans thought the wearer of the skin took on the ferocity of the animal whose skin it was, in this case a brown bear
He carries a sword and a round shield for defence. The Imagnifer would travel with the legion and his place in battle would be to the rear of the legionaries
