Latest / The Story of Italy: Rome, Renaissance, and the Birth of Modern Europe — Fexingo History / The Roman Auxilia: How Non-Citizens Defended the Empire
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- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the legions — Marius, the professional army, the legionary structure. But there's another half of the Roman military that rarely gets the spotlight: the auxilia. The non-citizen troops who actually made up about half of Rome's armed forces by the early empire. Luna: Half? That's huge. I always thought the legions were everything. Lucas: Right? It's easy to assume that, because the legions get all the attention in the sources. But Augustus, when he reorganised the army after the civil wars, made the auxilia a permanent, standing force alongside the legions. These were volunteers or sometimes conscripts from the provinces — men who weren't Roman citizens but who signed up for 25 years of service. Luna: Twenty-five years. That's a long time for a non-citizen to fight for Rome. Lucas: It was, but the reward was huge: at the end of their service, they received Roman citizenship for themselves and their families. That was the big draw. Plus a cash bonus and land grants, just like legionaries. So the auxilia was this massive engine of integration — turning provincials into Romans over the course of a generation. Lucas: The units were mostly infantry cohorts, about 500 or 1,000 men each, or cavalry alae — literally 'wings' — that fought alongside the legions. But they also brought specialised skills. The legions were heavy infantry, but the auxilia included archers from Syria, slingers from the Balearic Islands, javelin-throwers from Numidia, and cavalry from Gaul and Germany. Luna: So they weren't just second-rate soldiers. They brought different fighting styles. Lucas: Exactly. The Roman army was a combined-arms force long before that term existed. An auxiliary unit of Syrian archers could soften up an enemy formation before the legions closed in. Gallic cavalry could pursue a broken enemy. And they were often stationed in provinces far from their home, which also helped prevent local rebellions — a cohort of Spaniards might be sent to Syria, and Syrians to Britain. Luna: That had to create a lot of cultural mixing too, right? Lucas: Absolutely. We have amazing evidence of that from places like Vindolanda, a fort along Hadrian's Wall in Britain. The Vindolanda tablets are these thin wooden writing tablets preserved in the boggy ground, and they include letters from auxiliary soldiers. One of the most famous is from a decurion named Masculus, who writes to his commanding officer asking for more beer for his troops. You can just feel the everyday life. Luna: I love that — Roman soldiers complaining about beer rations. Lucas: It humanises them so much. But not all was harmonious. In 69 CE, during the Year of the Four Emperors, a major revolt broke out among the Batavi — a Germanic tribe along the Rhine who provided some of Rome's best auxiliary cavalry. The Batavian Revolt was led by a Romanised Batavian prince named Gaius Julius Civilis, who had served as an auxiliary commander himself. He turned his knowledge of Roman tactics against the empire. Luna: Wait, Civilis was a Roman citizen? And he revolted? Lucas: Yes, he was a citizen — Batavians were exempt from tribute because they supplied so many soldiers, and their nobles often got citizenship. But during the chaos of 69, Civilis led a coalition of Batavians and other Germanic tribes that inflicted serious defeats on Roman legions. They even captured a legionary eagle at one point, which was a huge symbolic blow. The revolt eventually was crushed by the general Quintus Petillius Cerialis after the civil wars ended, but it showed how dangerous auxiliaries could be if they turned against Rome. Luna: It's like the empire was arming its own potential enemies. Lucas: In a way, yes. But the system worked more often than it failed. And the payoff was enormous: over time, the auxilia churned out new citizens who became fully integrated into Roman society. By the early third century, the emperor Caracalla issued the Constitutio Antoniniana in 212 CE, granting citizenship to nearly all free inhabitants of the empire. That basically made the distinction between legionary and auxiliary obsolete, since now everyone was a citizen. Luna: So the auxilia kind of achieved its own purpose — it helped spread citizenship so widely that it didn't matter anymore. Lucas: Exactly. And honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's what keeps this show ad-free and lets us dive into these niche topics that the textbooks skip. Luna: Yeah, listener support is what makes these deep dives possible. Even a small gesture goes a long way. Lucas: So back to the auxilia — one more fascinating detail: auxiliaries could also earn individual decorations, the dona militaria, just like legionaries. We have tombstones showing auxiliary soldiers wearing torques, armillae, and phalerae — those metal discs on their chest harnesses. So they were honoured and recognised, which must have built unit pride. Luna: Did they have the same pay as legionaries? Lucas: No, they were paid less initially. An auxiliary infantryman got about one-third of a legionary's pay. But they also didn't have to pay for their own equipment — the state supplied it. And over time, by the second century, pay gaps narrowed. Plus, they got a discharge bonus of citizenship, which was priceless. So for many provincials, it was a solid career path. Luna: It's almost like the Roman version of joining the army to get a green card. Lucas: That's a perfect analogy. And it worked. By the late second century, even emperors came from auxiliary families. The emperor Septimius Severus, for example, was from Leptis Magna in North Africa, and his family had likely gained citizenship through military service. So the auxilia wasn't just a military tool — it was a social and political engine that helped hold the empire together. Luna: I never really thought about the army as a path to citizenship. It's a whole different lens on Roman history. Lucas: And it's one of the reasons the empire lasted as long as it did. Rome was remarkably good at incorporating conquered peoples into its system, and the auxilia was a key part of that. So next time you think of a Roman soldier, don't just picture a legionary in segmented armour — picture a Syrian archer or a Batavian cavalryman, because they were just as much a part of the story.