Military tribune
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A military tribune (Latin tribunus militum, "tribune of the soldiers") was an officer of the
Early Rome
The word tribunus derives from However, the process by which tribunes were chosen and assigned is complex and varies at different times.
Republican period
In the Republican period, there were six appointed to each legion. Authority was given to two at a time, and command rotated among the six. Tribunes were men of senatorial status appointed by the Roman Senate. To attain the position of tribune, one only needed to be a member of the ruling class. By 311 BC the plebeians acquired the right to elect sixteen tribunes of the soldiers, that is, four out of the six tribunes assigned to each of the four legions that formed the Roman army. Previously these places had been for the most part in the gift of consuls or dictators.[5]
Additionally, in the early Republic, another type of military tribune was sometimes chosen in place of the annually elected consuls to be the heads of the Roman State. These are known in Latin as
After the Social Wars
After changes to Roman army driven by the Social War (91–87 BC) and subsequent civil wars (further formalised by the emperor Claudius) created a professionalized military system, legions were commanded by a legionary legate (legatus). Six tribunes were still posted to a legion, but their duties and responsibilities had changed, becoming more a political position than a military rank. The second-in-command to the legate was the tribunus laticlavius or 'broad-stripe' tribune (named after the width of the stripe used to demarcate him on his tunic and toga),[6] usually a young man of senatorial rank. He was given this position to learn and watch the actions of the legate. They often found themselves leading their unit in the absence of a legate, and some legions were permanently commanded by a broad-stripe tribune, such as those stationed in Egypt, as an Augustan law required that no member of the Senatorial Order ever enter Egypt.[7]
In contrast to the broad-stripe tribune, the other five 'thin stripe' tribunes were lower in rank, and were called the
Principate
Under Augustus, the five equestrian tribunes were sometimes promoted from the rank of centurion, and might advance to a command in the auxiliary cavalry or Praetorian Guard.
See also
References
- ^ Dio, LXVII, 2.
- ^ Entry on tribunus, Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprinting), p. 1972.
- Varro, De lingua latina 5.80.
- ^ Polybius, 6.12.6.
- ISBN 0-674-99210-5
- ^ a b Dando-Collins 2010, p. 42.
- ^ Dando-Collins 2010, p. 40.
- ^ a b Agricola, Tacitus, 5