It is not uncommon to attend a wargames convention and see a Napoleonic game of divisional proportions in which the French army is composed of a few battalions of Line and Light infantry, a battalion of Old Guard Grenadiers, a regiment of Young Guard Voltiguers, the Bataillion de Neuchatel, the Grenadiers a Cheval, a battery of Guard Horse artillery, and a company of Guard Marines to protect the Emperor's person! Their British opponents are composed of light infantry, rifles, highlanders, fusiliers, guards, and the token line battalion. Although armies composed of such large numbers of elite troops are difficult to historically justify, wargamers nonetheless seem to be drawn to elite units; not only because of the obvious benefits such units confer on the tabletop, but also because they tend to have the most aesthetically pleasing uniforms and equipment. The same phenomenon occurs in ancients armies, early Imperial Romans seen especially susceptible: a Trajanic army with a total of six cohorts and two alae invariably includes a cohors praetoria and the equites singulares Augusti. 1 Such a ratio of guard to line units is outrageous given historical circumstances. For example, when Germanicus took the field at the Battle of Idistaviso, there were eight legiones plus supporting auxilia and only two cohortes praetoriae (Tacitus, Annales 11. 16-17). Such units are also unnecessary as there were many other guard units in the Roman armies which saw far more action than did the praetorian units, viz., the stratores drawn from the legiones and the singulares, both foot and horse (pedites and equites), drawn from the auxilia; each Roman provincial governor possessed these guard units which varied in strength according to the importance of his province and the number of "line" units from which the guards could be chosen.. 2 The stratores were legionarii exempted from service in their units so that they might serve on the governor's officium or headquarters staff. 3 While detached to the officiurn the stratores were primarily involved with administrative functions. They were, however, one of the two groups of the officium who were organized as an independent military unit and thus available for action in the field (the other being the singulares). 4 The only literary example of stratores serving on the battlefield occurs in Flavius Arrianus' (henceforth simply Arrian) "Array Against the Alans", section 22 (a fine translation of the "Array" by Jim Vidlak appeared in a recent issue of THE COURIER). Arrian's stratores numbered around two hundred men and formed up with the other guard unit, the singulares. 5 As Arrian wrote the "Array" in Greek as a semi-literary piece, he does not use the proper Latin term stratores, but a descriptive Greek equivalent. Arrian calls his stratores his somatopylakes, a word with a double meaning: the word's literal meaning is "bodyguard" and this function is quite evident from Arrian's description of the men in the "Array". Arrian also uses the word "bodyguard (somatopylax)" thirty-four times in his "Anabasis of Alexander" to refer to Alexander the Great's staff officers, thus reminding us of the stratores primary function on the officium. The singulares were composed of infantry (pedites) and cavalry (equites) chosen from the alae and cohortes of the auxilia of the provincial army to serve on the governor's officium. 6 Unlike their legionary counterparts, the stratores, the singulares were not really concerned with administrative matters, their primary function was to act as the bodyguard of the governor. 7 Thus the singulares, both pedites and equites, were formed into a single unit, a numerus, and generally remained with the governor to form his functional and ceremonial bodyguard. Although both infantry and cavalry formed a single numerus, this was only for administrative purposes; each contingent had its commander so that independent action was possible for each. The strength of the singulares is a matter of some conjecture, but it appears as if in the larger military provinces such as the Germanies, Britain, Syria, Cappadocia, etc., the singulares numbered five hundred pedites and five hundred equites. In the eastern provinces a detachment of dromedarii might be included. 8 The number five hundred can be inferred from the fact that an ala and/or cohors could be formed from the singulares of an individual governor for service in another province. The singulares were occasionally sent abroad as their guardduties in the capital made them the only unit which the province could spare since the legiones and regular auxilia were tied down along the frontiers. 9 Once again we must turn to Arrian for a description of the singulares in battle. Arrian twice mentions his singulares in the "Array Against the Alans". In sections 4-5, Arrian notes "chosen cavalry" and a group of "javelinmen" who march before the standard of Legio XV Apollinaris along with its legate, tribunes, and senior centurions. There is no doubt that the "chosen" cavalry are singulares, i.e., men chosen from theequites alares and cohortales of the provincial army. The "javelinmen" are somewhat more problematic. That they are singulares is implied by their position in the order of march, i.e., before the standard (eagle) of a legio, is the same as the "chosen foot and horse (singulares)" mentioned by Flavius Josephus (Bellurn ludaicurn 3.120). Moreover, the word used by Arrian, akontistai, is one which is used for pedites singulares by other authors. 10 These javelinmen are not, however, any form of legionary light infantry as has been suggested. 11 The second reference to singulares comes in section 23. Arrian (here portrayed as Xenophon) is surrounded by his somatophylakes (bodyguards - the stratores discussed above), his "chosen" horse (equites singulares), and one hundred lightly-equipped men armed with the lancea (pedites singulares). The equites singulares are once again simply called "chosen" horse. The pedites singulares, however, have a new appellation; this is not a matter of great concern as Arrian is merely employing variatio, variation, a common ancient literary device. It is fairly certain that these lightly-equipped men with lancea are the pedites singulares from their position with the other guards units around Arrian. Secondly, they must be auxiliary troops, from whom the singulares were drawn, since they carry the spear of the auxiliaries, the lancea. To avoid confusion with the lancea-armed legionarii, they are supplied with the epithet kouphoi, lightly-equipped. Finally, the number one hundred is significant. Arrian relates in section 9.3 of his "Periplus of the Euxine Sea", four hundred "chosen" infantry (peditessingulares) were left in garrison along the Black Sea at the town of Phasis. When these four hundred are added to the one hundred who accompany Arrian, the standard number of five hundred, a cohors quingenaria, is reached. These alternative guard units, the stratores and singulares, have an added attraction for the wargamer - they are quite colorful. As both the stratores and singulares were men chosen from line units and kept on the rolls of their parent unit, it is safe to assume that their equipment remained that of the unit from which they were detached. Thus in the case of the stratores one might opt to paint a number of colors on the shields of the stratores (indicating the different cohortes of the legio), or even include two or more patterns if the army represents one of the larger imperial provinces which contained several legiones. In the case of the singulares, it would not be impossible for every figure in a unit to have a different shield pattern, although some equites and pedites singulares might be from the same cohors equitata and thus have the same pattern. I suggest that the following addenda be added to the army lists for those wishing to employ units of stratores or singulare (I have based my number of troops of each type allowed on a scale of 1:40 in order to maintain some proportional integrity as the army lists and competition games generally do not allow for armies large enough to justify the numbers needed to represent the stratores and singulares at 1:20. If, however, you have a large Roman army representing a full legio plus attendant auxiliary units, you can feel justified in doubling the numbers given.): stratores Reg A HI HTW or 1/2HTW, 1/2 JL, shield 8 pts up to 5 equites singulares Reg A HC JLS, shield 12 pts up to 12 pedites singulares Reg A LHI JLS, shield 8 pts up to 12 NOTES 1 This is the proper name for the unit to which Phil Barker refers on pp. 12 and 75 of his Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome (Worthing, 1981) and which many figure manufacturers generally call Roman Guard Cavalry. As we shall see, there were in fact many units of equites singulares. 2 The best single study on Roman guard units in the provinces is by Michael P. Speidel, The Guards of the Roman Armies (Antiquitas Reihe 1, Bd. 28: Bonn 1978). This work concentrates mainly on the singulares but also includes a brief discussion of the stratores. 3 On the composition of the officium, see Alfred von Domaszewski and Brian Dobson, Die Rangordnung des renischen Heeres (2nd ed: Koln, 1967) pp. 29-39. 4 Speidel, Guards, p. 49, n. 269. 5 Michael P. Speidel, "Stablesiani", Chiron 4 (1974), p. 544, relates that this number was probably the standard for a governor's stratores. 6 Speidel, Guards, p. 19; Domaszewski-Dobson, loc. cit. 7 Speidel, Guards, pp. 42-46, deals with the function and organization of the singulares. 8 Speidel, Guards, p. 14. 9 Speidel, Guards, pp. 52-69. 10 Speidel, Guards, p. 128. 11 Barker, Armies and Enemies, pp. 10 and 70, notes that Arrian mentions legionary light infantry; this reference to "javelinmen before the standard" is the only one which might be taken to refer to such troops. This identification must, however, be incorrect. If Arrian had meant legionary light infantry, he would have called them akontistai tes phalangos, javelinmen of the phalanx (legio), since this is the formula he uses for the equites legionis, the legionary cavalry. Reprinted from the U.S. Society of Ancients Newsletter. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VI No. 3 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com