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Roman legionaries, 1st century.

Roman legionary, end of 3rd century.

The Roman legionary was a Roman citizen younger than 45. The soldier enlisted in a legion for twenty-five years of service, a change from the early practice of enlisting only for a campaign. The last five years were on veteran lighter duties.

On the march in unfriendly terrain, the legionary would be loaded down with armour (lorica segmentata), shield (scutum), helmet (galea), two javelins (one heavy pilum and one light), a short sword (gladius), a dagger (pugio), a pair of heavy sandals (Caligae), a Sarcina (marching pack), about fourteen days worth of food, a waterskin (bladder for water), cooking equipment, two stakes (Sudes murale) for the construction of palisades, and a shovel or wicker basket.

The Roman soldier underwent especially rigorous training; discipline was the base of the army's success and the soldiers were relentlessly and constantly trained with weapons and especially with drill — forced marches with full load and in tight formation were frequent. Discipline was important and infractions were heavily punished by the centurions.

Included in the ranks, aside from the basic heavy infantrymen, were the immunes, specialist soldiers with secondary roles such as engineer, carpenter and medic. These men were still fully trained legionaries however and would fight in the ranks if called upon. They were excused from some of the more laborious tasks such as drill and fatigues and received better pay than their comrades.

From the time of Gaius Marius onwards, Legionaries received 225 denarii a year; this basic rate remained unchanged until Domitian, who increased it to 300 denarii. In spite of the steady inflation during the 2nd century, there were no further increases until the time of Septimius Severus, who increased it to 500 denarii a year. This salary would be supplemented by the various salvage recovered in a campaign.

All legionary soldiers would also receive a sizeable sum of money on the completion of their term of service: 3000 denarii from the time of Augustus and/or a plot of good farmland (good land was in high demand). Later, under Caracalla, the praemia increased 5000 denarii.

Legionary is also a term used for members of other legions, like French Foreign Legion, Spanish Foreign Legion or Polish Legions. Members of these modern legions are often called légionnaires, the French term for legionary. The term was also used by the Romanian far right paramilitary group known in English as the Iron Guard.

• Military history of ancient Rome
• Foreign Legion
• Roman camp
• Roman Republic
• Roman Empire
• Punic wars
• Phalanx formation
• List of Roman legions