Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

2.54' CASTRA. CASTRA.
perhaps, the Praefectus Castrorum may have been had a space allotted to him equal to that requiared
quartered, unless we are to look for him among for 2 tents, so that the privates of the century oo-.
the Comnites m1peratoris. cupied 8 tents only, that is, they were quartered
21. Statorum centuriae duae, who guarded the at the rate of 10 men to each tent. But since ] 6
rear of the praetorium, and always kept close to men or 4 guards (rErpasla) in each century were
the person of the Imperator. These, like the prae- always out upon duty, there were never more
torians, had double space assigned to them. than 8 men actually in a tent at the same time.
22. Cohortes equitatae illiariae duae. Colortes (Fig. 4.)
equitatae quingenariae quatuor.
23. Cohortes peditatae mnilliariae tres. Cohortes Stiga of tw'o co tiurtes
peditatae quingenariae tres. 120
24. Nationes. Barbarian troops. Palmyreni z( io
quingenti. Gaetae nongenti. Daci septingenti. Bri- vDD —-- D l DL ]D LC
tones quigenti. Cantabri septingenti. Among 4
these we find enumerated Szmnactares, a word
which no one has succeeded in explaining, but- it
is in all probability a corrupt form. DI D D DD[l[
Camels with their riders (cameli cumc suis epis. o o
batis) were frequently included among the con- -20
stituents of an army, being used both in offensive
operations, and also in carrying plunder. Since a striga 120 feet in lengthalnd 60 feet in
Two points strike us forcibly when we compare breadth, containing 7200 square feet, was allotted
the camp of Hyginus with that of Polybius; first,
the flimsy character of the fortifications, whichig. 5.)
must be attributed to the disinclination felt by
the soldiers to perform regularly and steadily the
same amount of labour which was cheerfully exe-'cuted by soldiers of the republic; and, secondly, )C D C D D l D 1D
the desire every where visible to economise space,.L- O
and compress every thing within the narrowest
possible limits. Although the numbers of an army,
such as we have been considering above, cannot be
determined with absolute -precision, they must, to 2 centuries, and since an ordinary legionary
on the lowest computation, have exceeded 40,000 cohort contained 6 centuries, it follows that the
men, and these were crowded together into less space required for each cohort (pedatura colortis)
than one half the space which they would have of 480 men was 21,600 square feet.
occupied according to the ancient system, the pro- The troops were usually quartered in cohorts,
portion of cavalry, moreover, being much larger in and these might be variously disposed, it being
the imperial force. The camp of Polybius, calcu — always desirable that a whole century should
lated for less than 20,000, contains upwards of always be ranged in an unbroken line.
four millions of square feet, while the camp of If the striga was equal to one century in length,
Hyginus embraces little more than three millions then the cohort would occupy three strigae in
and seven hundred thousand. breadth, that is, a space 120 feet long, by 180
We may conclude with a few words upon a broad= 21,600 square feet. See fig. (6.)
topic entirely passed over by Polybius, but on (Fig. 6.)
which Hyginus affords ample information in so far s2o
as the usages of his own day are concerned -the -
number and arrangement of the tents. DDDl DD1 DDDU ID
A double row of tents (papiliones) facing each......_
other, with a space between for piling the arms of, -
the soldiers, and for receiving the beasts of burden O
and the baggage, was termed Striga; a single row,
with a corresponding space in front, Hemzistrigiums.
The normal breadth of a Striga was 60 feet, of a
Hemisthiygum 30 feet, made up as follows:- l [aR F7 IitE1 0
l0 feet were allowed for the depth of each tent, -. —---------------
6 feet for a passage behind the tent, 5 feet for --
the arms piled in front of the tent, 9 feet for the
strigium, which doubled for the striga gives 60, the.
space between the rows being 28 feet. The length D i
of the striga or hemistrigium varied according to FL - i1 [I
circumstances.
A full legionary century (phena centuria), when - - | [
Hyginus wrote, consisted of 80 men, who occun- ---._.................
pied 10 papiliones. The length allowed for each] - ] [- -] [ [-1 El El
papilio was 12 feet, 10 feet for the papilio itself,
and 2 feet for lateral passages (incrementum ten- Tf the striga was equal in length to two centuries.
surae), and thus the length of the line along then the cohort would occupy one whole striga
which the papiliones of a century stretched was and a hemistrigium, that is, a space 240 feet long by
10 x 12 = 120 feet. Out of this the centurion 90 feet broad= 21,600 square feet. See fig. (7.)