The papers offered here by Hubert Devijver are the narrative counterpart to his Prosopographia Militiarum Equestrium. They bring to life the careers, the social and geographical origins, the tasks and status symbols of these men as well as the monuments on which our knowledge of them is based. The Equestrian Officers and their Monuments is an original contribution for this volume. Enhanced by the indices, this book helps us understand the social class and military role of Rome's equestrian officers.

The papers offered here by Hubert Devijver are the narrative counterpart to his Prosopographia Militiarum Equestrium. They bring to life the careers, the social and geographical origins, the tasks and status symbols of these men as well as the monuments on which our knowledge of them is based. The Equestrian Officers and their Monuments is an original contribution for this volume. Enhanced by the indices, this book helps us understand the social class and military role of Rome's equestrian officers.

In the Roman social hierarchy, the equestrian order stood second only to the senatorial aristocracy in status and prestige. Throughout more than a thousand years of Roman history, equestrians played prominent roles in the Roman government, army, and society as cavalrymen, officers, businessmen, tax collectors, jurors, administrators, and writers. This book offers the first comprehensive history of the equestrian order, covering the period from the eighth century BC to the fifth century AD. It examines how Rome's cavalry became the equestrian order during the Republican period, before analysing how imperial rule transformed the role of equestrians in government. Using literary and documentary evidence, the book demonstrates the vital social function which the equestrian order filled in the Roman world, and how this was shaped by the transformation of the Roman state itself.

This authoritative short volume introduces readers to the Roman army, its structure, tactics, duties and development. One of the most successful fighting forces that the world has seen, the Roman army was inherited by the emperor Augustus who re-organized it and established its legions in military bases, many of which survived to the end of the empire. He and subsequent emperors used it as a formidable tool for expansion. Soon, however, the army became fossilized on its frontiers and changed from a mobile fighting force to a primarily defensive body. Written by a leading authority on the Roman army and the frontiers it defended and expanded, this is an invaluable book for students at school and university level, as well as a handy guide for general readers with an interest in military history, the rise and development and fall of the Roman legions, and the ancient world.

Wearing the Cloak contains nine stimulating chapters on Roman military textiles and equipment that take textile research to a new level. Hear the sounds of the Roman soldiers' clacking belts and get a view on their purchase orders with Egyptian weavers. Could armour be built of linen? Who had access to what kinds of prestigious equipment? And what garments and weapons were deposited in bogs at the edge of the Roman Empire? The authors draw upon multiple sources such as original textual and scriptural evidence, ancient works of art and iconography and archaeological records and finds. The chapters cover - as did the Roman army - a large geographical span: Egypt, the Levant, the Etruscan heartland and Northern Europe. Status, prestige and access are viewed in the light of financial and social capacities and help shed new light on the material realities of a soldier's life in the Roman world.