One of the interesting aspects of the Roman Auxilia is that for at least in 6 AD and 9 AD, Auxilia Citizen Cohorts were raised into the Roman Army in mass and continued to serve into the Third Century.  Cohorts with the titles of Voluntariorum Civium Romanorum, Ingenourum Civium Romanorum, Italica Civium Romanorum. Italica Voluntariorum Civium Romanorum and Campestris were all initially cohorts of Roman Citizens though non-citizens were later recruited to fill its ranks; it still retained the Civium Romanorum title and privileges associated with it (Cheesman, 65, 1914).  John Spaul in his Cohors 2 lists a total of 19 Citizen Cohorts though scholars such as Michael Speidel believed there to actually be a total of 48 cohorts raised based upon numerical designation of units discovered and through documents and period writings as well as archeological evidence (23, 2000).   Cheesman stated that members of these cohorts consisted of not only of native Roman citizens, but also of Freedmen who would have been granted citizenship upon enlistment in the Citizen Auxiliary Cohorts since at one point, not enough able bodied citizens could be located or found to serve (66, 1914).

The need for troops could have been so severe that time did not allow for the formation of Legions.  In addition, the political situation in Rome was still turbulent and Augustus may not have been able to afford to take a chance in appointing additional senators to be legates with out fear of them turning the Legions on himself or deploying his loyal base of senators away from the political spot light.  The real reasons have yet to be definitively discovered.

Archeological evidence may also shed some light as to the formation and positioning of these units.  In each of the areas where citizen cohorts were positioned, were political “hot spots” of the time.  Pannonia, Hispania, and Judea to list just three examples were each spots in the First Century that were turbulent.  In each of these provinces, the local governor and the Principate may have felt required to have dependable and loyal troops on call, with out tasking one of the Legions or separating the Legion with a vexillation of Legionary Troops.  Augustus imported a number of Citizen Cohorts to provinces across the Empire in need as did Tiberius (Cheesman 71-72, 1914, Rogers, 88, 2005).   After the Civil War of 69 AD, Vespasian to Commodes’ implemented polices to destroy national unity amongst the Auxilia by spreading provincial pure raised units across the Empire and then insuring that replacements came not only from the originating named province, but from the occupied province as well as across the empire (Cheesman, 67, 1914).  The Auxilia of the Citizen Cohorts may have helped to further this policy.

What is clear is that these Cohorts were to be nearly on par with their brother Legionary Cohorts.  All of these units received special donatives for their service starting with Augustus and in into the future on par with the Legionary troopers (Cheesman, 35, 1914).  Cheesman, Graham Sumner, and other Roman Military Scholars also appear to agree that their pay was either equal or near that of a Legionary Trooper’s wage as well.  It is unclear if they also received grants of land and a retirement donnative after completion of 25 years of honorable service.

These units also may have continued to recruit a large body of Roman Citizens for another reason.  Upon retirement from the Legions, a Legionary could expect a grant of land as well as a donnative.  The granting of citizenship to any official or unofficial non citizen wife in a Legionary’s career as well as any offspring was precarious at best (Goldsworthy, 114-115, 2003).  There are cases where a Legionary’s offspring was not granted citizenship and or considered to still be illegitimate, putting inheritance and wills into question although Emperors such as Claudius were to remedy this (Goldsworthy, 115, 2003).  Auxilia, however, were not only granted citizenship at the completion of their 25 years of service, but the franchise was also passed onto his wife or future wife and any future children that they might have (Cheesman, 32, 1914).  This would be a significant advantage over Legionary service, especially for one either being a Freedman, or living in the more frontier provinces where marriage to a local was far more common.

Legionary Cohorts and the Legions were designed to be and were the heavy infantry specialists of the day.  The Auxilia Pedite Cohorts were a more flexible force, trained and disciplined similarly, equipped only slightly different to give it greater flexibility in roles previously mentioned in other articles on this website. In addition Citizen Cohorts may have served the purpose of easing the fears of local provincial governors by having dependable, loyal troops at their disposal why also serving as a means for Roman Citizens to serve in a on par unit in prestige to the Legions with the promise of granting citizenship to their current or future families.