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This thread is turning into a course in Ancient History. Here's the material on the Republican era.
The Master of Horse as mentioned above was the right hand man of the dictator. His duties could be military (as in Marc Antony) or political (as in Sulla's Master of Horse Lucius Valerius Flaccus). It really depended on what the dictator was appointed for. That lasted for the Republican period.
During the Republican period commanders in the field were given the titles of Pro-Praetors or Pro-Consuls and given the power of "Imperium" (Power of Command). The title depended on the authority given to each commander. Pro-Praetors had to defer to the Praetors of the day (ie. the citizens who had been elected Praetor at the time) and of course the ruling Counsuls. Pro-Consuls deferred only to the elected Consuls.
The "Imperium" of individual commanders could be limited by the Senate to specific theatres or in the case of some of Pompey's commands was "Maias" which meant that his command powers were unlimited even by the Consuls.
The level of Imperium was designated by the number of lictors (public servants) carrying Faces (bundles of rods and an axe). A Consul or pro-consul had 12 and praetors and pro-praetors 8. Dictators got 24. The Faces represented the authority to summarily punish (the rods) and execute (axes). Within Rome no one save dictators could have axes in the Faces as execution could only be ordered in Rome by a court. The dictator who had absolute power was of course immune.
However, in order to be given Pro-Preatorian and Pro-Consular imperium the commander had to have been elected Praetor or Consul (you had to be Praetor before being Consul). However, under Sulla's constitution, commanders who had not been elected to high office could be named "Pro Consule, sed pro Consulibus" (not consul but in the name of the Consuls of the year).
For the uninitiated:
Consuls - two consuls were elected for one year terms during the Repbublican era. They were the chiefs executives of state.
Praetors - six to eight were elected for one year terms. Praetors were in the most part judges hearing criminal matters except for the Urban Praetor who controlled all civil litigation within Rome itself (he was also the 3rd ranking member of the government ruling when the consuls were unavailable and by law could not leave Rome for more than 8 days) and the Foreign Praetor who controlled foreign litigation.
After their terms of office (or even during) Praetors and Consuls could be named provincial governors.
If I make a suggestion, why be limited by Roman historical fact and come up with a rank structure of your own based on Roman history. Here's something I cooked up for a pseudo-Roman Republic in space.
Roman Rank
Contubernalis (cadet)
Centurion
Centurion Pilus Prior
Centurion Primus Pilus
Tribune
Tribune of the Soldiers (I can't remember the Latin phrase)
Legatus
General
Magister Equities
Magister Militum
[This message has been edited by ghosty (edited 09-29-2001).]
[This message has been edited by ghosty (edited 09-29-2001).]
[This message has been edited by ghosty (edited 09-29-2001).]
[This message has been edited by ghosty (edited 09-29-2001).]
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Wow!
Now that is a lot of information...
But since I am not running a Star Trek: Rome camapaign, I may not use as much direct stuff, more so the recognizable, my player's are not Romano-Philes either unfortunately...
But I am still blown away by all the info here...thank you one and all!
Wow
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