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40-512: The triumviri nocturni (meaning three men of the night ) were the first men, being privately owned slaves , organized into a group that combatted the common problems of fire and conflagrations in Rome. Another organization dedicated to fighting fires in ancient Rome was a band of slaves led by the aedile Marcus Egnatius Rufus . The privately operated system became ineffective, so in the interest of keeping himself and Rome safe, Augustus instituted

80-518: A statio provisionally identified near the Aemilian Bridge. As mentioned elsewhere detachments of watchmen were stationed at Ostia and Portus and there were sub-stations throughout the city. What arrangements were made for policing the outer suburbs of the city is not known. (Certainly after the governmental reforms of Diocletian the jurisdiction of the Praefectus Urbi extended as far as

120-455: A backseat to the maniple as the main military unit used by the Roman army. In Livy 's The History of Rome and Polybius ' Histories, centuria do not appear by name but both writers do mention subdivisions of the maniple of around 60 men that centurions commanded. The only point of disagreement between the two was the number of these units in a maniple; Livy says 3, while Polybius says 2. Livy

160-454: A legal background began serving as Prefect to fulfil the magisterial capacity of the office. As a judge, the Prefect made rulings in his court for the common thieves caught during the night. Eventually, the Prefect was given jurisdiction over daytime petty crimes as well. According to Justinian, in the event of more serious crimes the decision was made by the praefectus urbi , "if the offender

200-502: A name which was still in use at the end of the 4th century. They were first created in 196 BC to superintend the Epulum Jovis feast on the Capitol , but their services were also requisitioned on the occasion of triumphs, imperial birthdays, the dedication of temples, games given by private individuals, and so forth, when entertainments were provided for the people, while the senate dined on

240-402: A new public firefighting force called the vigiles . Augustus modelled the new firefighters after the fire brigade of Alexandria, Egypt . The vigiles were also known by their nickname Spartoli or "little bucket fellows", given to them because of the buckets they carried water in, which were made of rope sealed with pitch . In AD 6, Augustus levied a 4% tax on the sale of slaves and used

280-507: A semi-criminal nature, in which private citizens acted as prosecutors. They also had to collect the sacramenta (deposits forfeited by the losing party in a suit) and examined the plea of exemption put forward by those who refused to act as jurymen. Their number were increased to four, but Augustus reverted it to three. In imperial times most of their functions passed into the hands of the Vigiles . The triumviri monetalis supervised

320-545: A time, with two centuries being stationed at each city. During the Great Fire of Rome , the vigiles took to looting the city rather than enforcing law and fighting the fires. The vigiles appear to have lost their status as an independent unit and come under the authority of the Praetorian prefects sometime in the early 3rd century. In the beginning, the corps had difficulty recruiting men. In an effort to entice men to enlist

360-553: A unit of the Vigiles. Each cohort was divided into seven centuries , each of 70–80 men commanded by a centurion . Each cohort patrolled two of the city's fourteen administrative regiones . The vigiles were made up of freedmen by this time. The cohorts were doubled in size in AD 205. The vigiles also acted as a night watch, keeping an eye out for burglars and hunting down runaway slaves , and were on occasion used to maintain order in

400-468: Is a Latin term (from the stem centum meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the centuria changed over time, and from the first century BC through most of the imperial era the standard size of a centuria was 100 men. By the time of the Roman Empire , ordo became a synonym of centuria (in 4 BC it was used for a maniple ). In the political context

440-533: Is a person of such thuggish and infamous character ... the case is sent on to the prefect of the city". Often times Praefectus Vigilum would go on to be prefects of the Praetorian Guard . Beyond the office of the prefect, the Vigiles were ordered by rank similar to the military. While some terms of service could extend beyond twenty years, most commissioned ranks were much shorter. Since the Vigiles never achieved

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480-403: Is writing of a time 150 years before Polybius, so the number of men in this unit may have changed over that period. A century was commanded by a centurion , who was assisted by an optio and tesserarius . It had a banner or signum which was carried by a signifer . Also, each century provided a buccinator , who played a buccina , a kind of horn used to transmit acoustic orders. On

520-457: The Lex Visellia was passed in 24 AD, granting full citizenship and a bonus cash stipend to Vigiles after six years of service. By the 2nd century, citizens were also allowed to enlist. The Vigiles were accommodated in barracks and patrolled the streets, especially at night, on the lookout for any unsupervised fires. Every householder was obliged to keep equipment for fighting fires, and

560-429: The praetor urbanus . These triumviri , or the tresviri nocturni (so called because they were on the streets at night), may also have taken some responsibility for fire control . They went the rounds by night to maintain order, and among other things they assisted the aediles in burning forbidden books. It is possible that they were entrusted by the praetor with the settlement of certain civil processes of

600-585: The Roman Republic , triumviri or tresviri were commissions of three men appointed for specific tasks. There were many tasks that commissions could be established to conduct, such as administer justice, mint coins, support religious tasks, or found colonies. Most commonly, when historians refer to Roman "triumvirs", they mean two political alliances during the crisis of the Roman Republic . The informal First Triumvirate of Julius Caesar , Pompey

640-477: The Via Lata . Every cohort was equipped with standard firefighting equipment. The sipho or fire engine was pulled by horses and consisted of a large double action pump that was partially submerged in a reservoir of water. The Vigiles designated as aquarii needed to have an accurate knowledge of where water was located, and they also formed bucket brigades to bring water to the fire. Attempts were made to smother

680-403: The centuria was the constituent voting unit in the assembly of the centuries ( Latin : comitia centuriata ), an old form of popular assembly in the Roman Republic , the members of which cast one collective vote. Its origin seems to be the homonymous military unit. The comitia centuriata elected important magistrates like consuls and praetors . The centuria dates all the way back to

720-581: The Capitol. Their number was later increased to seven ( septemviri epulones ). Three-man commissions were also appointed for purposes such as establishing colonies ( triumviri coloniae deducendae ) or distributing land. Triumviri mensarii served as public bankers; the full range of their financial functions in 216 BC, when the commission included two men of consular rank , has been the subject of debate. Century (military unit) Centuria ( Latin: [kɛn̪ˈt̪ʊria] ; pl. : centuriae )

760-515: The Great , and Marcus Licinius Crassus was a loose political alliance arranged in 60 or 59 BC that lasted until the death of Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC; they had no official capacity or function as actual triumviri , and the term is used as a nickname. The Second Triumvirate or tresviri reipublicae constituendae of Octavian (later Augustus), Mark Antony , and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

800-481: The Roman legion) consisted of ten soldiers who lived in the same tent while on campaign or the same bunk room in barracks. In the imperial period, but likely not the republican period, the first cohort was twice the size of the other cohorts. Each of its five centuriae was a double centuria of 200 men (rather than 100). The first cohort thus consisted of 1,000 men. Centurions of these first-cohort double centuriae were called primi ordinis ("first rank"), except for

840-605: The Urban Cohorts, followed by becoming a centurion in the Praetorian Guard. They would then transfer to the Legions, where they could reach the rank of Primus Pilus . The prefect was also known as the Prefect of the Watch. The prefect was an eques appointed by the emperor to command the seven cohorts. It was not a particularly sought after office until the 3rd century. Prominent jurists with

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880-445: The battlefield, the centurion stood at the far right of the first row of men next to the signifer, while the optio stood at the rear, to avoid, if necessary, the disbanding of the troops and ensure the relay between typical closed order lines used by the Roman army. The centuria consisted of a hundred soldiers: 80 combat legionaries, with 20 support staff making up the remainder of the 100 men. Each contubernium (the minimal unit in

920-492: The city to burn under orders from Nero, who later built his palace on land that was cleared by the fire. Regardless, Nero enacted fire code laws following the Great Fire to avoid further conflagrations. These laws called for more public access to water and prohibited buildings from sharing a common wall. Starting about 27 BC, Augustus added a police function to the Vigiles to counterbalance the urban mobs that had run rampant during

960-517: The earliest armies of the Roman Kingdom being described in Plutarch 's account of the life of Romulus , however it is only mentioned in passing as a subdivision of Romulus' force. It is speculated that in this period a century may have referred to a Phalanx block and was perhaps the main tactical unit on the battlefield. After the adoption of the manipular Roman army in 340 BC the centuria took

1000-738: The east coast and for 100 miles (160 km) in every direction. This might suggest that his subordinate, the Praefectus Vigilum , had a commensurate responsibility.) The Vigiles often play a prominent role in the Marcus Didius Falco novels of Lindsey Davis , providing assistance in Falco's investigations. In particular, Falco's old army friend Lucius Petronius Longus is a 'Watch Captain' in Regio XIII. In Death in Vesunna by Harry Turtledove ,

1040-417: The fire by covering it with patchwork quilts ( centones ) soaked with water. There is even evidence that chemical firefighting methods were used by throwing a vinegar based substance called acetum into fires. In many cases the best way to prevent the spread of flames was to tear down the burning building with hooks and levers. For fires in multiple story buildings, cushions and mattresses were spread out on

1080-489: The ground for people to jump onto from the upper levels. A major duty of the Vigiles was to enforce preventative measures against conflagrations. Adequate fire fighting equipment was required in every home. The Digest of Justinian decrees that Vigiles are "ordered to remind every one to have a supply of water ready in his upper room". While the Vigiles only had advising authority, their recommendations were often followed to avoid repercussions for negligence. Corporal punishment

1120-469: The holder of this office being given a substantive command outside Rome. Whether or not his force included vigiles from the city is uncertain. Whether or not the Praefectus Vigilum had his headquarters in any of the stationes identified above or whether he had an entirely separate praefectura is not known. If he is associated with one of the barracks it is likely to have been that of I Cohort in

1160-465: The issuing of Roman coins. Their number was increased by Julius Caesar to four, but again reduced by Augustus. As they acted for the senate they only coined copper money under the empire, the gold and silver coinage being under the exclusive control of the emperor. Tresviri epulones , a priestly body, assisted at public banquets. Their number was subsequently increased to seven, and by Caesar to ten, although they continued to be called septemviri ,

1200-476: The latter days of the Republic. In addition to extinguishing fires, the Vigiles were the nightwatch of Rome. Their duties included apprehending thieves and robbers and capturing runaway slaves. The task of guarding the baths was added as a duty of the Vigiles during the reign of Alexander Severus when the baths remained open during the night. They dealt primarily with petty crimes and looked for disturbances of

1240-409: The men themselves were equipped with pumps, buckets, hooks (for pulling down burning material), picks, mattocks and axes. They also used ballistae for knocking down burning houses and creating firebreaks . They even had their own medical support ( medici ), with four doctors attached to each cohort, and their own chaplains ( victimarii ). A siphonarius operated a pump and an aquarius supervised

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1280-402: The mid-2nd century that official stations were built explicitly for the Vigiles' use. By the early 3rd century sub-stations ( excubitoria ), which held forty to fifty men, were constructed to accommodate the expanding city and the surrounding suburbs. The locations of four of the seven cohort stationes or barracks have been fairly definitively identified: The VII Cohort was probably housed in

1320-515: The peace while they patrolled the streets. Sedition , riots and violent crimes were handled by the Cohortes urbanae and (to a lesser extent) the Praetorian Guard , though Vigiles could provide a supporting role in these situations. The Vigiles were not considered a para-military unit. The first Vigiles sequestered private homes and buildings to use as their command posts . It was not until

1360-470: The prestige of the Praetorian Guard or the Urban Cohorts , serving in the corps was usually only a means of achieving more honourable and lucrative posts. One known praefectus , Placidianus was put in charge of an expeditionary force sent to Gaul by Claudius II (Gothicus) on his accession in 269 AD to secure the lower Rhone valley against the so-called Gallic Empire . This is the only known instance of

1400-420: The proceeds to set up the new force. The first units of vigiles were under the command of the aediles and the vicomagistri . There were only 6,000 vigiles and they were all slaves. In 22 AD they were commanded by the praefectus vigilum , who was of equestrian rank, and subpraefectus and were divided into seven cohorts commanded by a tribune . Usually tribunes would begin their career by commanding

1440-468: The streets. Their most famous prefect, Naevius Sutorius Macro , succeeded Lucius Aelius Sejanus as Prefect of the Praetorian Guard after his men had been used by the Emperor Tiberius to retake control of the city from Sejanus's soldiers. Vigiles were stationed at the harbour cities of Ostia and Portus . A vexillatio (detachment) of four centuries was detached from Rome for four months at

1480-418: The supply of water. The ordinary firefighters were called milites (soldiers). The Vigiles were organized into seven cohorts each 1,000 men strong. The cohorts contained seven centuries . The centuries were commanded by centurions , and the cohort was commanded by a tribune . The commander of the Vigiles was the Praefectus Vigilum. The centurions of the Vigiles would often go on to become centurions in

1520-425: The vigiles of Vesunna, Roman Gaul (now modern Périgueux , France ) are tasked to hunt down two murderers from the future , whose victim was a prominent citizen in the city whom they murdered with a pistol . Despite initial bafflement, the head of the vigiles is able to solve the case with help from his Greek doctor friend and arrest the murderers despite their previously unknown weapon. Triumviri In

1560-495: Was formed in 43 BC by passage of the lex Titia . Created for a five-year term and renewed for another five years, it officially lasted until the last day of 33 BC or possibly into 27 BC. The triumviri capitales oversaw prisons and executions, along with other functions that, as Andrew Lintott notes, show them to have been "a mixture of police superintendents and justices of the peace." The capitales were first established around 290 to 287 BC. They were supervised by

1600-462: Was the most common punishment for negligence according to the Digest of Justinian, "where persons have paid insufficient attention to their fire, the prefect ... orders them to be beaten". During the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64 over one third of Rome was destroyed by flames. The young Emperor Nero helped to direct the Vigiles in fighting the flames. It was rumoured that the Vigiles intentionally allowed

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