Princeps prior
high-ranking Roman centurion
Princeps prior was a high-ranking Roman centurion and a member of the legion. Each of the ten cohorts that made up a legion had at its head the rank of pilus prior followed by the princeps prior. The princepi priori were often titled with their cohort number preceding their title. For example, the princeps prior of the ninth cohort would be the nonus princeps priori.
There is some controversy as to the precise order of the ranks below the pilus prior but this rank was followed by princeps prior if the order is based on seniority.
The princeps prior – like the princeps posterior – was elevated from the common soldiers based on merit. He is chosen by the tribunes of soldiers or the Roman consul or proconsul.
History
The position reflects the Roman Republic tradition of arranging the legion into three lines: the pilani, the principes and the hastati. During the Republic, the princeps prior was the centurion in command of a manipulus (unit of two centuries) of principes (legionary heavy infantry).
By the time of Caesar, the manipulus system had transitioned into the cohort system.
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This entry incorporates text from “Princeps prior” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.