Veteran (Roman history)

The term veteran in ancient Rome designated a soldier at the end of his service, in whatever corps he had served (praetorian or urban cohorts, legions, auxiliary army, navy). Length of service is a concept that evolves with the same history of organization of Rome's army and within it the figure of the miles. The veteran, initially, is a volunteer soldier; he arms himself at his own expense and remains in service for the duration of the military campaign for which he was recruited. Later with the organization of the army and the creation of a real social and legal subject, "the professional soldier," the duration of service would also be fixed according to the military corps to which he belonged.

History

It is in 107 BC that a significant turning point happened: Gaius Marius carries out an extraordinary enlistment without regard to the census requirements of the recruits, enlisting proletarian volunteers. Thus a new, more direct relationship is established between soldier and general and, correspondingly, with the granting of rewards for veterans on discharge (an earlier occurrence took place with Scipio Africanus), the definition of a phenomenology with political implications and with repercussions on the territory and its organization.

Indeed, in the late republic, in the climate of civil wars, generals granted their soldiers, as a reward for service, plots of land often confiscated as acts of vindication against the opposing faction. It is worth recalling the concessions to veterans of Pompey, Caesar, Antony, and Octavian.

It was in the Augustan age, with a restructuring of the army, that a truly stable and permanent imperial army was established and consequently a profile of the miles and his legal status was defined.

Within the many changes enacted, it is to be recalled precisely the one that would set the military term of service at sixteen years in the praetorian cohorts, twenty years in the legions and twenty-five years in the navy (5 BC); Augustus also strove to ensure that the soldier would be adequately rewarded at discharge after spending most of his life in the army.