Optio

Part of a series on the
Military of ancient Rome 753 BC – AD 476
Structural history Army Unit types and ranks Decorations and punishments Legions Auxilia Generals Navy Fleets Admirals
Campaign history Wars and battles
Technological history Military engineering Castra Siege engines Triumphal arches Roads
Political history
Strategy and tactics Infantry tactics
Frontiers and fortifications Limes Walls Limes Britannicus Antonine Wall Hadrian's Wall Saxon Shore Limes Germanicus Alb Limes Lauter Valley Limes Lower Germanic Limes Main Limes Neckar-Odenwald Limes Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes Wetterau Limes Danube–Iller–Rhine Limes Norican Limes Claustra Alpium Iuliarum Pannonian Limes Limes Alutanus Limes Moesiae Trajan's Wall Anastasian Wall Limes Sarmatiae Limes Arabicus Limes Tripolitanus Limes Mauretaniae
Ancient Rome portal
v t e

An optio (Latin: optiō, from optāre, 'to choose', so-called because an optio was chosen by a centurion; pl.: optiones), was a position in a centuria (century) of a Roman army similar to that of an executive officer. The main function of an optio was as an optio centuriae, the second-in-command of a century, although there were many other roles an optio could adopt.

Optiones were vital in the Roman army. An optio was stationed at the rear of the ranks to keep the troops in order. Their duties would include enforcing the orders of the centurion, taking over the centurion's command in battle should the need arise, supervising his subordinates, and a variety of administrative duties.^{[citation needed]}

Optio pay was double the standard legionary pay and they were the most likely men to replace the centurion if the position became vacant.

Types of optio

Titles held by optiones included:

• Optio ad carcerem: chosen man on prison duty (incarceration).
• Optio ad spem ordinis: optio being groomed for promotion to the rank of centurion.
• Optio candidatus: optio being groomed or marked out for promotion to the rank of centurion.
• Optio carceris: soldier in charge of the prison cells.
• Optio centuriae: 'chosen man of the centuria'; second-in-command and rear rank officer of a centuria; classed as a duplicarius, a soldier receiving double basic pay; he carried a hastile (wooden staff).
• Optio centurionis: 'chosen man of the centurion'; same as optio centuriae.
• Optio custodiarum: soldier in charge of guard posts.
• Optio draconarius: 'chosen man among the dragon bearers', a late Roman senior standard bearer.
• Optio equitum: optio in the legionary or Praetorian cavalry (equus meaning horse).
• Optio fabricae: soldier in charge of a workshop.
• Optio navaliorum: soldier in charge of boats.
• Optio praetorii: soldier attached to headquarters.
• Optio principalis: optio who held supervisory rank (principales from the 2nd century onwards); not all who had the title of optio held this status.
• Optio speculatorum: optio in the elite cavalry bodyguards.
• Optio spei: optio being groomed for promotion to the rank of centurion.
• Optio statorum: optio of military police.
• Optio tribuni: assistant to a tribune.
• Optio valetudinarii: orderly in charge of a hospital.

Uniform

Unlike the centurion, the cuirass was not the distinguishing part of the optio's uniform. The identifying part would be his helmet; this would have had plumes of horse hair or feathers on either side of his helmet that could be accompanied by a helmet crest.^{[citation needed]}

An optio's armour would be more like those of the common legionary. He could wear the lorica segmentata or a lorica hamata as well as have his gladius on the right, not the left, side. One thing that did separate him from the common legionary was the staff (called a hastile), which was used to keep the legionaries in line. This staff would be roughly as tall as the optio himself. Optiones often carried wax tablets on which they kept the orders of the day.

Vegetius on optiones

The optiones are subaltern officers, so denominated from their being selected by the option of their superior officers, to do their duty as their substitutes or lieutenants in case of sickness or other accident.

— Flavius Vegetius Renatus, "Book II: The Organization of the Legion". De re militari [Concerning Military Matters]. London, UK. 1767 – via Digital Attic. Translated from the Latin by Lieutenant John Clarke.

See also

• List of Roman army unit types
• Imperial helmet – helmet "Type I" may have belonged to an optio.

References

This page was last edited on 26 December 2023, at 18:44