USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The man who was in charge of a century of infantry soldiers (80 soldiers) was called a centurion. The man who was in charge of a turma of cavalry soldiers (30 soldiers) was called a decurion. The centurion or decurion was usually a soldier who had worked his way up the ranks.

Detailed explanation-2: -A legion was nominally composed of 6, 000 soldiers, and each legion was divided up into 10 cohorts, with each cohort containing 6 centuria. The centurion thus nominally commanded about 100 men, and there were 60 centurions in a legion.

Detailed explanation-3: -During the mid-late Republic, centurions were not appointed as permanent officers, but were chosen together with their soldiers for Rome’s army through the annual levy (dilectus). The military tribunes would assign soldiers according to their four classes of age and wealth (velites, hastati, principes, triarii).

Detailed explanation-4: -Its basic unit was the century, which comprised eighty men, divided into ten sections (contubernia) of eight, who shared either a barrack room or tent. Six centuries of eighty men formed a cohort, and ten cohorts made up a legion. Nine of the cohorts were divided into six centuries.