Roman Centurion

Holder of the Line

The centurion was the professional backbone of the Roman legion, a hardened officer who commanded a century of around eighty soldiers and led from the very front of the line. Marked by his transverse-crested helmet and the vine-staff with which he enforced discipline, he rose through valor and experience rather than birth. Upon the centurions' steadiness in holding formation and driving the men forward rested the cohesion that carried Rome's armies to the conquest of the Mediterranean world.