THE FIRST LEGIONS
The first Roman soldiers were just ordinary Roman citizens like farmers, blacksmiths, merchants and businessmen.
The average age of a legionarie was between 17 and 46 years old, every citizen might of been asked to join the army.
The army was divided into legions, each containing about 6,000 men, there was four lines of soldiers.
The front line was made up of VELITES, these men throw spears at the enemy, behind them were the HASTATUS and the PRINCEPS, these men did most of the fighting.
HASTATUS and PRINCEPS had light armour and used swords, in the last line were the TRIARIUS,these men wore heavy armour.
It was these legions that began the expansion of Rome by capturing other cities.
IMPERIAL LEGIONS
Between 220 and 100 BC a famous General called GAIUS MARIUS founded different types of soldiers for the legions, these soilders wore heavy armour.
there most important job was to guard the new frontiers, they were expected to carry everthing that they might need, from weapons and armour but also tools for building.