The Legions of Cannae The First Professional Army of the Roman Republic

This article traces the evolution of the well-known Legiones Cannenses from a citizen army into a professional force, possibly the first in the history of the Roman army. I shall focus on three main aspects of this transformation. First, I shall deal with the split of the legionaries from civic life, in the wake of the battle of Cannae. The Roman senate in 215 BCE decided to strip the survivors of the battle of their civil rights and sent them to garrison Sicily. The decision of the Senate created a mercenary force, different from the rest of the Roman army. Then, I shall examine the peculiar commitment of the soldiers to some of the most important warlords, such as Marcellus, Scipio, and Flamininus, who in turn were in command of the Legiones Cannenses during the Second Punic War and the Second Macedonian War. The last topic discussed in this part are the changes in the tactical composition of the Legiones Cannenses, evident in the African cam-paign. By then, the tactical composition of the Legiones Cannenses looked very much akin to that of the Late Republican legions. The cohors had taken the place of the manipulum as the main tactical unit.