Roman cavalry Roman cavalry ( Latin : equites Romani ) refers to the horse mounted forces of the Roman army through the many centuries of its existence . Early cavalry ( to ca . 338 BC ) . Romulus supposedly established a cavalry regiment of 300 men called the " Celeres " ( " the Swift Squadron " ) to act as his personal escort , with each of the three tribes supplying a " centuria " ( century ; company of a 100 men ) , This cavalry regiment was supposedly doubled in size to 600 men by King Tarquinius Priscus ( conventional dates 616 - 578 BC ) . According to Livy , Servius Tullius also established a further 12 " centuriae " of cavalry . But this is unlikely , as it would have increased the cavalry to 1 , 800 horse , implausibly large compared to 8 , 400 infantry ( in peninsular Italy , cavalry typically constituted about 8 % of a field army ) . This is confirmed by the fact that in the early Republic the cavalry fielded remained 600 - strong ( 2 legions with 300 horse each ) . An important question is whether the royal cavalry was drawn exclusively from the ranks of the Patricians ( " patricii " ) , the aristocracy of early Rome , which was purely hereditary . This is certainly the mainstream view among historians , starting with Mommsen . ( However , Cornell considers the supporting evidence tenuous . ) Since the cavalry was probably a patrician preserve , it follows that it probably played a critical part in the coup against the monarchy . Indeed , Alfoldi suggests that the coup was carried out by the " Celeres " themselves . However , the patrician monopoly on the cavalry seems to have ended by around 400 BC , when the 12 " centuriae " of " equites " additional to the original 6 of regal origin were probably formed . Most likely patrician numbers were no longer sufficient to supply the ever - growing needs of the cavalry . It is widely agreed that the new " centuriae " were open to non - patricians , on the basis of a property rating . According to the ancient Greek historian Polybius , whose " Histories " ( written ca . 140s BC ) are the earliest substantial extant account of the Republic , Roman cavalry was originally unarmoured , wearing only a tunic and armed with a light spear and ox - hide shield which were of low quality and quickly deteriorated in action . Republican cavalry ( 338 - 88 BC ) . Recruitment . As their name implies , the " equites " were liable to cavalry service in the Polybian legion . " Equites " originally provided a legion ' s entire cavalry contingent , although from an early stage , when " equites " numbers had become insufficient , large numbers of young men from the First Class of commoners were regularly volunteering for the service , which was considered more glamorous than the infantry . By the time of the Second Punic War , it is likely that all members of the First Class served in the cavalry , since Livy states that members of Class I were required to equip themselves with a round shield ( " clipeus " ) , rather than the oblong shield ( " scutum " ) required of the other classes - and all images of cavalrymen of this period show round shields . It appears that " equites equo privato " ( i . e . First Class members ) were required to pay for their own equipment and horse , but that the latter would be refunded by the state if it was killed in action . Cavalrymen in service were paid 1 " drachma " per day , triple the infantry rate , and were liable to a maximum of 10 campaigning seasons ' military service , compared to 16 for the infantry . Unit size and structure . Each Polybian legion contained a cavalry contingent of 300 horse , which does not appear to have been officered by an overall commander . The cavalry contingent was divided into 10 " turma e " ( squadrons ) of 30 men each . The squadron members would elect as their officers 3 " decurio nes " ( " leaders of 10 men " ) , of whom the first to be chosen would act as the squadron ' s leader and the other two as his deputies . From the available evidence , the cavalry of a Polybian legion ( and presumably confederate cavalry also ) was armoured and specialised in the shock charge . Equipment . Pictorial evidence for the equipment of Republican cavalry is scant and leaves several uncertainties . The earliest extant representations of Roman cavalrymen are found on a few coins dated to the era of the Second Punic War ( 218 - 201 BC ) . In one , the rider wears a variant of a Corinthian helmet and appears to wear greaves on the legs . His body armour is obscured by his small round shield ( " parma equestris " ) . It was probably a bronze breastplate , as a coin of 197 BC shows a Roman cavalryman in Hellenistic composite cuirass and helmet . But the Roman cavalry may already have adopted chain mail armour ( " lorica hamata " ) from the Celts , who are known to have been using it as early as ca . 300 BC . Mail had certainly been adopted by ca . 150 BC , as Polybius states that the First Class were expected to provide themselves with chain mail cuirasses , and the monument erected at Delphi by L . Aemilius Paullus to commemorate his victory at the battle of Pydna ( 168 BC ) depicts Roman cavalrymen in mail . However , a coin of 136 BC and the Lacus Curtius bas - relief of the same period show knights in composite bronze cuirasses . There is similar uncertainty as to whether cavalryman carried shields ( not generally used by Greek cavalry until after ca . 250 BC ) and the related question of whether they carried long lances ( which normally precluded shields , as they would often be held double - handed ) or shorter spears , the " doru " mentioned by Polybius . Most representations show cavalrymen with the small " parma equestris " type of shield , but the Ahenobarbus monument of 122 BC and the coin of 136 BC shows cavalrymen without shields . Sidnell suggests that , since " equites " were expected to provide their own equipment , they may have chosen their own type and combination of armour and weapons e . g . long lance with no shield or short spear with shield . But the evidence is too scant to draw any firm conclusions . Although there is no pictorial evidence , it is certain from literary accounts that " equites " carried swords , most likely the same " gladii hispanienses " ( Spanish swords ) used by the infantry or the longer spatha . The Ahenobarbus monument also shows a cavalryman with a dagger ( " pugio " ) . There is no evidence that " equites " carried bows and arrows and the Romans probably had no mounted archers before they came into contact with Parthian forces after 100 BC . Campaign record . There is a misconception that Roman Republican cavalry was inferior to other cavalry and that they were just to support their far superior infantry . However , Philip Sidnell , argues that this view is misguided and that the cavalry was a powerful and crucial asset to the Republican army . Sidnell argues that the record shows that Roman cavalry in Republican times were a strong force in which they bested higher reputed cavalry of the time . Examples include the Heraclea ( 280 BC ) , in where the Roman cavalry dismayed the enemy leader Pyrrhus by gaining the advantage in a bitterly contested melee against his Thessalian cavalry , then regarded as the finest in the world , and were only driven back when Pyrrhus deployed his elephants , which panicked the Roman horses . Other examples include the Equites ' victory over the vaunted Gallic horse at Telamon and Sentinum , against the Germanic cavalry of the Teutons and Cimbri at Vercellae , and even against the technologically more advanced Seleucid cavalry ( including some fully armored cataphract s ) at Magnesia . A key reason for some historians ' disparagement of the Roman cavalry were the crushing defeats , at the Trebia and at Cannae , that it suffered at the hands of the Carthaginian general Hannibal during the latter ' s invasion of Italy ( 218 - 6 BC ) which were only rendered possible because of a powerful cavalry force . But Sidnell argues that this is only because of a consistent numerical superiority in cavalry . Another disadvantage for the Romans in the Second Punic War was that their respective cavalry were heavily armoured shock cavalry , used to the rudimentary tactic of charging . This , however useful against an infantry that has been routed or is flanked , failed against Hannibal ' s nimble , Numidian light cavalry that used a skilful , elaborate series of movements that consistently defeated the Roman cavalry . It should be noted that on occasions when they were deployed properly and led competently , such as during the skirmish before Ilipa and at the pitched battles of the Great Plains and Zama , the Italo - Roman cavalry were able to best their Carthaginian counterparts , while at Dertosa they were able to hold their own despite being supposedly outnumbered . The Second Punic War placed unprecedented strains on Roman manpower , not least on the over 10 , 000 + " drachmae " First Class which provided the cavalry . During Hannibal ' s apocalyptic march through Italy ( 218 - 6 BC ) , thousands of Roman cavalrymen were killed on the battlefield . The losses were especially serious for the knights properly so - called ( " equo publico " ) : Livy relates how , after Cannae , the gold rings of dead Roman knights formed a pile one " modius " ( ca . 9 litres ) large . In the succeeding years 214 - 203 BC , the Romans kept at least 21 legions in the field at all times , in Italy and overseas ( and 25 legions in the peak year ) . This would have required the knights to provide 220 senior officers ( 120 " tribuni militum " , 60 " decuriones " and 60 " praefecti sociorum " ) . It was probably from this time that the 18 " centuriae " of knights became largely an officer class , while the 6 , 300 Roman cavalrymen required were raised from the rest of the First Class . The cavalry of Roman armies before the Second Punic War had been exclusively Roman and confederate Italian , with each holding one wing of the battleline ( the Romans usually holding the right wing ) . After that war , Roman / Italian cavalry was always complemented by allied native cavalry ( especially Numidia ) , and was usually combined on just one wing . Indeed , the allied cavalry often outnumbered the combined Roman / Italian force e . g . at Zama , where the 4 , 000 Numidians held the right , with just 1 , 500 Romans / Italians on the left . One reason was the lessons learnt in the war , namely the need to complement heavy cavalry with plenty of light , faster horse , as well as increasing the cavalry share when engaging with enemies with more powerful mounted forces . It was also inevitable that , as the Roman Republic acquired an overseas empire and the Roman army now campaigned entirely outside Italy , the best of non - Italian cavalry would be enlisted in increasing numbers , including ( in addition to Numidians ) Gallic , Spanish and Thracian horse . Towards the end of the republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire , the Roman cavalry itself was rendered less and less of a powerful force , with Rome meeting its cavalry needs with auxiliary , allied cavalry instead . Nevertheless , Roman and Italian confederate cavalry continued to form an essential part of a Roman army ' s line - up for over a century . They were again , less successful against elusive tribal cavalry such as the Lusitanians under Viriathus in their bitter resistance to Roman rule ( 151 - 140 BC ) and the Numidians themselves under king Jugurtha during the latter ' s rebellion ( 112 - 105 BC ) , when they were obliged to rely heavily on their own Numidian allied horse and the Romans were deprived of their strongest cavalry . End of the citizen cavalry . The Jugurthine War is the last war in which Roman / Italian confederate cavalry is attested as having played a significant part . After that references to the citizen cavalry become rare and the Roman army seems to have become largely dependent on non - citizen cavalry , either recruited in the subject provinces or supplied by allied kings . As part of the army reforms of Gaius Marius around 107 BC , citizen legionary cavalry was abolished and entirely replaced by native allied cavalry . This process may have happened gradually as a result of the grant of Roman citizenship to all of Rome ' s Italian confederates after the Social War ( 91 - 88 BC ) , which led to the abolition of the old Italian confederate " alae " and the recruitment of all Italians into the legions . For the cavalry , the abolition of the " alae " had the radical result of reducing the Roman / Italian cavalry to just a quarter of its previous size , since legions contained only a third as many horse as confederate " alae " . Legionary cavalry was thus reduced to a fraction of a Roman army ' s overall cavalry complement : a consular army of 2 legions now contained about 20 % cavalry ( i . e . ca . 4 , 000 horse ) , of which , at most , only 600 were Romans . Indeed , the Roman element may now have numbered just 240 , as it is possible that around this time , the legionary cavalry contingent was reduced to 120 . It also appears that from this time onwards , Roman knights were no longer levied for cavalry service , which was now recruited from Italian commoners . By the time of Gaius Julius Caesar ' s Gallic War ( 58 - 51 BC ) , it appears that legionary cavalry may have disappeared altogether , and that Caesar was entirely dependent on allied Gallic contingents for his cavalry operations . This is deduced from an incident in 58 BC when Caesar was invited to a parley with the German king Ariovistus and needed a cavalry escort . Since he didn ' t yet trust the allied Gallic cavalry under his command , he instructed them to lend their horses to some members of the Tenth Legion , which thereafter acquired the nickname " equestris " ( " mounted legion " ) . ( However , this incident leaves open the possibility that Roman cavalry still existed , but was not large enough to satisfy the needs of the moment ) . The question arises as to why the Romans allowed their citizen cavalry to lapse in this way , given its record as a highly effective and useful force . The main reason is probably the limited pool of available " equites " and First Class members . The " equites " had long since become exclusively an officer class ( a role they retained throughout the Principate ) , as the empire had become simply too large and complex for aristocrats to serve as ordinary troopers . At the same time , many of the First Class of commoners had developed major business interests and had little time for military service . Although Italian commoners of the lower classes could , of course , have been recruited and trained as cavalrymen in larger numbers , that must have seemed costly and unnecessary when subject countries such as Gaul , Spain , Thrace and Numidia contained large numbers of excellent native cavalry which could be employed at much lower pay than citizens .