ALA
ALA,
ALA´RES, ALA´RII.
These military terms had different meanings at different periods.
1. In the original constitution of the Roman army, each legion of citizens
was accompanied by a body of 300
equites (
Plb. 1.16,
2 ; 2.24, 3;
6.20, 9). These were drawn up on the flanks of the infantry, and hence were
termed
alae (cf. Cincius in
Gel. 16.4.6,
alae dictae
exercitus equitum ordines, quod circum legiones dextra sinistraque,
tanquam alae in avium corporibus, locabantur).
2. When, at a later date, the
socii were
required to contribute a contingent to the Roman army, the Roman legions
were placed in the centre of the line of battle, and the allies formed the
wings. Hence the allied troops, both cavalry and infantry, were sometimes
termed
alae or
alarii; and we find mention, not only of
equites, but also of
cohortes alares or
alarii (
Liv. 10.40,
8;
41,
5;
43,
3). These
were commonly grouped together as the
dextera
ala and the
sinistra ala (id. 31.21),
although these terms did not always correspond to their position in the line
of battle (id. 27.2).
3. After the franchise had been extended to the whole of Italy, and thus all
Italian troops were included in the legions, the term
alarii was transferred to the foreign troops (
auxilia) serving along with the Roman armies. Thus
Caesar (
B.C. 1.73) distinguishes the
cohtortes alariae from the
legionariae
cohortes (cf.
B. G. 1.51).
4. Under the Empire, the word
ala usually
denotes “auxiliary cavalry,” the term
cohortes being used without any epithet to denote
“auxiliary infantry,” as contrasted with the
legiones. Thus Tacitus (
list. 4.18) mentions the
ala Batavorum,
&c., and many others are known to us from inscriptions (cf. Henzen,
Index inscript. c. viii. p. 131). Sometimes a body of
horse was named from the officer who had first raised it, or who commanded
it at the time: cf.
ala Liliana (
Tac. Hist. 1.75),
ala Auriana (ib. 3.5). The
ala was originally divided into the
turmae, each containing three
decuriae. But at a later time the
ala was either
miliaria or
quingenaria: in the former case there were 24
turmae, in the latter 16, besides various officers (Hygin.
Castrum, 16, 23, 30; cf. Henzen,
Annal. dell' Inst. 1860, p. 71).
[
A.S.W]
