Ala, Alares, Ala'rii. These words, like all other terms connected with ancient Roman warfare, were used in different or at least modified acceptations at different periods. History - Ancient history - Ancient Rome This is a List of Ancient Rome-related topics, that aims to include aspects of both the Ancient Roman Republic and Roman Empire. ... For other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). ...

Ala, which literally means a wing, was from the earliest epochs employed to denote the wing of an army, and this signification it always retained, but in process of time was frequently used in a restricted sense. A Laughing Gull on the beach in Atlantic City. ... Army (from French armée) can, in some countries, refer to any armed force. ...

1. When a Roman army was composed of Roman citizens exclusively during early Republican times, the flanks of the infantry when drawn up in battle array were covered on the right and left by the cavalry; and hence Ala denoted the body of horse which was attached to and served along with the foot-soldiers of the legion (see Cincius, de Re Militari, who, although he flourished in 200 B.C., is evidently explaining in the passage quoted by Aulus Gellius, xvi.4 [1], the original acceptation of the term). The word citizen may refer to: A person with a citizenship Citizen Watch Co. ... Infantry of the Royal Irish Rifles during the Battle of the Somme, First World War. ... The Battle of Waterloo by William Sadler. ... A right is the power or privilege to which one is justly entitled or a thing to which one has a just claim. ... Look up Left and left in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Cavalry is also a common misspelling of the Biblical hill Calvary. ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 nugget For other uses, see Horse (disambiguation). ... Legion can refer to several encyclopedic topics, including: In military history, an organization or military unit: A Roman legion. ... Aulus Gellius (c. ...

2. When, at a later date, the Roman armies were composed partly of Roman citizens and partly of Socii (allies from the rest of the Italian mainland), either Latini or Italici, it became the practice to marshall the Roman troops in the centre of the battle line and the Socii upon the wings. Hence ala and alarii denoted the contingent furnished by the allies, both horse and foot, and the two divisions were distinguished as dextera ala (right wing) and sinistra ala (left wing) (Livy, xxvii.2 [2], Livy, xxx.21 [3], Livy xxxi.21 [4]; Lips. de Milit. Rom. ii. dial. 7. We find in Livy x.40 [5], the expression cum cohortibus alariis ("with wing cohorts"), and in x. 43 [6], D. Brutum Scaevam legatum cum legione prima et decem cohortibus alariis equitatuque ire...jussit ("He ordered Decius Brutus Scaeva, legate, with the first legion and ten wing cavalry cohorts, to go and oppose said detachment..."). When spelt with a capital A, Allies usually denotes the countries supporting the Triple Entente who fought together against the Central Powers in World War I and against the Axis Powers in World War II. For more information, see the related articles: Allies of World War I and Allies of... A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ...

3. When the whole of the inhabitants of Italy had been admitted to the privileges of Roman citizenship the terms alarii and cohortes alariae were transferred to the foreign troops serving along with the Roman armies. In Julius Caesar (The Gallic War i.51 [7]) we see the Alarii expressly distinguished from the legionarii, and we find the phrase cohortes alariae et legionariae (The Civil War i.73 [8]), while Cicero (ad Fam. ii.17 [9]) speaks of the Alarii Transpadani. Gaius Julius Caesar (IPA: Classical Latin: IMP•C•IVLIVS•CAESAR•DIVVS1) (July 12, 100 BC – March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader. ... Marcus Tullius Cicero (IPA: ;) (January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin orator and prose stylist. ...

4. Lastly, under the empire, the term ala was applied to regiments of horse, raised it would seem with very few exceptions in the provinces, serving apart from the legions and the cavalry of the legions. It is to troops of this description that Tacitus refers when (Annals xv.10 [10]) he mentions Alarii Pannonii robur equitatus ("...Pannonian troopers, the flower of his cavalry..."). These Alae were the highest ranked auxilia units. Commanded by a praefectus of equestrian rank, the ala quingenaria (literally, "wing of five hundred") had 512 enlisted soldiers organised in 16 turmae of 32 men each, commanded by a decurio. Approximately 80 alae quingenariae existed around 100 A.D. Larger units called an ala miliara ("wing of one thousand") were sometimes created. These consisted of 24 turmae with 42 men each, making a total of 1,008 men. These were vary rare elite units, with only seven of them existing around 100 A.D. For other senses of this name, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... A regiment is a military unit, larger than a company and smaller than a division. ... Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (c. ... The word prefect can refer to any of a number of types of official, including: in Latin, a praefectus was a high-ranking military or civil official in the Roman Empire. ... Decurio was an official title in Ancient Rome, used in three connections. ...

Some further details on this subject are given under Exercitus.

This article is based on an article by William Ramsay, M.A., Professor of Humanity in the University of Glasgow on pp 73-74 of "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities", John Murray, London, 1875, edited by William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D. This article is in the public domain. The information contained herein, as such, may therefore be outdated. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

References

• Ann Hyland: Equus: The Horse in the Roman World, ISBN 0300047703
• Adrian Goldsworthy: The Complete Roman Army, ISBN 0500051240
• William Smith, ed.: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875