9THERE WERE TWO MAIN TYPES OF ROMAN SOLDIERS

Roman soldiers may be divided into two main types: legionaries and auxiliaries.

. Only men above the age of twenty were allowed to join one of the legions in the Roman army. Legions were elite troops that were at the higher end of the spectrum in terms of earning and quality of armors. All legionaries were Roman citizens but this did not necessarily mean that they resided in Rome. In fact, soldiers joined the ranks from all over the Roman empire, including regions such as Africa, Spain, Germany, France and Britain. Auxiliaries, on the other hand, were soldiers who were not Roman citizens. An auxiliary was paid only a third of a legionary’s wage. Auxiliaries guarded forts and frontiers but also fought in battles, often in the front lines where it was the most dangerous.