The Roman Army in AD 33
By AD 33, Rome's professional army had been refined over centuries into the most effective military organisation the ancient world had seen. The legions — heavy infantry of Roman citizens — were supplemented by auxiliary units drawn from the provinces, who provided cavalry, archers and specialist fighters. Soldiers served for twenty-five years, and the army was as much a social institution as a military one: it built roads, administered territory, and served as a vehicle of social mobility for men who might otherwise have had none. In Judaea, Roman troops were auxiliary forces rather than legionaries, garrisoned at Caesarea Maritima and rotated though various strongholds, like the Antonia Fortress in Jerusalem. Those strongholds would be reinforced as needed, especially during major festivals. They were there to keep order — a task made perpetually complicated in Judaea, by a population whose religion, culture and history gave them every reason to resist.
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