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.The Roman Army
Cohort
In Augustan times, a legion had ten cohorts. A cohort (»cohors«) was divided into three maniples which consisted of two centurias, each led by a centurion. There were 80 soldiers in one centuria. They were divided into ten groups of 8 men who lived together in tent units (»contubernia«). These contubernias possessed collectively: A leather tent (»tabernaculum«), a hand mill made of basalt which was used daily to grind cereals for a kind of porridge called »puls«, a mule for transport and a muleteer (»mulio«) who did not belong to the combat unit.
The highest ranking centurion was the leader of a cohort (»pilus prior«). In addition to the centurion, there were some personnel and other officers with various ranks. Therefore, a cohort had 480 heavily armed foot soldiers and 120 other persons, 600 men in total.
Clothing and armament of the soldiers are described in the chapter »Legion«.