Abstract
When the cohort took the place of the maniple as the tactical unit of the Roman army, the legion was divided into ten cohorts, each of which contained six centuries. Each century was commanded by a centurion, and these officers were classified as pili, principes and hastati in such a way that there were two centurions of each grade, distinguished as prior and posterior, in each cohort. These names originally referred to the three lines of maniples in the acies, and their retention as titles for the centurions, when their former significance had become obsolete, suggests that it was a convenient way of denoting seniority. It is of interest to try and discover on what principle promotions were made.
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