Recruitment

Throughout the period of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, recruitment for the western legions was still clearly based on Italy itself and strongly romanized provinces of the west, such as Narbonensis and the Spanish provinces. Those in Syria and Egypt recruited mostly in Paphlagonia, Pamphylia-Pisidia and Egypt. From the Flavian dynasty this started to change however. The share of Italian recruits diminished. Instead, many more came from the regions where the legions were based. The Germanies, Noricum and the Gauls started the supply a large part of the new soldiers for western legions, while Syria, Bithynia and Africa-Numida became the recruiting grounds of the east. This trend increased in the second century to a point where hardly any Italians joined the legions anymore. They preferred the Urban cohorts, the Praetorian Guard or avoided military life altogether. Legionaries now often came from the direct area around the legionary camps, the vici and canabae where the veterans had settled. A similar development can be discerned among auxiliary troops. They were originally recruited in their tribal area, but once they were moved into other parts of the Empire, that changed as well. Units recruited where they served, it seems, with some exceptions. As far as can be concluded from our sources, early naval soldiers were mostly recruited from the Greek speaking areas of the empire, while later the bulk came from the Balkans and Egypt.