Tesserarius
Encyclopedia
A tesserarius was a watch commander in the Roman army
. They organized and had command over the nightly guard assigned to keep watch over the fort when in garrison or on campaign and were responsible for getting the watchwords from the commander and seeing that it was kept safe. There was one tesserarius to each centuria
(Wilkes, 1972). They held a position similar to that of a non-commissioned officer
in modern armies and acted as seconds to the optio
nes.
Tesserary pay was one and a half times (sesquiplicarii) that of the standard legionary pay.
Roman army
The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire...
. They organized and had command over the nightly guard assigned to keep watch over the fort when in garrison or on campaign and were responsible for getting the watchwords from the commander and seeing that it was kept safe. There was one tesserarius to each centuria
Centuria
Centuria is a Latin substantive from the stem centum , denoting units consisting of 100 men. It also denotes a Roman unit of land area: 1 centuria = 100 heredia...
(Wilkes, 1972). They held a position similar to that of a non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
in modern armies and acted as seconds to the optio
Optio
An optio , sometimes anglicized option , was a soldier in the Roman army who held a position similar to that of an executive officer in modern armies...
nes.
Tesserary pay was one and a half times (sesquiplicarii) that of the standard legionary pay.