Ala (Roman military)

An ala (Latin for wing) is a cavalry unit of the ancient Roman auxiliary forces from the 1st century up to the 4th century AD.

Alae were the highest ranked auxilia units. Commanded by a praefectus of equestrian rank, the ala quingenaria had 512 enlisted soldiers organized in 16 turmae with 32 men commanded by a decurio. Larger units called an ala miliaria existed with about 1000 soldiers in 24 turmae with 42 men. These were very rare elite units, only 7 of them existed around 100 AD, compared to ca. 80 alae quingenariae.

During the times of the Roman republic (up to around 90 BC), the alae were the contingents of the Italian allies of Rome. These were usually placed at the flanks of the Roman battle formation, and so named ala. They had nearly the same size as a republican legion, but included more cavalry.

References

• Ann Hyland: Equus: The Horse in the Roman World, ISBN 0300047703
• Adrian Goldsworthy: The Complete Roman Army, ISBN 0500051240