"Punic wars - where do centurions come from" Topic

During the Punic wars, the Romans raised several legions very quickly – sometimes using slaves and convicts –
where did the centurions come from?

I presume they came from elsewhere. Is that correct?

They would have to have done – an element of experience is necessary…

I suspect it was indeed centurions assigned from the 'regular' legions; some combination of volunteers (looking for a possible promotion?) and involuntary transfers (pissed off the wrong officer).

-Will

Is there any reason to think regular practice wasn't followed? That is, that the magistrates in charge of levying the legions would just have picked likely candidates from the mustered men (as in Polybius 6.24)? Normally that would be the consuls or military tribunes (or the latter acting on the delegated authority of the former), but in the aftermath of Cannae – when every citizen over 17 and 8000 slaves were called up – that would have been the dictator M. Junius Petra and his Master of Horse Tiberius Sempronius. The problem with bringing in a cadre of experienced men in that situation would have been that many of the experienced men in the main consular armies were dead or prisoners. If these emergency levies were provided with experienced enturions from elsewhere, then presumably those would have come from troops under the command of M. Claudius Marcellus, at that time the Praetor commanding the fleet based at Ostia. I guess. Quite possibly someone else is better informed.

I keep thinking: When a mommy Centurion and a daddy Centurion love each other, the she-wolf will bring them twin baby Centurions.

Funny, I got a picture of the early Cylons.

She-wolf (lupa) was slang for prostitute. I hope that's not what you meant

Hmmm… A she-wolf with twin babies… That couldn't possibly be tied to Roman mythology in any way and serve as a thematic replacement for a stork, could it?