Decury
InAncient Rome,adecury(Latindecuria,plural:decuriae) was a group of ten people, ranged under one chief, or commander, called adecurio.
InRoman cavalryaturmawas divided into three decuries.
According to legend,Romulusdivided the whole Roman people into three tribes, over each of which he appointed atribune.Each tribe he subdivided into tencenturies,withcenturionsat their heads, and each century he subdivided further into ten decuries, over each of which a decurio commanded.
In theinterregnumafter the death of Romulus theRoman Senate,comprised at that time of 100 men, arranged itself into ten decuries, and eachdecuriagoverned Rome for five days. In a rotating manner, each man within adecuriareigned for 12 hours, six by day and six by night, asinterrex.[1]Thedecuriaecontinued to rotate the government amongst themselves for a year until the election and accession ofNuma Pompilius.[2]
Decuriawas also aRoman unit of measurementapplied tocivitasof native peoples.[Note 1]It had been mentioned byPliny the Elderat 70 AD in his work,Natural History.
Etymology
[edit]From *dek- 'ten' plus *-ur-yo-,a Common Italic formation, judging from the related Umbriandequrier,tekuries'decurial'; and compare Oscandekkviarim.[4]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Plutarch,The Life of Numa,2:6
- ^Livy,Ab urbe condita,1:17
- ^Wilkes, J. J.The Illyrians,1992,ISBN0-631-19807-5,page 215.
- ^Poultney, J.W. "Bronze Tables of Iguvium" 1959 p. 302https://archive.org/details/bronzetablesofig00poul/page/n19/mode/2up
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chambers, Ephraim,ed. (1728).Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences(1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.{{cite encyclopedia}}:Missing or empty|title=(help)- "decury".Oxford English Dictionary(Online ed.).Oxford University Press.(Subscription orparticipating institution membershiprequired.)
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