Expert: Maria - 12/19/2009

Question
I was looking for information on the Urban Cohorts (Cohortes Urbanae) specifically if there is any surviving record of the crest that they used.  I cannot find much on the Internet.  Is there a book you are aware of that deals specifically with this subject?  

Answer
Hello,

As far as I know, the “Cohortes Urbanae” (Urban Cohorts )created  by Augustus as a police force for the city of Rome and  led by the “Praefectus Urbis”(urban prefect) are originally three, without a permanent camp in the city, since their  winter or summer quarters were in the towns near Rome (see Suetonius, Life of Augustus, 49).

They had to “control slaves and those citizens whose natural boldness gives way to disorderly conduct, unless they are overawed  by force” (see Tacitus Annals, book 6, chapter 11).

In the military system as established by Augustus there were nine cohorts of the praetorian guard and three of the urban troops that were divided in nine cohorts, each consisting about 1,000 men and only free citizens were eligible to serve in their ranks.

Anyway, though the Cohortes Urbanae seem to form  a closely connected body with the praetorians, they were inferior in rank, only getting half the pay of the praetorians (See O. Eichhorst, De cohortibus urbanis imperatorum Romanorum, 1865).

As for your question about “any surviving record of the crest that they used”, no primary source survives, since the authors who talk about the urban troops do not mention the crest.

Finally, with regard to a book that deals specifically with this subject, there is none, but you could consult the pages 57-66 of the following book where  Brian K. Harvey talks about "Soldiers in the Urban Garrison":
“Roman Lives: Ancient Roman Life as Illustrated by Latin Inscriptions” by Brian K. Harvey,
See at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585101141/ref=sip_pdp_dp_0

Hope this can be helpful to you.
Best regards,
Maria