# Adsidui

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thumb | right | alt=Servius Tullius | Servius TulliusIn [ancient Rome](/source/ancient_Rome), '''''adsidui''''' (sg. ''adsiduus''; also ''assiduus'', ''assidui'', [Latin](/source/Latin) for "diligent, loyal", and collectively, "[taxpayers](/source/taxpayers)"<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0060%3Aentry%3Dadsiduus ''Adsiduus'' in Charlton T. Lewis, ''An Elementary Latin Dictionary'']</ref>) were the citizens who were liable to [military service](/source/military_service) in the main line of battle, that is, for much of the history of the [Roman Republic](/source/Roman_Republic), as [legionaries](/source/legionaries). The ''adsidui'' were the members of the [first five census classes](/source/Social_class_in_ancient_Rome), which were, according to the Roman historian [Livy](/source/Livy), created under the reign of [Servius Tullius](/source/Servius_Tullius), the sixth legendary [king](/source/King_of_Rome) of [ancient Rome](/source/ancient_Rome).<ref>Livy, ''History of Rome'', [http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0026;layout=;query=chapter%3D%2342;loc=1.42 Book I, chapter 42]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002082639/http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0026%3Blayout%3D%3Bquery%3Dchapter%3D%2342%3Bloc%3D1.42 |date=October 2, 2009 }} and [http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0026;layout=;query=chapter%3D%2342;loc=1.43 Book I, chapter 43]</ref> Under Tullius' original organisation, the first class was made of the richest, and thus best-equipped citizens, with [helmet](/source/helmet), [shield](/source/shield), [greave](/source/greave)s, [cuirass](/source/cuirass), [spear](/source/spear) and [sword](/source/sword). As one went down through the classes and the corresponding levels of wealth, equipment went lighter and lighter.<ref>Connolly, Peter, ''Greece and Rome at War'', pp95-96.</ref> According to [Peter Connolly](/source/Peter_Connolly_(classical_scholar)), the goal of Tullius' reform was to base military service on wealth, and not race, thus better integrating the [Etruscans](/source/Etruscan_civilization), who at that time ruled [Rome](/source/Ancient_Rome) and the [Romans](/source/Roman_Kingdom) themselves; he points out, however, that in the beginning most members of the richest first class must have been Etruscans.<ref>Connolly, Peter, ''Greece and Rome at War'', p95.</ref>

The ''adsidui'' were, as opposed to the [''proletarii''](/source/Proletariat), eligible to serve in the legions. In 107 BC, [Gaius Marius](/source/Gaius_Marius) enrolled the landless [capite censi](/source/capite_censi) in his army, a one-off occurrence,<ref>Rich, '' The supposed manpower shortage''</ref> as in the following [Cimbric War](/source/Cimbric_War), Marius returned to conscripting from the ''adsidui''.<ref>
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Michael J |chapter=Goodbye to all that: the Roman citizen militia after the great wars |editor-last=Balbo |editor-first=Mattia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6CyWEAAAQBAJ |title=A community in transition: Rome between Hannibal and the Gracchi |editor-last2=Santangelo |editor-first2=Federico |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-765524-5 |page=160 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Michael J |date=2019 |title=Tactical reform in the late Roman republic: the view from Italy |url=https://biblioscout.net/article/10.25162/historia-2019-0004 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=68 |issue=1 |page=79 |doi=10.25162/historia-2019-0004 |s2cid=165437350 |issn=0018-2311|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Social classes in ancient Rome
Category:Military history of ancient Rome

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