Skip to content
Frumentarii
EntityQ1004124· pop 15· linked from 406 articles

Frumentarii

Sign in to save

thumb|upright|Inscription about a frumentarius from Legio VII Gemina.

~4 min read

Encyclopedic overview

5 sections
Contents
  • History
  • See also
  • References
  • Citations
  • General and cited references

thumb|upright|Inscription about a frumentarius from Legio VII Gemina.

The frumentarii were an ancient Roman military and secret police organization used as an intelligence agency. They began their history as a courier service and developed into an imperial spying agency. Their organization would also carry out assassinations. The frumentarii were headquartered in the Castra Peregrina and were run by the princeps peregrinorum. They were disbanded under the reign of Diocletian due to their poor reputation amongst the populace.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Frumentarii” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (2)