How old did you have to be to join the ancient Roman army?

Answer 1

Retirement from the Roman army was not a matter of age, it was a matter of service. When a man's enlistment time was up he could either reenlist or retire. There was no actual age limit for reenlistment either. There is a record of a centurion who had retired, missed the army so much that he reenlisted and was still serving at the age of 80!

Answer 2

The standard age under the empire was between 18 and 25. However, the army being the army, they didn't check ages too carefully, they just took the recruit's word for his age. So a man could be either 16 or 30 and still get in the army.

Answer 3

A person had to be between the ages of 16 and 20.

Answer 4

The Romans liked men in their early twenties as the ideal recruit. Older men were welcomed also with no age limit as long as the man was healthy.

Answer 5

To join the Roman army a man had to be at least 18, but the ages of 20 to 23 were preferred because by those ages a man had reached his adult physical stature.