Vigiles

Watchmen of ancient Rome Vigiles or more properly the Vigiles Urbani ("watchmen of the City") or Cohortes Vigilum ("cohorts of the watchmen") were the firefighters and police of ancient Rome. History The triumviri nocturni (meaning three men of the night) were the first men, being privately owned slaves, organized into a group that combatted the common problems of fire and conflagrations in Rome. Another organization dedicated to fighting fires in ancient Rome was a band of slaves led by the aedile Marcus Egnatius Rufus. The privately operated system became ineffective, so in the interest of keeping himself and Rome safe, Augustus instituted a new public firefighting force called the vigiles. Augustus modelled the new firefighters after the fire brigade of Alexandria, Egypt. The vigiles were also known by their nickname "Sparteoli" or "little bucket fellows", given to them because of the buckets they carried water in, which were made of rope sealed with pitch. In AD 6, Augustus levied a 4% tax on the sale of slaves and used the proceeds to set up the new force. The first units of vigiles were under the command of the aediles and the vicomagistri. There were only 6,000 vigiles and t