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The military of ancient Rome was one of largest pre-modern professional standing armies that ever existed. At its height, protecting over 7,000 kilometers of border and consisting of over 400,000 legionaries and auxiliaries , the army was the most important institution in the Roman world.
The Roman army (Latin: exercitus Romanus) served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 476/AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed AD 476/480) and the Eastern Roman Empire (collapsed AD 1453).
The size of a typical legion varied throughout the history of ancient Rome, with complements ranging from 4,200 legionaries and 300 equites (drawn from the wealthier classes – in early Rome all troops provided their own equipment) in the Republic, [1] to 5,500 in the Imperial period, when most legions were led by a Roman Imperial Legate.
Download QR code; Print/export ... Military of ancient Rome. 753 BC – AD 476. ... and later a term used to describe "soldiers" in Medieval Europe.
Comitatenses regiments consisted of 1,024 soldiers. Comitatenses legions could consist of 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers. Some of these soldiers would be lightly armed, while others would be heavily armed. During a battle the army would divide into 3-4 divisions. The army might use a double phalanx to protect its rear.
Rorarii were soldiers who formed the final lines, or else provided a reserve thereby, in the ancient pre-Marian Roman army.They may have been used with the triarii in battle near the final stages of fighting, since they are recorded as being located at the rear of the main battle formation.
The limitanei (Latin, also called ripenses), meaning respectively "the soldiers in frontier districts" (from the Latin word limes meaning frontier) or "the soldiers on the riverbank" (from the Rhine and Danube), were an important part of the late Roman and early Byzantine army after the reorganizations of the late 3rd and early 4th centuries.
The Empire was increasingly plagued by usurpations led or supported by military conspiracies, leading to the Crisis of the Third Century (235–284 AD) in the late empire and eventual final decline. Following is a list of topics on the military history of ancient Rome. Structural history of the Roman military