The Roman army (Latin: exercitus Romanorum; Ancient Greek: στρατός/φοσσᾶτον Ῥωμαίων) is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the Roman Kingdom (to c. 500 BC), the Roman Republic (500–31 BC), the Roman Empire (31 BC – 395/476 AD) and its successor, the East Roman or Byzantine Empire (395–1453). It is thus a term that spans approximately 2,000 years, during which the Roman armed forces underwent numerous permutations in composition, organization, equipment and tactics, while conserving a core of lasting traditions.
Read more about Roman Army: Early Roman Army (to C. 300 BC), Roman Army of The Mid-Republic (c. 300 – 107 BC), Imperial Roman Army (30 BC – AD 284 ), Late Roman Army/East Roman Army (284–641), Komnenian Byzantine Army (1081–1204), Palaiologan Byzantine Army (1261–1453)
Famous quotes containing the words roman and/or army:
“Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily.
Let not our looks put on our purposes,
But bear it as our Roman actors do,
With untired spirits and formal constancy.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“We should have an army so organized and so officered as to be capable in time of emergency, in cooperation with the National Militia, and under the provision of a proper national volunteer law, rapidly to expand into a force sufficient to resist all probable invasion from abroad and to furnish a respectable expeditionary force if necessary in the maintenance of our traditional American policy which bears the name of President Monroe.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)