Portal:Military of ancient Rome
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The Military of ancient Rome (known to the Romans as the militia) relates to the combined military forces of Ancient Rome from the founding of the city of Rome to the end of the Western Roman Empire. Originally consisting entirely of the Roman army, a small navy was added during the Second Samnite War.
The Roman military was an important part of the Roman state. Josephus describes the Roman people "as if born ready armed."[1]. Its Campaign History stretched over 1200 years and saw Roman armies campaigning as far east as Mesopotamia, as far south as Africa and as far north as the British Isles.
Rome's achieving military dominance relates far less to technology than it does to the social order and the discipline of Roman Legions. This discipline lessened with the emergence of the empire, and this decline in Roman discipline essentially led to catastrophic defeats such as the Battle of Adrianople and various pyrrhic victories such as the Battle of Chalons, the only thing that kept the empire alive for a few more years after the fatal winter of 406 AD.
And even though it is more than 15 centuries after its fall in AD 476, the Roman Empire remains as one of the most formative influences on the history of Europe. Its physical remains dot the land from Scotland to Syria, and its feat of a once united Mediterranean Europe hasn't been bested since.
The Testudo formation, or the Tortoise formation, was a tactic used by the Roman Legions in ancient Roman warfare. In the testudo, the men would close up all gaps between each other and grab their shields at the sides. The first row of men would place their shields in front of them, from about their shins to the middle of their faces, so as to cover the formation's front. Everybody in the middle would place their shields over their head to protect from above, balancing the shields on their helmets and overlapping them. If necessary, the legionaries on the sides and rear of the formation could stand sideways or backwards with shields held as the front row's, so as to protect the formation's sides and rear. This tactic was very popular in siege warfare.
Did you know...
- that there was a Roman saying 'It has come to the triarii' which described a desperate situation?
- that the Colosseum's construction was funded by treasure taken from the temple of Jerusalem after the Romans sacked the city in AD 70?
- that Hannibal Barca swore as a young child that he would never be a friend to Rome,and he upheld that oath until he committed suicide in 183 BC?
- that the word "palace" came from the Palatine Hill in Rome. On that hill was built the palace of the Roman Emperors.
- that the year AD 69 was a year in which Rome had four emperors, ending with Vespasian who then ruled for ten years?
- that on the night July 18 to July 19, 64, the city of Rome suffered from a great fire. The emperor Nero blamed Christians for the fire, but some suspect that it was he who was the arsonist?
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- Roman generals
- Ancient Roman soldiers
- Roman frontiers
- Military ranks of ancient Rome
- Ancient Roman military standards
- Roman tactical formations
- Ancient Roman military punishments
- Ancient Roman military technology
- Wars of Ancient Rome
- Roman military payments
- Roman women in ancient warfare
- Roman military writers
- Latin military books
- Roman awards and decorations
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- Roman, remember that you shall rule the nations by your authority, for this is to be your skill, to make peace the custom, to spare the conquered, and to wage war until the haughty are brought low., Virgil, Aeneid
- Iacta alea est (The die is cast), Gaius Julius Caesar after crossing the Rubicon
- Silent enim leges inter arma (Laws are silent in times of war), Cicero
- War gives the right of the conquerors to impose any conditions they please upon the vanquished. , Gaius Julius Caesar
- The outcome corresponds less to expectations in war than in any other case whatsoever, Livy
- A bad peace is even worse than war. , Tacitus
- Veni, Vidi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered), Gaius Julius Caesar
Roman army (velites, hastati, principes, triarii, equites, legionaries, auxiliae, comitatenses, limitanei, foederati, praetorians), Roman navy, Roman military history ( Structural history of the Roman military, Campaign history of the Roman military, Technological history of the Roman military, Political history of the Roman military), Roman infantry tactics, List of Roman battles, List of Roman legions, Military Engineering (castra, Roman siege engines) , Roman personal weapons (pugio, gladius, hasta, pilum, scutum, spatha)
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