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The Roman military was intertwined with the Roman state much more closely than in a modern European nation. Josephus describes the Roman people being as if they were "born ready armed,"〔Williamson, G. (tr.), Josephus, ''The Jewish War'', 1959, p. 378〕 and the Romans were for long periods prepared to engage in almost continuous warfare, absorbing massive losses. For a large part of Rome's history, the Roman state existed as an entity almost solely to support and finance the Roman military. The military's campaign history stretched over 1300 years and saw Roman armies campaigning as far East as ''Parthia'' (modern-day Iran), as far south as ''Africa'' (modern-day Tunisia) and ''Aegyptus'' (modern-day Egypt) and as far north as ''Britannia'' (modern-day England, south Scotland, and Wales). The makeup of the Roman military changed substantially over its history, from its early history as an unsalaried citizen militia to a later professional force. The equipment used by the military altered greatly in type over time, though there were very few technological improvements in weapons manufacture, in common with the rest of the classical world. For much of its history, the vast majority of Rome's forces were maintained at or beyond the limits of its territory, in order to either expand Rome's domain, or protect its existing borders. ==Personnel== At its territorial height, the Roman Empire may have contained over 1/2 million.〔Estimates range wildly because census data was imprecise and there is some disagreement over how many federated tribes had settled permanently in Roman lands during the Mid to late Empire.〕 Historian Edward Gibbon estimated that the size of the Roman army "most probably formed a standing force of three hundred and seventy-five thousand men"〔Gibbon E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Penguin, 1985, para. 65〕 at the Empire's territorial peak in the time of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117 − 138CE). This estimate probably included only legionary and auxiliary troops of the Roman army.〔Gibbon E., ''The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', Penguin, 1986, para. 65〕 However, Gibbon states that it is "not... easy to define ''the size of the Roman military'' with any tolerable accuracy." In the late Imperial period, when vast numbers of foederati were employed by the Romans, Antonio Santosuosso estimated the combined number of men in arms of the two Roman empires numbered closer to 700,000 in total (not all members of a standing army), drawing on data from the ''Notitia Dignitatum''. However, he notes that these figures were probably subject to inflation due to the practice of leaving dead soldiers "on the books" in order to continue to draw their wage and ration. Furthermore, it is irrespective of whether the troops were raised by the Romans or simply hired by them to fight on their behalf.〔Santosuosso, p. 188〕 Initially, Rome's military consisted of an annual citizen levy performing military service as part of their duty to the state. During this period, the Roman army would prosecute seasonal campaigns against largely local adversaries. As the extent of the territories falling under Roman suzerainty expanded, and the size of the city's forces increased, the soldiery of ancient Rome became increasingly professional and salaried. As a consequence, military service at the lower (non-staff) levels became progressively longer-term. Roman military units of the period were largely homogeneous and highly regulated. The army consisted of units of citizen infantry known as legions (Latin: ''legiones'') as well as non-legionary allied troops known as ''auxilia''. The latter were most commonly called upon to provide light infantry or cavalry support. Military service in the later empire continued to be salaried yearly and professionally for Rome's regular troops. However, the trend of employing allied or mercenary troops was expanded such that these troops came to represent a substantial proportion of Rome's forces. At the same time, the uniformity of structure found in Rome's earlier military forces disappeared. Soldiery of the era ranged from lightly armed mounted archers to heavy infantry, in regiments of varying size and quality. This was accompanied by a trend in the late empire of an increasing predominance of cavalry rather than infantry troops, as well as an emphasis of more mobile operations. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Military of ancient Rome」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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