Military of ancient Rome

Military of ancient Rome

The military of ancient Rome was one of the largest pre-modern professional standing armies in history. 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. According to the Roman historian Livy, the military was a key element in the rise of Rome over "above seven hundred years" from a small settlement in Latium to the capital of an empire governing a wide region around the shores of the Mediterranean, or, as the Romans themselves said, mare nostrum, "our sea". Livy asserts:... if any people ought to be allowed to consecrate their origins and refer them to a divine source, so great is the military glory of the Roman People that when they profess that their Father and the Father of their Founder was none other than Mars, the nations of the earth may well submit to this also with as good a grace as they submit to Rome's dominion.

Pantheon: Roman Culture: Ancient Roman Civilization: Ancient Rome Period: 750 BCE – 400 CE

Source: Wikipedia