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"Roman Army" '

is the name given by English-speakers to the soldiers and other military forces who served the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. The Roman words for the military in general were based on the word for one soldier, miles. The army in general was the militia, and a commander of military operations, militiae magister. In the republic, a general might be called imperator, "commander" (as in Caesar imperator), but under the empire, that term became reserved for the highest office. The Romans only called themselves "Roman" in very formal circumstances, such as senatus populusque Romanus (SPQR), "the Roman senate and people" or when they needed to distinguish themselves from others, as in civis Romanus, "Roman citizen." Otherwise, they used less formal and egocentric terms, such as mare nostrum, "our sea" (the Mediterranean) or nostri, "our men." The state was res publica, "the public thing", and parallel to it was res militaris, "the military thing", which could have a number of connotations. Miles has no clear etymology. We know that Rome was originally an Etruscan city, Ruma, and the Etruscans were a war-like people. Many of the early families of Rome, including some of the most aristocratic families, were originally Etruscan. It would be surprising, then, if miles had an Indo-european etymology. We don't know enough Etruscan to rule it in or out as Etruscan. The Army came to dominate much of the land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, including the province of Britannia and Asia Minor at the Empire's height. Little is known of the army under the monarchy. Even before the monarchy was overthrown, the army became a citizen army. It was notoriously inept. It became a professional army, with professional generals, along Greek lines in the long struggle with the Carthaginians. It became a superior army following the reforms of Gaius Marius around 100 BC. The army ended on a note less musical. Rome became what we would call a military dictatorship. The army began to play a part in selecting emperors, removing them typically by assassination. Imperator became a very risky office to hold. At last the senate refused to nominate any more candidates and left the selection totally up to the army, but the decision to do that did not bring stability in government. In the end the empire broke in two and then spintered into rival, warring armies. By that time there were but few Romans in the Roman army. It consisted mainly of provincial troops, due to the practice of placating enemies by letting them serve in the army, which exerted military discipline over them.