oscar

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obviously the legions could not have dissapearded in the 3rd century. Ammianus mentioned them during his account of Julian

I think it was belisarius who created the first truly roman heavy cavalry by combining tactics maneuvers from the huns in archery and the goths. he also introduced a small shield in the arm which also served as a receptacle for darts which were very effective at short range. he paid his men in accordance to their performance in the use of this innovative battle techniques. his new highly specilized cavalry allowed him to defeat the much larger armies of the goths, persians, and vandals.

I remember reading that Anastasius started his career as a tribune in a legion whose name I cannot recall. I also read that the Parthica legion still appears on some records in the early 6th century. I wonder if the last participation of legions as such might not have been the war with Persia(circa 502-506)before dissapearing altogether as a military unit. this was also one of the last wars in which large units were comitted(more than 50,000). as is common knowledge, Belisarius never commanded more than 25,000 troops, of which his personal regiment was the only truly professional unit(numbering perhaps 7,000). who can shed light on this issue? The legions did not disappear in the 3rd century. The nature of the army had changed but it had certainly not disappeared. If not the legions, then who marched with Constantine in the 4th century? Romans also never used mercenaries in the way we associate the term in a modern sense. While we can find comparisons with auxilia and mercenaries, auxilia was a part of the main army and was integrated within it. They were not simply armed groups of men or tribes for hire to the highest bidder. The degradation of the army in overall effectiveness is well attested in the late imperial period, but the descriptions provided are also not quite right.