Women in the roman army? (Combatants)

[M. Demetrius]

John, certain Gaulic tribes had women cavalry, and some of those were reportedly assigned to the Legions as auxiliary, within their own units, but that would be a rare situation. The original question was whether a woman could essentially masquerade as a male soldier, and the answer, of course, is "No."

As for the "often it was known" statement, that (to me, at least) seems a little farfetched. In a long term camp, it would be easy enough for a soldier of whatever rank to go to the vicus and obtain whatever all was offered there, including female companionship. For women to be smuggled into the camp seems pretty thoroughly against protocol, and it would be nice to see some historical reference to support that. Not that I'm arguing, at least not this time, :wink: but -- If it was "often" there should be references.

However, I freely admit I am fairly ignorant of Late Roman activities. I know at some point during the Empire, it was made legal for soldiers to take wives from wherever they found them, and their children were citizens...or so I heard.