07-06-2015, 08:49 AM
well if you look deeper you can find all sorts of troops that will qualify as a kind of mercs but none in the "classical" meaning of the word
as we progress through the Principate and the auxilia begins to be rather a "normal" heavy infantry unit and the cavalry will also tend to be heavier, numeri units were employed this were allied troops from outside Rome borders, example: numerus maurorum (cavalry) or numerus palmyrenorum (archers generally) which were deployed by Trajan in his Dacian Wars numerus surorum sagittariorum
This numeri would fall more likely into the "mercenary" role
you can find some infos here:
A Companion to the Roman Army, Paul Erdkamp Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007 page:195
https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A...YMAC&hl=de
"Numeri are often regarded as “irregular” units, but that is only because they lacked
the more standard organization that legions and auxiliaries had."
as we progress through the Principate and the auxilia begins to be rather a "normal" heavy infantry unit and the cavalry will also tend to be heavier, numeri units were employed this were allied troops from outside Rome borders, example: numerus maurorum (cavalry) or numerus palmyrenorum (archers generally) which were deployed by Trajan in his Dacian Wars numerus surorum sagittariorum
This numeri would fall more likely into the "mercenary" role
you can find some infos here:
A Companion to the Roman Army, Paul Erdkamp Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007 page:195
https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A...YMAC&hl=de
"Numeri are often regarded as “irregular” units, but that is only because they lacked
the more standard organization that legions and auxiliaries had."
