| Summary/Abstract |
Rome’s history spans 2,500 years which saw its transformation from a small village to the centre of a vast empire that witnessed the founding of Catholicism and left an indelible impact on every aspect of civilisation including, of course, military. Just as the influence of Ancient Rome’s culture, architecture, art and language on human history can never be overstated, so also the lasting impact of its episodic wars on the political map of Europe for centuries. Rome maintained the western World’s first professionally trained permanent army of career soldiers who were equipped, paid and even pensioned by the state, a far cry from the farmer-soldiers of Ancient Greece or the part-time citizen-soldiers of Athens. Ancient Rome was one of the largest and grandest military empires ever.
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