Limitanei

Common card · No. 491396

The limitanei (Latin, also called ripenses), meaning respectively "the soldiers in frontier districts" (from the Latin word limes meaning frontier) or "the soldiers on the riverbank" (from the Rhine and Danube), were an important part of the late Roman and early Byzantine army after the reorganizations of the late 3rd and early 4th centuries.The limitanei, unlike the comitatenses, palatīni, and scholae, garrisoned fortifications along the borders of the Roman Empire and were not normally expected to fight far from their fortifications. The limitanei were lower-status and lower-paid than the comitatenses and palatīnī, and the distinction in role and status between scholae, palatini, comitatenses, and limitanei had largely replaced the older one between praetorians, legionaries, and auxiliaries. The limitanei and palatini both included legionary units alongside auxiliary units. The nature of the limitanei changed considerably between their introduction in the 3rd or 4th century and their...

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