Editing Roman legion (section)

== Size ==
The size of a typical legion varied throughout the history of ancient Rome, with complements ranging from 4,200 legionaries and 300 ''[[equites]]'' (drawn from the wealthier classes – in early Rome all troops provided their own equipment) in the Republic,<ref>{{cite web |url= https://sites.psu.edu/successoftheromans/organization-of-the-roman-army/ |title= Organization of the Roman Army: Manipular legion Organization of Legion |publisher= Penn State |access-date= 2023-03-03 |quote= Each of these three lines contained five [[Maniple (military unit)|manipuli]] of 120 hastati, 120 principes, and sixty triarii |archive-date= 2023-03-26 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230326024545/https://sites.psu.edu/successoftheromans/organization-of-the-roman-army/ |url-status= dead }}</ref> to 5,500 in the Imperial period, when most legions were led by a Roman Imperial Legate.

A legion had 4,800 [[Legionary|legionaries]] (in 10 [[Cohort (military unit)|cohorts]] of 6 centuries of 80 legionaries) from the late republic to the time of [[Julius Caesar]]. It expanded to 5,280 men plus 120 auxiliaries in the Imperial period (split into 10 cohorts, nine of 480 men each, with the first cohort being almost double-strength at 800 men). These are typical field strengths while "paper strength" was slightly higher (e.g. 600 and 1,200 respectively for Imperial cohorts).

In the early [[Roman Kingdom]] the term ''legion'' may have meant the entire [[Roman army]], but sources on this period are few and unreliable.<ref>Cornell, T. J. (1995): The Beginnings of Rome</ref> The subsequent organisation of legions varied greatly over time but legions were typically composed of around five thousand soldiers. During much of the [[Roman Republic|republican era]], a legion was divided into three lines, each of ten maniples. In the late Republic and much of the imperial period (from about 100 BC), a legion was divided into ten cohorts, each of six (or five) centuries. Legions also included a small ''[[Ala (Roman allied military unit)|ala]]'', or cavalry unit. By the third century AD, the legion was a much smaller unit of about 1,000 to 1,500 men, and there were more of them. In the fourth century AD, [[Eastern Roman army|East Roman]] [[border guard]] legions (''[[limitanei]]'') may have become even smaller. In terms of organization and function, the republican era legion may have been influenced by the ancient Greek and Macedonian [[phalanx]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal|last=Manousos Kambouris|first=Spyros Bakas|date=2016|title=Greco-Macedonian influences in the manipular Legion system|url=https://www.academia.edu/31286327|journal=Archaeology and Science|volume=11 2015|pages=145–154}}</ref>