Limitanei
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.
[10] Hugh Elton and Warren Treadgold suggest that, besides garrisoning fortifications along the frontier, they operated as border guards and customs police and to prevent small-scale raids.
[13] Edward Luttwak saw their role as a key part in a strategy of defence-in-depth in combination with the provincial[clarification needed] field armies.
[17][18] In the later 3rd century, due to the frequent wars, field armies could remain together for several years, under the direct command of the emperor, and would require their own recruitment systems.
[32][33] Karl Strobel sees the reorganization as the culmination of trends going back well into the 3rd century, with Diocletian strengthening both the frontier and field armies.
[35] After this, the eastern limitanei were no longer professional soldiers, but continued to exist as militia through the Persian Wars and the Arab Conquest.
[36][37] The Arabic ajnad of Palestine, Jordan, Damascus, and Homs, may represent continuations of the commands of Palaestina, Arabia, Phoeniciae, and Syria.
Peter Heather notes an incident in the Life of St. Severinus, in Noricum in the 460s, where raiders had intercepted and cut down limitanei who were bringing their pay to the rest of their unit.
[41] The different titles of numeri, milites, and cohorts, or vexillationes, equites, cunei, and alae, probably did not correspond with different structures or roles,[42] although according to Pat Southern and Karen Dixon, the legiones, auxilia, and cunei of the border armies were part of the limitanei, but higher-status than the older cohortes and alae in the same armies.
Hugh Elton and Warren Treadgold suggest that, besides garrisoning fortifications along the frontier, they operated as border guards and customs police and to prevent small-scale raids.
[13] Edward Luttwak saw their role as a key part in a strategy of defence-in-depth, manning a range of defences from forts to walled towns in a deep defensive zone.
Theodor Mommsen proposed that the pseudocomitatenses were former units of limitanei incorporated into the mobile field armies,[48] and most authors since have followed his theory.
[53] It was usually assumed that over time the limitanei settled down more permanently in their posts and became farmers and land owners as well as soldiers; raising families and earning a living from agricultural means rather than purely military service.
[59] As the soldier profession is often not productive (prolonged periods of training with only occasional conflict), empires had long resorted to this principle of "military colonists".
[citation needed] By employing soldiers in this way, Rome was able to capitalize on their knowledge of warfare as well benefit from the agriculture produced by limitanei.
[citation needed] Edward Luttwak, however, sees the change as due a strategic shift away from a firmly held frontier (preclusive defence) to a less firmly held frontier zone backed with mobile forces (defence-in-depth) as responsible for the change,[60] though again referencing parallels of military colonists at other times in history.
However, this does not imply that the field armies always hired the most promising recruits; some may have preferred to stay close to home rather than to join units which could be deployed anywhere else.
Constantine I was criticised for allowing what were perceived as "second-class" infantry, often recruited from non-Roman backgrounds, to be given the responsibility of watching over Rome's most troublesome regions.
[citation needed] A factor that should also be examined and considered, is how the limitanei ended up as part time forces and eventually even, not being paid at all.
The limitanei were nonetheless a fairly well equipped and trained force of infantry for their time, especially in relation to other standing armies of the day fielded by Rome's Germanic, Celtic, Iranian, and Eastern neighbours, collectively referred to as "barbarians" by the Romans themselves.
It can be surmised, due in part to these reforms, that the Western Roman Empire continued to live on for another 140 years after the end of Constantine's reign, in the face of numerous migrations and invasions from northern and eastern, nomadic peoples such as the Huns, Goths, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Sarmatians, Alans, Burgundians, Saxons and Franks, which continually weakened the Empire until its eventual collapse in 476 AD.
They are a cheap and easily trained unit that has poor attack, but very high defense, simulating their role in holding the frontier and bogging down enemies while the field armies mobilized.
