{{refimprove, date=April 2008 A ''numerus'' (literally: "number", plural form: ''numeri'') was the term used for a unit of the

Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval continu ...

. In the Imperial Roman army (30 BC – 284 AD), it referred to units of

barbarian A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either Civilization, uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by som ...

allies who were not integrated into the regular army structure of legions and

auxilia The (, lit. "auxiliaries") were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of inf ...

. Such units were of undetermined strength and their organisation and equipment probably varied according to the unit's ethnic origin. The term was also applied to quasi-permanent detachments of regular army units. In the

Late Roman army In modern scholarship, the "late" period of the Roman army begins with the accession of the Emperor Diocletian in AD 284, and ends in 480 with the death of Julius Nepos, being roughly coterminous with the Dominate. During the period 395–476, ...

(284–395 AD), a ''numerus'' was a regular infantry unit of the '' limitanei'', or border forces, believed to have been c. 300 strong.

See also