{{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 contin ...
.
In the
Imperial Roman army
The Imperial Roman army was the military land force of the Roman Empire from about 30 BC to 476 AD, and the final incarnation in the long history of the Roman army. This period is sometimes split into the Principate (30 BC – 284 AD) and the Do ...
(30 BC – 284 AD), it referred to units of barbarian allies who were not integrated into the regular army structure of legions and auxilia. 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 (284–395 AD), a ''numerus'' was a regular infantry unit of the ''
limitanei
The ''līmitāneī'' (Latin, also called ''rīpēnsēs''), meaning respectively "the soldiers in frontier districts" (from the Latin phrase līmēs, meaning a military district of a frontier province) or "the soldiers on the riverbank" (from the ...
'', or border forces, believed to have been c. 300 strong.
Imperial Roman army
The Imperial Roman army was the military land force of the Roman Empire from about 30 BC to 476 AD, and the final incarnation in the long history of the Roman army. This period is sometimes split into the Principate (30 BC – 284 AD) and the Do ...
Noumeroi The ''Noumeroi'' ( el, ἱΝούμεροι, masculine plural) or ''Noumera'' ( ὰNούμερα, neuter plural, from the Latin ''numerus'', "number" in the sense of "regiment") were a Byzantine infantry garrison unit for the imperial capital, Con ...