For nearly 1,000 years, Rome's army embodied the nation it protected and expanded. But beyond the battlefield, the Roman army was a fundamental social force as well, becoming the world's first fully compensated standing army and providing an essential career path for ambitious men of society. Written by a leading scholar of Roman military history, The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History is the first ever portrait of this legendary fighting force in peacetime and at war from a soldier's-eye view.<BR>Organized thematically, The Roman Army explores the army's history, culture, and organization, while providing fascinating details of the soldier's daily existence and of the army's interactions with citizens, politicians, and the inhabitants of conquered territories. The book also offers a look at historians at work, piecing together their understanding of army life by drawing on everything from Rome's rich historical and archaeological record to soldiers' personal correspondence to depictions of military subjects in literature and art.