The legions were theoretically recruited from Roman citizens, with a predominance of Italians in the early Imperial legions, superseded by a rising number of provincial Roman citizens toward the end of the first century. Apparently, the Gallic provinces of Narbonensis and Lugdunensis provided many legionaries, followed by the Rhine and Danube provinces of Lower Germany, Noricum and Pannonia (Le Bohec, 1994). The western provinces generally supplied more recruits than the eastern areas. In Egypt, easterners formed the basis of the early legions, until regular recruitment of Africans begin in the mid-first century. By the second century, there were more Africans than easterners, and by the third century, Egyptians had superseded the native Africans (Alston, 1995). This demonstrates the theory that, in general, legionary recruitment originally spread over a wide area covering more than one province, then narrowed to the territory of the province or its neighbors, and finally became more and more localized as the armies settled in permanent forts, and citizenship and Romanization spread, becoming embedded in the local culture.
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