 According to the historians Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, writing at a far later date, the earliest Roman army existed in the 8th century BC.During this period Rome itself was probably little more than a fortified hilltop settlement and its army a relatively small force, whose activities were limited "mainly [to] raiding and cattle rustling with the occasional skirmish-like battle".Historian Theodor Mommsen referred to it as Rome's "curiate" army, named for its presumed subdivision along the boundaries of Rome's three founding tribes (Latin