The Imperial Legion in Morrowind and Skyrim are like scouts and auxiliary units so they wore lighter and more manoeuvrable armour and were based with the Roman army in mind.

As for the Imperial Legion in Cyrodil the guards wear more ceremonial heavy armour not at all like the light armour the other Legions wear at outposts in other provinces, they are trained to defend the Imperial city from any threats.

Actually, the Imperial light (and maybe some heavy) armour as depicted in Skyrim would be totally impractical. It was based on armour worn by soldiers stationed in very hot climates. Heck, except for the Nords with their 50% frost resistance and Kajiit, just about everyone else should be freezing to death.

Khajiit should be freezing to death because their fur is meant to remove, not trap, heat. As is the rest of their body.
I justified my Khajiit in Daggerfall running around naked all the time because she was immune to Frost, Fire, and Shock.

Byzantine is the name we in the west give them. To contemporaries in the East it still was called the Roman empire. When the Ottomans under Mehmet II conquered Constantinople in 1453 he assumed the title "Caesar" (stemming from Julius Caesar) which is the equivilant Emperor (derived from imperator, one who holds power).
Mehmet II did this for several reasons but one of the reasons what that contemporaries generally saw the Emperors of Constantinople the continuation of the Roman empire, and that the Roman empire had tranfered its power from Rome after 476 AD to Constantinople. Later the Russian Tsars claimed the title. In other words the Roman empire should be considered as a state from 27 BC (when Octavian became Augustus) to 1453 when the Ottomans destroyed the last Roman state. Before 27 BC there was of course the Roman Republic.

Rome (both the Republic as the Empire) had massive staying power and still is one of the greatest empires the worlds has ever seen, even though there eventually were much bigger empire to evolve (Mongolian, British). It's cultural, legal and even technological legacy is still omnipresent in western society today.

I hope the TES Imperials have the same staying power as their examples, then they too can stick around for like a 1000 years.

Yeah, they are inspired by Romans. This is not new to Skyrim, play the other games besides Oblivion? Oblivion was the ugly duckling of the TES series. Every other game besides Oblivion is more true to the nature of TES.

Said it once, and I'll say it a billion more times if I have to. The Imperials are not based on Romans and the Empire is not based on Rome. Inspiration for both comes from a multitude of cultures and influences and to only acredit 'Rome' is like saying one ingredient in a recipe is all that makes the dish. Aesthetically The Empire looks Roman, but when you get into the lore of the Empire and its people, the Roman influences cease to exist.

Strange line of thought. Spears originally were hunting weapons used by the earliest hunter-gathering homo sapiens sapiens. It was the instrument of our species' succes. Trust me they didn't stand in lines of battle while running around spearing bears, mammoths and antilope.

The spear would is still an excellent adventurers weapon.

Much much later the spear evolved into something else, mainly under the ancient Greeks where they made spears longer and essentially became pikes. And of course developed the phlanax formations (calling themselves Hoplites).

Spears were still very much in use throught ancient times. Roman armies used them, however legionaries after they abadoned to use phlanax formations generally used pilums (throwing spears with a brittle point) to surprised their enemies during a charge. Then they went over to the gladius (a form of sword) and ripped through the enemy like a meat grinder. Auxiliaries were hired/obtained throughout the empire en generally thought with what they were used to. Cavalry would also still use spears.
Only in late antiquity did Roman armies change in weaponry and tactics, due to the amount of Germanic Barbarians admitted to their ranks.

Spears evolved in medieval times to stuff like the halbard (it's always ironic when medieval fanasy games have halbards and zweihander swords but no arquebus or other gunpowder weapons - even though they evolved at the same time). The pike made its revival during this period when tercio formations arised - gunners could reload while pikeman kept enemies at bay.

Spears, halbards and pikes became obsolete with the invention of more sophisticated muskets and the bayonet. Still that class of weaponry has been with our race for millenea and it is ironic that Beth decided TES could do without them.

If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck...

In this case it has the looks of a duck and the bark of a dog

Well, in Morrowind they were a hybrid of medievil and roman, in Oblivion they were medievil and now in Skyrim they are roman. I liked the MW version of them best, at least as far as culture and the Legion goes.

Nah, they were Roman only half the time.

The Legion is undeniably Roman to me, but there are certain references throughout (like in the Sword-Singing Meeting) where its stated that the Empire heavily used Phalanx's against the Raga of Hammerfell. The people and the race however, are far more complex.

Of course, it is alway more complex. I was simply simplifying them.

Morrowind was my favorite variant too

The best, although stats wise they svcked hard.

Of course one truly Roman trademark that is shining in its absence from the Legion are square shields. The ancient Romans were famous for their shield walls.

Yeah, I'm a bit uneasy about a whole legion of pantless soldiers

Yes, the picture of it is naginata. And yes it was primarily used for it's reach. And if you are a samurai you are considered an elite except to the warlord you served.

I'd say the Imperial Empire (like the Roman Empire) is going to morph into something resembling the Byzantine Empire

Which they had in Morrowind... Then again they also had spears back then.

Well, you know what they say about ease of access :whistle:
This supports my theory that all previous games in the TES series represent Tamriel in its Classical Ages (Ancient Greece/Rome)
with the races representing (this is obviously subjective and only superficially):
Imperials: Roman Empire
Altmer: Ancient Greeks/Pratchett style Fantasy elves
Redguards: The Moorish empires
Khajitt: Hebrews(?)/Egypt/Native Americans
Argonians: Maya/Olmec
Dunmer: Babylon/Ancient Persia
Bosmer: Aztec/Mirkwood elves
Orsimer: Mongols/Timurids
Nords: Norse/Danes
Bretons: Germanic Tribes/Gaul
Skyrim represents the world moving into it's equivelant of the Dark Ages, so in future games I expect the races to represent these more (politaclly and superficially):
Imperials: Byzantine Empire
Altmer: Third Reich/Fantasy elves (obviously they don't fit the wise philosphers mould anymore)
Redguards: Ottoman Empire
Khajitt: Mali Empire/Iriquois
Argonians: Maya/Aztec
Dunmer: Babylon/Ancient Persia (in their medieval form)
Bosmer: Mirkwood elves
Orsimer: Mongols/Timurids/Huns
Nords: Norse/Denmark
Bretons: France/Holy Roman Empire

just my ravings.

They were used for hunting, but not for close quarters fighting against a human opponent. The enemy can simply parry, dodge or even grab the spear, step within the minimum distance, and the spearman would be as good as dead.

If you were referring to throwing spears, well we already have bows in the game, so the developers may have thought they were redundant and decided not to include them.

Always been that way. Also this isn't the first time the Empire has fallen. It has done this a few times.

Anybody who played Morrowind knows full well how much the Imperials were based on Romans:

[img]http://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/www.ign.com/9109/2011/09/imperial_morrowind2-600x426.jpg[/img]

It just those whimpy shield & board characters whinning about not being able to hold a range weapon while hiding behind their shields. I guess they haven't learnt to dodge yet.