Germanic Foederati

[Medicus matt]

And can you provide me with proof that it is a late roman term, or is that an opinion?
I vaguely remember the term 'numerus', but i didn't connect it with this, because i understood the term 'foederati' to mean 'bound by treaty', which i assume the Germanic warriors did in tribal groups for the Dacian campaign?
//Adrian

I think you're right Adrian, the term refers to any non-Roman group (be it tribe or entire nation) that was tied to Rome by a treaty of mutual assistance and was certainly in use from the late Republican period onwards.

The depiction of germanic foederati on Trajan's column seems fairly standardised (long hair, beard, naked torso, barefoot, armed with big sticks etc) but maybe that's just to emphasise their 'barbarity' to the Roman audience?