The areani or Arcani were agents for the Roman Empire, based in Roman Britain during the later part of the Roman occupation of the island. They helped to instigate the Great Conspiracy. Due to their participation in the Conspiracy, Count Theodosius disbanded them. The term is a hapax legomenon, known only from a passage in Ammianus, and it has been suggested that it is a misreading of "arcani", the secret ones. These may have been civilian inhabitants of the paramilitary zone between Hadrian's Wall and the Vallum to the south. Ammianus text goes as follows.