Session 4 - organising the army
Modern re-enactors have spent much effort in reconstructing
what personal items a Roman soldier might carry, how they would be packed and
how used. This type of experimental archaeology is invaluable for understanding
area of Roman life that were never touched on by the classical writers, and
might be difficult to find archaeologically.
Sources like Trajan’s Column show sketchy images of ordinary soldiers carrying their gear but nothing detailed, and in fact the stonemasons that cut the images may not have understood what they were showing, hence inaccuracies occur.
One simple need, never shown or written about, was a strikelight ie a piece of steel and some flint or pyrites to make a spark.
Twine and string for stitching, lightweight horn and wood mugs and bowls – these won’t usually survive archaeologically but they’re definitely things a soldier would need.
Sources like Trajan’s Column show sketchy images of ordinary soldiers carrying their gear but nothing detailed, and in fact the stonemasons that cut the images may not have understood what they were showing, hence inaccuracies occur.
One simple need, never shown or written about, was a strikelight ie a piece of steel and some flint or pyrites to make a spark.
Twine and string for stitching, lightweight horn and wood mugs and bowls – these won’t usually survive archaeologically but they’re definitely things a soldier would need.
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One of the factors that helped to ensure loyalty was the
cult of the Legion’s standards. These ‘totems’ were treated with religious
reverence and given their own chapel within the HQ building of the fort. The
chapel, or ‘sacellum’, often had the legion’s strongroom in a cellar below it.
Ancient people who lived in societies that had a plethora of gods, goddesses and spirits took care not to offend gods already ‘present’ in a place, as this could bring ill-fortune on everyone. So making the standards ‘sacred’ meant the men would act respectfully towards this symbol of the legion, if only for fear of being struck down by a thunderbolt. They played a prominent role in parades and public occasions, a feature much copied by later cultures. The Nuremburg rallies of 1930s Germany, and the parades held in Italy under Mussolini, owed much to the Fascist leadership’s obsession with Rome. |