Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - How The Roman Army Worked

Episode Date: November 18, 2023

For centuries, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire were able to conquer and force their will on other people around the Mediterranean Sea. The success of Rome was built on its army, and its army was able to sustain its dominance for so long because of its system of superior organization and logistics.  It was this system which allowed them to excel in ancient warfare for so long. Learn more about how Roman armies worked and what made them so successful on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors BetterHelp Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month ButcherBox Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off."  Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For centuries, the Roman Republic and Roman Empire were able to conquer and force their will on other people around the Mediterranean Sea. The success of Rome was built on its army, and its army was able to sustain its dominance for so long because of its system of superior organization and logistics. It was this system that allowed them to excel in ancient warfare for such a long period of time. Learn more about how Roman armies worked and what made them so successful on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now.

Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. Before I get into how the Roman army functioned, I should note that the Roman military was not a static thing. Rome and its various iteration was around for a really long time, and during that time there were changes that were gradually made in how the army was organized. Furthermore, army logistics differed depending on where the army was and in what sort of environment they were in. How you scrounge for food will be very different in a desert than it would have been in a forest. So take this with a little bit of a grain of salt. What I'll be going over was typical, but not necessarily universal during the Roman period. So with that, let's start with the

the organization of the Roman Army, and the base unit of the Roman military was the Legion. A Legion would have consisted of anywhere between 4,500 to 5,800 men, depending on the period. During the Republic, there may have been as few as 4,200 foot soldiers and 300 cavalry. Later, during the Imperial period, there could have been as many as 5,600 infantry and 200 auxiliary troops. Below the Legion and structure, there were cohorts and centuries. A Legion of A legion with 4,800 men would have had 10 cohorts of six centuries, with each century consisting of 80 legionaires. The organization of legions was standard, which allowed for legions to be quickly disbanded

and merged with little interruption. If a legion had to be merged with another one, everyone would already know their roles in the new legion. The Legion commander was known as a legate, or in Latin, legatus legionis, and this was the equivalent of a general. During the Imperial period, there may have been a legate above that, which was the commander of multiple legions. This would have been the Legatus Augusti Pro Praetiori, or the Imperial Legate. Both of these positions were always held by someone of senatorial rank.

Beneath the legate would have been a younger man known as the Tribunus Latiklavus. This person would have been second in command in a legion, but not necessarily the second in command during a battle due to their lack of experience. This position was usually reserved for a well-connected young Roman man. Below that was the Camp Prefect, who was usually a veteran soldier of lower social rank, and below him were various tributes who were very young men just getting started in their political careers. They would have been given very specific administrative roles in the Legion. Below that was the Centurion, who did much of the actual work in a Legion. They headed up the various centuries.

The top Centurion and the leader of the first century, century in the first cohort was known as the Primus Pilus. Each of the six centuries in a cohort corresponded to one of the lines that they would form in a battle. Second in command in a century would be someone called the Optio, and a century would also have a Tessorarius, who was a guard commander. He oversaw the guard duty and the distribution of passwords. The smallest unit in the Legion was the Contuburnia, which consisted of just eight men.

These men ate and slept together, sharing the load for carrying their collective gear. Beginning in 104 BC, every legion used an eagle as its standard. Every legion had a soldier known as the Aquilifer, who was responsible for the eagle and carried it into battle. Losing an eagle was an extreme dishonor, and soldiers in a legion took great pride in protecting their standard. Punishments were often handed out that could be quite severe. They could range from fines and demotions to beatings and even death. Soldier's sentenced to death would often be executed by Fustuarium, which was when their comrades would literally beat them to death. The equipment each legionary had was also relatively standard.

You'd get a helmet, a shield, segmented armor, a spear known as a pylum, a short-storred known as a gladius, and a dagger known as a Pugio. After the military reforms of Marius, on which I've done a previous episode, the quality of Roman military equipment actually went down, as it now had to be able to. be mass produced and provided by the state rather than each soldier buying his own gear. In addition to armor and weapons, each Legionaire had to carry cooking equipment, trenching tools, a cloak, and a limited amount of food. By and large, each Legionaire was responsible for carrying all of their own personal gear. As far as food goes, the average soldier wouldn't have been very well fed, at least in terms of the quality of food. About 60 to 75% of their diet consisted of nothing but grain, either in the form of bread or a gruel known as

pluss. Plus was often served with olive oil and salt, and later in the imperial period, cheese also became a staple of their diet. There would usually have been very little meat consumed, simply because the cost of providing it for so many people. The primary beverage for a soldier was a drink known as Paska. It was a beverage made out of wine, vinegar, and water. The biblical accounts of Jesus being given vinegar on the same.

the cross was probably actually POSCA that was consumed by the Roman soldiers. Paska had a low alcohol content, so it could hydrate without being intoxicating. Drunkenness was a very serious crime in a legionary camp. Legions were also designed to be mobile units. They could move from one place to another to counter threats as needed. Legionaries, as I mentioned before, were responsible for carrying their own gear. Their gear was mostly contained in a leather sack and hung from a pole known as a furca. Their footgear was a type of sandal slash boot known as a collegae.

In it, they would often walk an average of 20 to 25 miles or 32 to 40 kilometers a day, depending on weather and terrain. Ideally, the 20 miles would be marched in about five hours. Every single night, the Legion would have to establish a camp when it was moving, and a robin encampment was no small thing. A team of scouts would usually ride ahead of the Legion to find an open, level place for the camp. Once the troops arrived at the site, they would begin construction on the camp for the night. The camps were a standard design across all legions.

Each camp was in the shape of a square. When the soldiers arrived, some would be put on guard duty, and the rest would begin digging a trench around the camp with the dirt from the trench being used to create a berm. The trench was approximately three feet deep and five feet across. Each side of the square would have been about a half mile long on each side. If possible, timber would have been used to create a fence, on the top of the berm. It's estimated that it took over 2,200 men to set up the camp,

and it could be done in 3,200 to 5,600 man hours, or just a few hours with that many people pitching in. Based on what they actually spent their time doing, Roman soldiers were more diggers than fighters, which is why they carried axes and picks along with their weapons. Legionnaires were always kept busy doing something, because when they became idle, troubles would usually start. There are several places around the world where you can still see the outline of these Roman camps, and the most notable is near the Dead Sea where the Romans besieged Masada. The next day, or a few days after, the camp would be broken and the process would start again. When a legion moved, it wasn't just soldiers. There was actually a lot more to it. Using a somewhat

realistic scenario, let's say that four Roman legions needed to move from the lower Danube to the upper Rhine, a distance of about 1,600 kilometers or 1,000 miles. Each legion would have 5,000 men. In addition to transporting the soldiers, each legion would have about 600 horses or mules to transport its siege weapons and all its other gear. All of the pack animals would require fodder if they didn't want to spend a large part of everyday grazing.

Multiply that by four for all four legions. However, that's only part of the story. In addition to the Roman Legion, there would probably have been an equal number of auxiliary and mercenary troops that traveled with them. And in addition to that, there may have been double the number of non-combatants and camp followers. Roman soldiers were not allowed to marry, at least after the period when standing armies were created. However, that didn't prevent women from following the Legion and developing relationships with some of the men. These relationships were often overlooked for the sake of morale.

Likewise, there would also be merchant, slaves, and tradespeople who would follow the Legion to perform services. And many people simply followed the soldiers to loot whatever they left behind from conquered enemies. So the total number of people who traveled when four legions had to move wasn't 20,000 people, it was probably closer to 100,000 people. Populations were much smaller back then, and agricultural productivity was much less as well. A hundred thousand people marching through your region could be devastating if you had to provide all the food. Providing support for a legion was something that had to be done across the entire empire. Food, equipment, and clothing had to be transported, often across long distances, just to support all of the troops.

As you can probably guess, with the food and marching, not to mention the fighting, life as a Roman legionaire was difficult. Who served in the legions, and who was allowed to serve changed over time. During the first part of the Republic, only Roman citizens who owned property were allowed to serve. After the Marian reforms, it was opened up to any citizen, regardless of land or wealth. During the later imperial period, this was further expanded as citizenship was expanded to include everyone in the provinces. By the end of the Western Empire, most people serving in the legions weren't even Italian. Service in the Legion wasn't a short-term commitment. Legionnaires usually had to serve for 16 to 25 years, and if required, sometimes longer.

The pay for a legionaire was at first set to 225 denari a year. This was eventually raised to 300 and then 500 as the currency was debased. There were also expenses for food and gear which were deducted from a soldier's annual pay. However, there were other possible upsides. If they conquered an enemy, soldiers would often receive some share of the booty that was captured. Also, many legionnaires who served their full tour of duty would be given lands in conquered territories, where they could establish farms. For example, the town of Merida-Span was originally called at Merita Augusta,

which meant the veterans of Augustus. The lands surrounding the city were given to the men who had served under the emperor. For a lucky few, they could rise through the ranks to have positions of authority within a legion, perhaps not a legate or a tribune, but enough to earn more than the average soldier. Everything I've touched on in this episode simply deals with the organization and structure of a Roman legion. I haven't even gotten into how the Romans actually fought or the tactics and weapons they used. The rough system that I've described was one of the reasons why Rome was able to remain dominant for so long. Unlike many of their enemies, they had a system, the ninjas do things

willy-nilly. When the system ceased working, they often changed it, like with the Marian reforms. It was the Roman Legion system, more than anything else, that allowed Rome to dominate the Mediterranean for over 500 years. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Peter Bennett and Cameron Kiever. I wanted to give a big thanks to everyone who supports the show on Patreon. Your support helps me put out a new show every day. And if you're interested in Everything Everywhere Daily merchandise,

Patreon is currently the only place where it's available. And if you'd like to talk to other listeners of the show and get notified to future episodes and projects, please join my Facebook group or Discord server. Links to everything are in the show notes.