Long Curved Rectangular Shield (scutum) This item is probably one of the most variable of the equipment items carried by Roman legionaries throughout the 1100 year existence of the Roman army in the West and the 1000 additional years during which Romaion or Byzantine military tradition held in the East. During the last century of the Republic and the first century of the Empire, the scutum was in general use. Even so, many units preferred either a large or a small round shield, and oval shields became popular during the later Roman Empire (A. D. 330 to 600). One advantage of this type is that they could be held edge to edge to form a testudo, which provided armored protection with good coverage for a group of men.
Short thrusting Sword (gladius) Roman battle tactics called for close - ordered, disciplined troops fighting as a team as opposed to individual heroics as used by many of their enemies. There were no heroes or champions in Roman armies, only trained soldiers, standing shoulder to shoulder for twenty minutes at a time, methodically killing their opponents. When an occasional lucky stroke by a barbarian warrior brought down a Roman soldier, another of his brethren immediately stepped forward to fill his spot. When the twenty minute period of killing was finished, the legionary fell back and rested, to be replaced with a fresh man.
These kinds of tactics called for a short thrusting sword instead of the long one used for slashing. The Roman gladius was 18 to 24 inches in length, double edged, and parallel sided. The last few inches of blade tapered to a point and the grip was terminated on the back side with a large ball shaped pommel. A short, powerful thrust going a few inches into a man was much more deadly, though less dramatic, than the wide, energy wasting slashes made by an individual warrior showboating in front of his buddies.
Medium length Throwing Spear or Javelin (pilum) This is another standard weapon that almost defines the Roman legionary. The medium weight iron head was connected by a long, thin neck to either an iron socket into which the wooden shaft was fitted, or the metal was extended backward into a thin tang which fitted into a socket in the wood. The main point (No pun intended) is that the hardened head of the pilum would penetrate the enemy shield and the soft neck would bend over. Removing the head of the pilum from the shield would take too much time, so both pilum and shield were then thrown away. At this point, the enemy warrior had only two and a half choices left: He could turn around and run like a rabbit, hoping that a Roman scouting party was not waiting for him to do just that. He could let out a bloodcurdling scream and go bare sark like the Vikings much later and run up and try to brain one or two Romans with his sword before being skewered himself. In this case, maybe his buddies would sing sagas about him around the campfire on cold winter evenings, telling of his brave deeds while the Romans celebrated Saturnalia in their camp, laughing about what a numb skull he was. Choice number two and a half is he could look around the battlefield for a shield not pierced by a pilum, perhaps dropped or thrown away by one of his buddies. He could pick it up and dust it off, and walk coldly and deliberately towards the Roman lines. He could then kill two Roman soldiers, one for his fallen/fleeing buddy, and one for himself, to make up for the embarrassment of letting him get close enough to a pilum equipped Roman soldier to get his shield pierced.
Steel or Bronze Pot Helmet (Galea) This example is probably a little bit more elaborate than the plain - jane model worn by most of the troops. However, junior officers (optiones) and centurions might wear protective headgear almost as highly decorated as they could afford to purchase. Most infantrymen used the stock issue helmet provided by the quartermaster's department. The helmet being worn by the legionary in the picture is vaguely reminiscent of the salade types with their rearward protruding neck guard that date from the later middle ages.
Leather Walking Sandals These did not change much during the course of historical antiquity. Their open design premitted the feet to breathe on long marches. they were relatively easy to make and repair, unlike the formed leather boots adopted by European armies much later. It was the excessive wear caused by so much forced marching that led the mutinous legions to demand "nail money" upon the accession of the Emperor Tiberius. The money would ostensibly be used to replace the worn out sandals.
Camps and Forts
In the early Empire forts were bases that offered security for their garrisons and their equipment. In wartime the enemy was fought in the field, at other times the garrison would have patrolled well beyond the frontier to support allied tribes and gather intelligence. Until the end of the Flavian period the army in Britain spent the summer almost continually campaigning in enemy territory as the province was expanded into what is now the Scottish Highlands.
Units built marching camps to provide shelter at night for their tents and once an area was conquered a network of turf and timber forts roughly a days march apart. In the pre-Flavian period, before the legions had established their permanent fortresses, they built large forts of around 10 ha either to provide army groups (legion and auxiliaries) with a long-term home or as a summer campaign base (aestiva) or winter quarters (hiberna). These forts, known as vexillation fortresses, are found mainly in the Midlands and southern Britain.
The forts were designed very carefully so that if say one fort was to be attacked then the people inside could retreat to a near by Roman fort. The could easily be familiar with any of the forts because every Roman fort was built exactly identical all over England (meaning rooms and buildings)
Newly conquered areas were controlled by forts made from timber and turf and were approximately a day’s march apart. In Britain this phase lasted until the mid 80s AD. Advances in the mid 2nd century and the early third century proved to be temporary or were short punitive campaigns.
A typical 1st or 2nd century turf walled small fort capable of holding a 480 strong infantry cohort. From front to back: the barracks blocks for the Centuries; then two workshops or stores; the granaries, headquarters building and commander's house; and finally more stores or workshops at the rear of the fort.
Professionalism
The Roman soldier was a professional soldier. This means that he joined the army for 25 years and would be paid a salary. A part of his wage was paid in salt, hence the saying 'being worth your salt' -- (a good worker). A soldier belonged to a Legion that had about 5,000 or 6,000 men. Each legion was divided into companies of 80 men called Centuries. Each legion had a standard that had badges on it from all the battles the legion had won. A Centurion was the man in charge of a century. As a professional soldier, he spent most of the time training and kept his uniform clean and smart. As well as being first class fighters, the legionaries were good engineers and craftsmen. There were also other regiments called Auxilia. These soldiers came from the tribes that the Romans had conquered. Their job was to help the legions. They had to fight in front of the Roman soldiers to protect them from attack. So they got killed first. They were divided into groups of about 500 or 1000 men called Cohorts.
Training System
The Romans did many things to make the new soldiers battlefield reactions automatic. The main method though was through training. After being accepted and sworn in, the new recruit was sent to his unit to begin training. This was thorough, systematic and physically hard. First the young soldier had to learn to march at the regulation pace for distances of up to 24 Roman miles (about 22 statute or 35km). Physical fitness was further developed by running, jumping, swimming and carrying heavy packs. Next came weapon training, starting with a wooden practice-sword and wicker shield. Soldiers learned to handle their shields correctly and to attack dummy targets with the point of their swords.
The Roman soldiers had to have both obedience and organisation. Obedience because they would have to tolerate the training and pain and not drop out. Organisation because without it the Roman army would not know where to go and would not win without it if they were facing a bigger army.
The second stage of the weapon training was to learn how to throw a pilum. This was like a javelin that had a wooden shaft 1.5 metres long with an iron head. They had to learn how to hurl it a distance of 28 metres.
When he could handle his weapons competently and was physically fit, the soldier was ready to leave the barracks for training in the open countryside. Sometimes they had to do route marches in which they had to carry body armour, weapons and even seven days worth of food rations. They were to learn how to make an overnight camp, make a catapult base, and build camp ovens dig ditches and many other things.
Usable Groups
The Romans were very clever when it came to camping in tents and working as a group. They were the only army at that time to do tests on how people behaved to other people in a tent and how the number of people in a tent would affect the mood, attitude and morale.
The Romans figured out that 8 was the maximum and minimum amount of people to a tent that you could have. It was just enough to survive for the night and just under enough to get annoyed. For example if a tent was too crowded and someone snores or even someone smells etc. people might go on against each other; a group of eight was the perfect number for usable groups.
Pay, Promotion and Punishment
Pay In both wars and peacetime the soldier received the same rate of pay. In the first AD, up to the time of the Emperor Domination (AD 81-96), this amounted to 225 denarii per annum; Domitian improved the rate to 300 denarii. These amounts were gross pay; before any money was handed to the soldier certain deductions were made. Surprising though it may seem, he was obliged to pay for his food, clothing and equipment. He would also leave some money in the military savings bank. What he actually received in cash may have been only a quarter or a fifth of his gross pay. Whether he felt badly treated is difficult to say. Certainly we know of cases of discontent and – very occasionally – mutiny, but pay and conditions of service were apparently not bad enough to discourage recruits. The soldier could look forward to some promotion and eventually a honourable discharge with a lump sum of 3,000 denarii or an allocation of land.
They used pay to create excellence for the army by getting outsiders to want to join. Some soldiers might be greedy for more money therefore worked harder to get noticed and then promoted for a bigger gross pay.
Promotion If a soldier was promoted his life began to change in several ways. He was paid more and he was exempted from many of the duties performed by the ordinary soldier. Each century was commanded by a centurion who was assisted by an optio. There was also in each century a standard-bearer (signifer), a tesserarius who organised the guards and distributed the passwords, and one or two clerks.
The centurions, who were roughly equivalent to warrant officers in a modern army, were the backbone of the legion. Most of them had long experience in the army and had risen from the ranks because of their courage and ability. There were sixty of them, each responsible for the training and discipline of a century, and their importance was reflected in their pay, which was probably about 1,500 denarii per annum. The senior centurion of the legion (primus pilus) was a highly respected figure; he was at least fifty years old and had worked his way up through the various grades of centurion. He held office for one year, then received a large payment and was allowed to retire; or he might go on still further to become commander of the camp (praefectus castrorum)
Punishment The Romans were very strict with their punishment for example if you were on duty and you left your post without permission, you had better not let the Legatus (man in charge of the legion) know. The punishment then was being stoned to death by the rest of your tent party.
Punishment helped improve excellence because without it people would not take anything seriously so it creates obedience and good behaviour.
