The Romans had a belief that farm boys would be the best soldiers because they were so used to hard work and physical labor; on the other hand, the urban people would prove to be too soft for the army life.
The Roman military author Vegetius has provided a list of some other professions that he thought could make great soldiers. These included blacksmiths, butchers, carpenters, and hunters. For enlisting, prospective recruits had to show proof of being free Roman citizens, and generally, there used to be a medical examination at this initial stage.
Ideally, the Roman legion recruited soldiers who were at least five feet eight inches tall, although apparently many men of shorter heights were serving. On passing all the tests, they were attached to a legion and had to go to whichever place it was stationed.
They had to swear the military oath called sacramentum on reaching the legion, in which they pledged their loyalty to the emperor. Following this, they underwent rigorous training for many months whose first phase put emphasis on physical fitness. This meant new recruits in the Roman legion spent most of their time marching and drilling. The expectation from them was that they should be able to cover 24 Roman miles with full equipment in five hours. This was followed by the weapons training.
Initially, they practiced with wooden weapons. These were twice as heavy as the actual weapons. This was done to build their strength and endurance. New soldiers were asked to practice swordplay against a wooden box. They learned both to stab and slash. In close battles, Roman soldiers were masters of making lethal pushes with their swords.
The ancient sources often compare the highly disciplined and accurate stabs of a Roman legionary with the wild, slashing strokes of their brutal enemies. There was never a break in the drill and the training in the Roman legion and much of their spare time was spent by units in practicing formations, battle simulations, and maneuvers.
A legion had commanders, officers and ordinary soldiers. There were also doctors, engineers and other workers. Centuria: century was made up of 10 contubernium with a total of 80 men commanded by a centurion.
Contubernium section - 8 men. The smallest unit of the Roman legion was the contubernium tent group of eight men. They marched, fought, worked and camped together. The 'section' eight men - the basic unit of the legion. In barracks, these eight men shared two rooms. A legate called »legatus legionis« commanded a legion, assisted by two deputies: the military tribune »tribunus laticlavus,« who came from the senatorial class, and the camp prefect called »praefectus castrorum.
In addition, another men either handled administrative tasks or worked as doctors. The high-ranking officers also had a substantial number of slaves, wagons and pack animals at their disposal, a group adding about persons and at least riding, draught and pack animals to a legion. Caligae was also the term from which the Emperor Gaius Caligula got his nickname.
He was the son of the enormously popular Legate Germanicus and accompanied his Legions on several northern campaigns. As a boy the Legionaries saw him as a good luck mascot and called him Caligula for "Little Boots". Metal armor may provide much needed protection, but it can be extremely uncomfortable, particularly when worn for long periods of time. The focale was a scarf made of wool or linen, worn to keep the metal of the armor from scraping and chafing the neck.
Though there were many types this was the most common helmet, the Imperial Gallic along with the Imperial Italic. They were generally made of bronze with iron trim, with a projecting piece shielded the neck and a smaller ridge fastened at the front for protection of the face.
At the sides were large cheek pieces hinged at the top. A leather tent, usually made out of calfskin or goatskin, which would protect the soldiers from the elements when sleeping. These would often sleep between six and eight soldiers each. The large Roman shield, which was curved to fit the body. They were made from thin sheets of wood, glued together so that the grain of each piece was at right angles to the piece next to it.
The whole was bound around the edges with wrought iron or bronze and the center was hollowed out on the inside for the handgrip and protected by metal bands. On the outside the surface was covered in leather, on which was fastened gilded or silvered decoration, probably in bronze. Each cohort had different color schemes aid recognition during a battle. The shields also carried the name of the soldier and that of his centurion. On the march, the shield was hung by a strap over the left shoulder.
The apron consisted of a number of leather thongs to which were riveted metal plates, and weighted with bronze. It could have been either decorative, protection for the genitals or a combination of both. The standard tunic worn over linen undergarments and underneath a legionary's armor. These were red, it is thought, so that the enemy would not be able to easily see a legionary bleed if wounded during battle.
Chain mail that was used extensively throughout Roman history and well after its fall. It provided excellent protection and flexibility, but was very heavy and time consuming to make. Plate Armor. A name translated by modern scholars, as we don't know what the Romans actually called it.
This armor was made up of many pieces of laminated iron all bound together to form a very flexible, strong and the most effective of Roman body protection. It seemingly replaced chain mail as the favored Legionary issue but due to budgeting constraints its length of service seems to have been a relatively short period of time roughly Rome's golden era in the early empire and through the late 2nd century.
Scale Armor, actually translated to Armor of Feathers. Scale armor consisted of row upon row of overlapping bronze or iron scales, which resembled a coat of feathers. Scale seemingly began to replace Plate late in the 2nd Century CE, as it was easier and less expensive to make than the other forms, but was less flexible and is often considered far less capable.
Common thought is that it was especially vulnerable from an upward stab, but this theory is highly debated. The Roman short sword. It was a double-edged weapon about 18 inches long and two inches wide, often with a corrugated bone grip formed to the Legionaries hand.
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