The Life And Times Of The Typical Roman Legionaire Essay, Research Paper

The life of a typical Roman Legionaire

was a hard one. The combination of brutal training, discipline and organization,

and long forced marches with many pounds of equipment all contributed to

this, but because of these, the Roman Legions were a force to be reckoned

with in the ancient world. The purpose of this website is to demonstrate

that though the life of a Legionaire was a tough one, it is because of

this that the Roman Empire was so succesful. This website will describe

the hardships of training, discipline and organization, and the marches

that contributed to the hard life of a legionaire.

The brutal training of the Roman Legionaire

was tough, but very neccesary in order to make the lethal war machine of

the Empire function properly. First of all, to even become eligible for

the army, you had to be a 5′8″ Roman citizen, you could be another nationality

but you would be classified as an auxilliary, and you had to be in good

health. You would then be rigorously trained by the Centurions whom you

would fear worse than the enemy, for they would be swift and brutal with

punishments. Forced marches while in precise formation and carrying all

your equipment and armour would all be part of a normal day. You would

be expected to be able to swim with and without your armour on, and be

able to march for 20 miles with 60-80 lbs of equipment without breaking

formation. The soldiers were trained relentlessly in fighting in formation

with different types of weapons, and also single combat. The standard drill

involved using a sword against a post embedded in the ground, or against

a real opponent, over and over again so a soldier could learn where to

hit, and to hit that point accurately. The Armatura, or Gladiatorial drill,

was also used to allow to equally, or otherwise, matched opponents to spar

against each other. All this training lead to the final orginization of

the legion.

The training, coupled with the orginization

and discipline of the legionaires made them the premiere fighting force

of the ancient world. The Roman army was divided up into ranks, much like

a modern military is today, which allowed a great amount of control to

be used in a tough battle situation. A new soldier accepted into the army

was given the rank of hastati and was assigned to a contubernium, the smallest

unit in the Roman army, which was comprised of 8 men, a tent and an ass.

The hastati were the front lines in battle, so high death rates were to

be expected, but these were much less than that of the other armies the

legions fought, due to the training the hastati got before battle. The

next rank, principe, was given to the soldier who had survived 2 or more

battles, and was deemed worthy by his Centurion, and these soldiers comprised

the second rank. The job of the principe was to make sure that the formation

stayed together, and to deal swift punishment by means of death if any

hastati broke ranks and began to run away. The final rank given to a mile

(ordinary soldiers) was that of triarii, or the most vetran soldier of

the unit. This rank was obtained through sheer determination and skill

displayed on the battlefield, and was often the highest rank awarded to

a soldier not of noble blood. The job of the triarii was the same as the

principe, but was also to keep the principes from running and to help fend

off flanking and rear attacks. Because they were the most battle hardened

troops, triarii could enforce punishments given by the centurion of the

unit, and to punish anyone who did not follow orders. The rank given to

soldiers of noble blood, or to triarii who had proven themselves, was the

rank of Centurion. The Centurion was the commander of a unit, similar to

a Battalion Commander in modern day militaries. They had the job of not

only fighting alongside his men, but also dealing punishments, such as

decimation, where one soldier out of ten was selected for the wrongdoings

of another, and the other nine soldiers would stone the luckless soldier

to death. If a Centurion was found worthy, he might even be promoted to

general, but the common Centurion had no hope of this. The Centurion was

also in charge of making sure that all his mens’ equipment and armour was

ready to go for the next march out of camp.

The men of a Roman Legion were the best

equipped soldiers in the world – being well protected but still possessing

considerable freedom of movement. Their equipment was heavy, but lighter

than the rest of the armies at the time. This allowed the Romans to march

up to 20 miles a day in full armour, and still set up a large fortification

at night when they stopped to make camp. Overall about 70% of a legionnaire’s

naked flesh was covered by armour, mostly being a type of banded armour

called lorica segmentata, but mobility was seen as the best defense, so

the armour was kept quite light, allowing a large amout of movement in

quite rigid armour. The legionaires also carried a heavy body shield, called

a suctus, which tended to weigh about 20 lbs, but offered a large amount

of defense. The legionaires also had a helmet, usually in the Etrusco-Corinthian

style made popular by Hollywood, which despite its’ looks, kept the heads

of the legionaires quite cool. Finally, the legionaires carried 2 types

of swords and a spear. The swords were the pugio, which is a short dagger

that allows small thrusts into the abdomen of an enemy, or was used as

an utility knife. The Gladius Hispaniensis, or Spanish Sword, was the legionaires

main weapon of destruction. It was used mainly as a jabbing and piercing

weapon that could be used behind the relative safety of a shield. The legionaires

were also issued a spear, called a pila. This spear, or javelin if it was

thrown, was used to keep enemies at bay, and also as a missile weapon to

wreak havoc among the ranks of their enemies. When thrown or jabbed into

a shield, the pila would bend near the tip of the spear, and make it useless

to throw back, and also would weigh down the shield of the enemy, who would

most likely discard the now usless sheild. The legionaires would also carry

a turf cutter and a stake, which would be used to set up camp after a march.

All of these items, when combined with the armour weigh in at about 70

lbs, which is quite a load to carry. All this equipment was required to

be carried by the legionaire for long marches, which could range from 10

miles up to 20 miles in a day, and then the legionaires would set up camp,

which included making a fort that would offer some protection if the Romans

were attacked at night. Thus, it is easy to see that the marches weren’t

ment for the lazy or the faint of heart.

In conclusion, it is easy to see that

the life of the legionaire was a tough one, it was needed to gain territory

and glory for the Empire. The training of the legionaire was essential

for orginization and discipline, to allow the Legions to be formidible

in combat. The orginization and disipline was essential for the long marches

with heavy equipment, and the setting up of camp, to run smoothly. Moreover,

had the Romans not been so strict about their military, they would never

have come out of the obscurity that shrouded them before their rise to

power, and thus would not be the potent symbol of military strength that

we recognize them to be today.