Introduction
Courageous soldiers were essential in Ancient Roman times as everyone felt the desire to rule over other countries. This led to war, destruction, death, and sorrow. This report will tell you what the Roman soldiers: wore, what they did in their spare time, where they lived, what they ate, the things they did to defend Rome and its people.
Clothing
Roman soldiers wore unique outfits to protect them from being killed or wounded. These outfits were only worn when the Romans when to battle, this is displayed in many wars such as the First, Second, and Third Punic. These wars show the grit and determination of Romans soldiers. They were armed with sandals, a sword, a dagger, body armor which is made from iron or bronze, wooden tunic, as their main weapon they used a javelin, shield, and a helmet that was sometimes made with steel but and was the strongest material the Roman had discovered but was usually made with iron or bronze. The Roman soldiers changed their clothing according to the season and climate. If it was winter, they would wear wool and leather. As they were Romans, they dyed leather to red and wore it underneath their metal body armor.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Diet
The Roman soldiers ate a variety of food things like fish, cold meat, vegetables, rice, wheat, barley, oats, spelled, and rye. They usually ate three times a day breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For breakfast, they would enjoy some bread or wheat pancakes with honey or dates. For lunch a plate of cold meat, fish, vegetables, and bread. For dinner, they would the same as lunch or leftover from lunch or dinner from the day before. To preserve their food, soldiers were given a ration of salt, making sure their food doesn’t go off. Desserts were things like fruit and cheese from animals such as cows, sheep, and goats. To be more specific apples and grapes were very widespread. For a beverage would have very cheap wine which was very diluted and was drank like water this was called Posca. Roman soldiers depended on their food to keep them strong as they ate around 6,000 calories a day.
Housing
Roman soldiers lived in the barracks of the camp if at war. It would normally be a wooden building in the middle of the camp. If they were on the moving it would be a tent. Inside the city of Rome, they lived in a fort. They slept in bunk beds with eight soldiers in each room. It was usually made of bricks and had huge walls around it. It consisted of a stable, granary, baths, barracks, a bakery, and a praetorium which is a building made for the general and is where meetings are held. It also had a huge courtyard for training for marching and of course, fighting
Job
Roman soldiers had many different jobs and ranks in Rome a Lactarius was a military camp clerk, an editor is a camp clerk assistant, a generator military musician, an aquifer is the bearer of the legionary eagle which stood at the front of each legionary, the architect is an engineer or artillery constructor. The Roman army was normally constructed in legions that have around 5000 men and is then divided into cohorts with around 500 men and is also subdivided into, centurions with around 80-100 men with a centurion that had a special helmet, leading each centurion. Roman soldiers didn’t get paid for their duties to fight for Rome. They were chosen by the Roman government without consent to serve for 10-20 years, but most Roman men wanted to be a soldier. Being a soldier was a dangerous job so, people demanded to serve less time in the army.
Entertainment
Roman soldiers cherished their spare time as they didn’t get much time off to have some fun. They would watch gladiatorial fights these can be with men, lions, slaves, and prisoners, and do bets with a die. They also loved hunting and fishing food and just for leisure. Sometimes roman soldiers would watch plays or musicals to relax. If soldiers wanted more physical recreation, they would do things like jumping, wrestling, boxing, swimming, and throwing. Swimming was one of the most popular sports and was openly practiced in the Tiber River. Running was also very popular for soldiers as it boosted endurance and speed and was done in Campus Martius.
Stuck on your essay?
