The everyday life of a soldier

[stratigos vasilios]

Would you think the Romans would have fed their men better than the Greeks? or vice versa? I'm guessing not a substantial amount was issued to each man anyways.

[Duguntz]

I guess it was depending very much on the harvest of the year... rich harvest = more food for taxes and offering, and more left for army purpuse... poor harvest = tight belts... It's my opinion, though i could be wrong. were the rations rationalised to a fix portion per soldiers no matter what?

[stratigos vasilios]

Would cavalrymen have walked alongside their cavalry to give the horses a break every now and then, or just ridden them the entire march? Who knows, cavalrymen could swap with one another to conserve energy too ;-)

[Duguntz]

Each cavalry man had with him more than one horse, so I guess he was riding all the time, while one of his horase was resting... kind of :)

[stratigos vasilios]

What did they eat?/What were they fed? (The men not the horses ;-P).

[Duguntz]

Oats, barley... in some kind of pudding (as I try to think what would have been the easier to transport) they would have goats in the following caravan, for milk and meat. This is at home, and when in ennemy territory, of whatever they could find, as rarely would they send for more provision. as Sun Tsu said : one peck (of provision) from the ennemy is worth 20 pecks from home (as the animals that would be used to bring the food and provision up to the front would also have to be feed during the way, so it would take 20 "unit" of barley in oprder to bring one to the front)...

[QuintusSertorius]

Would you think the Romans would have fed their men better than the Greeks? or vice versa? I'm guessing not a substantial amount was issued to each man anyways.

I think their commissary and supply arrangements were better. They took that sort of thing more seriously.