Life of a roman Soldier

**Darius** · 08-24-2010, 02:28

I actually remember watching this one documentary on the History Channel and they had this one letter from some Roman soldier's on sentinel duty somewhere out on the northern frontier and the basic gist of the letter was that they were out of beer (or ale or something) and were sending men to the nearest settlement to get more. I about died laughing when I heard that.

**Foot** · 08-24-2010, 12:04

Originally Posted by Darius

I actually remember watching this one documentary on the History Channel and they had this one letter from some Roman soldier's on sentinel duty somewhere out on the northern frontier and the basic gist of the letter was that they were out of beer (or ale or something) and were sending men to the nearest settlement to get more. I about died laughing when I heard that.

That's probably the Vindolanda letters, which are beautiful to see. Lots of amazing stuff have been recorded and the fact that they survived is amazing.

Foot

**SlickNicaG69** · 08-29-2010, 07:33

All you have to do, Gazius, is look at the present day and adapt the present conditions to those that existed back then.

If you do so correctly, you will have realized that life as a soldier for Rome was not much different as it is now; to some even better, rather than worse - where today are you allowed to keep wives in your outpost?

Most soldiers were on garrisoned outposts near the frontiers. They were the dominant class to a host of subject peoples (provincials). They were regularly maintained and cared for, within appropriateness and ability, and constantly forced to training and exercise. These things were the reason for Rome's greatness. Not to say it wasn't hard - when is it ever easy to be a soldier?! But, if you compare it with any other army aside from the present age, which other common soldier ever had the hope of living a life so privileged and unique?

**Megas Methuselah** · 08-29-2010, 07:36

Were they punished for having fun with the numerous local women?

**SlickNicaG69** · 08-31-2010, 13:18

Never for having mere fun Methuselah...

**Andy1984** · 09-02-2010, 03:46

@MM: The US-base at Okinawa is pretty much what you're looking for. Even rapists are - at best - 'transferred' to another military base. I can't imagine these kind of things would be accepted during the EB-timeframe. You may find clues about it in sources about Bouaddica. From my own lecture (De Germania) it seems extremely unlikely any German tribe would have accepted rapists by Roman military forces, as adultery was punished quite excessivly by ritual flogging and banishment. Moreover, sexuality was ritualized heavily (despite frequent mentions of adultery between Germans by Tacitus). Women were given weapons at their very marriage, which symbolized the fate they shared with their husbands: if he died in battle, she'd either have to kill herself, or fight. I'm not saying German or other women couldn't be raped in these wars - as they quite often were - but rather that rape or sexual crimes would make peacekeeping a hard task. To me, this implies that Roman officers who didn't prevent/punish rape, adultery with married women or any other sexual crime, would have a hard time keeping the locals in check, and therefore have a strong incentive not to allow these.

kind regards,

Andy

**Blxz** · 09-02-2010, 06:00

"At best, transferred". So at worst it would be more severe punishment?

I love stats though and it is interesting how the number of rapes in Japan rises proportionately to the number of foreigners in the area. Although there is also a good chance that only foreign rapes are reported, or that they are attributed to foreigners instead of a local man.