The
Roman Army
The Romans were able to
expand their empire because of the strength of the Roman Army. It was the
first paid full time professional army in the world.
The Army was divided into
legions of about 5,000 men. Each legion had its own number
it might be called Victorius or Lightning".
Each legion was divided
into 10 cohorts.
Each cohort was divided
into 6 centuries.
Each century was divided
into 10 groups of 8 men who marched, fought, worked and camped together.
The century was commanded
by a Centurion who carried a vine stick, and had its own
standard or badge carried by a Signifer.
Uniforms and Equipment
The Roman soldiers
wore leather sandals on their feet. They also carried a sword (a gladius),
a shield, 2 javelins and a dagger for close fighting.
A group of soldiers
sometimes joined together by making a tortoise shape with their shields.
They wore a
wool tunic and leather breeches around their legs and they wore shoulderplates
to shield their shoulders.
A roman shield (scutum)
was curved to fit around the body and their helmet was made of bronze to
protect their heads.
Training
Legionaries were very fit.
They trained by running, chopping down trees and doing obstacle courses.
Every month they had to do an 18 mile route march with 60 pounds of equipment
and armour and weapons to carry. They also did drill and weapons training.
Discipline
Centurions were in charge
of discipline. they carried a stick of very hard wood and they used it
to beat their soldiers. They used to punish even small things with extra
duties, flogging or a fine. the men earned 2 1/2 pence a day.
Serious criminals who
did things like mutiny were punished by decimation. the centurion walked
along the lines of soldiers touching every tenth man who was killed sometimes
by stoning.
Forts
Hadrian's Wall had 17 forts. Each
one held between 500 and 1000 troops. 
Each fort had a selection of buildings.
Soldiers lived in barrack blocks. Eight men had to share two small rooms.
one was used for sleeping and the other for keeping things and for cooking
food.
At the middle of each fort was a headquarters
(H.Q.) building. It had offices were people worked and had a strongroom
to keep money in. A lot of the time this was kept under the ground.
Latrines (toilet blocks) were built
for the soldiers. They were usually near an outside wall and had underground
drains to carry the sewage away.
There was a hospital for sick and wounded
soldiers. Enough grain to last a whole year was kept in the granary.
Bath houses were built outside the forts
for the soldiers to bathe and relax. The water was heated from under the
floor. They covered themselves in hot oil then scraped themselves clean
using strigils (scrapers).
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