Army food

[Sofokles-]

This might be a stupid question but I have searched all the over the internet and dublechecked all my books (included "The Complete Roman Army") but i can't just find the answer I seeking for.

I know that the soldiers ransons for mostly was transported on the wagons in the back when they were on campaign but how much did they have on themself? I mean, how long could a legionere survive alone, without any support from his suroundings?

 

I'm especially interested about the republican army and before Marius did his reforms.

[caldrail]

Firstly legions did not ordinarily employ wagons for carrying individual rations or gear. It is true that a mule might well be allocated to an eight-man group, or perhaps another if they could find and liberate it from its owner, but those animals were for the most part used to carry large heavyweight items like the leather tents.

 

'Brothers' did not carry rations as such. Instead, they would be issued a measure of grain with which to make bread, porridge, or perhaps even a crude pasta. Anything else in their diet was supplemented by foraging from the locals as armies always indulge themselves.

 

As to how long a soldier could survive without support is hard to say as much depends on whether he had received his issue or not. Support from his surroundings is probably an essential long term requirement and after a few days I suspect the average legionary would be reaching the point of not caring too much where he got his next meal.

 

As a rule, people in the wilderness can weaken very quickly unless they keep themselves properly fed and watered, especially if undertaking hard exercise. It is true however that armies can persist for suprisingly long times out of sheer bloody minded determination if nothing else. I do note the story of Hannibal crossing the Alps. Reaching the end of their tether, his senior commanders discussed the hunger they were all suffering en route and one told Hannibal that before long they would have to become cannibals and learn to like it, a suggestion the disgusted general immediately dismissed.

[Maty]

How much food an individual legionary carried depended on where he was campaigning and what conditions he faced. (For example in some areas the amount of food would be limited because of the amount of water that a legionary needed to carry too. ) On other occasions the commander might help the men by parking his legionary camp right in the middle of an enemy cornfield. Excavations of field camps indicate that legionaries scavenged anything edible from the surrounding area (e.g. well-gnawed vole bones), and in an emergency Caesar's legionaries once experimented with making bread from grass.

 

Legionaries apparently also carried a type of hard tack biscuit which could keep them going for a while if necessary, and every legion had a squad of expert hunters charged with bringing in extra grub. Overall, there are relatively few accounts of troops in the field suffering from hunger. This is mainly because the legions had good supply trains (attacking supply trains was a constant endeavor of enemy commanders who could not fight the legions directly) and because the army was very good at living off the land.

[caldrail]

Agreed, but bear in mind the Roman mindset - hunger would have to pretty bad - exceptional even - for the writers to mention it for no other reason than these men were legionaries and thus not wimps, and surely no citizen soldier would complain about a little hardship whilst defending Rome? Also, would a consul report his men as suffering at his own incompetence? It's his report that gets read in the senate - not that of the soldiers.

 

We're also used to hearing about mutinies. Now I agree that was mostly the imperial period but I don't believe the majority of those were spurred on by grass roots politics. Soldiers aren't like that. They become survivalists of a sort very quickly because that's the regime they live in. They have much more personal and practical reasons to spur them on.

[Sofokles-]

Thanks alot for your answers! I think I understand a little bit more now than before. I have always thougt that each legionere hade like a "survival-pack" on them for hard times but that might just have been my ignorence. I am aware about the hard-tack-biscuit and the fact that in some regions they also hade bacon and sour wine.

 

Well, once again thanks alot for your answers!

[Maty]

We're also used to hearing about mutinies. Now I agree that was mostly the imperial period but I don't believe the majority of those were spurred on by grass roots politics. Soldiers aren't like that. They become survivalists of a sort very quickly because that's the regime they live in. They have much more personal and practical reasons to spur them on.

 

That might make for an interesting thread - how, why and how often did Roman legionaries mutiny?

[Sofokles-]

We're also used to hearing about mutinies. Now I agree that was mostly the imperial period but I don't believe the majority of those were spurred on by grass roots politics. Soldiers aren't like that. They become survivalists of a sort very quickly because that's the regime they live in. They have much more personal and practical reasons to spur them on.

 

That might make for an interesting thread - how, why and how often did Roman legionaries mutiny?

 

 

Yes. Totaly agree on that one. In many books i've read it's often mention how close it was to mutiny and how a general or outsend from Rome succeded to "cool" the legioneres down. But it's not often I've comed over situations when it's accutaly has happend.