Legionary Rations

[LEG X EQ]

I read somewhere that they would not eat meat, it was considered "barbaric" to eat meat, and it was consicered punishment to have to eat meat (I find that slightly hard to believe, but it's entirely possible)

 

http://www.hadrians.com/rome/romans/food/roman_dinner.html

 

This link states that the Patricians and wealthier Plebs, ate alot of Meat. Romans in general ate alot of Pork and Lamb.(mentioned alot of times in texts from Apicius cook book)

 

And lets not forget Beer, Beer originated from Babylon and the first Brewers were egyptians. It than swept to greek islands and than to Magna Grecia, were the Romans took it over after they conquered it. Roman Legions brought beer "Cervisia" to the barbarians. Before, the Germanics, drank a differrent alcoholic beverage: MET , which was of Honey, Water and Yeast. so alcohol was a very important part of the Legions, because especially beer is considered a liquid type of food. The German Monks, in the winters of the middle ages, drank alot of strong beer to gain nutritions. Because of its high calories, it was an optimal replacement against food shortage. So beer and alcohol was a vital part for the Roman Legions. I am not quiet sure about the General Roman Soldier Diet in terms of food, but could it be that it was similar to the Diet, the Gladiators had?

Because gladiators had an optimal diet.

[Pertinax]

One item to note from Cruse's "Roman Medicine" was the excellent condition of teeth in skeletal remains dated to Roman Britain. The teeth were in general more worn down than our "modern" dentition because of the "puls" diet-ie: good mastication was reguired to grind down the hulls of dense cereals and a vegetable based diet, however the teeth were also in much better general condition than modern teeth. No sugar, no trash carbs , no apparent gingival infections( hinting at good cardio health from appropriate exertion),and some excellent dental repair work .Thes finds were from areas adjacent to legionnary concentrations ,so we must give some credence to the idea of a beneficial (if plain) diet and outdoor lifestyle.

 

and remembering -life expectancy in the Legion was longer than civilian life expectancy

Edited December 22, 2005 by Pertinax

[M. Porcius Cato]

While we're on the topic, I've often heard that legionnaries were paid in salt and that the English word 'salary' derives from this widespread practice, yet I've never come across any literary evidence that this was the normal way to pay soldiers (not that I was looking very hard). I can't imagine salt would be the preferred currency, not that it wouldn't do in a pinch (so to speak...)

[Pertinax]

While we're on the topic, I've often heard that legionnaries were paid in salt and that the English word 'salary' derives from this widespread practice, yet I've never come across any literary evidence that this was the normal way to pay soldiers (not that I was looking very hard). I can't imagine salt would be the preferred currency, not that it wouldn't do in a pinch (so to speak...)

central to this is the essential nature of salt as a presevative of foods in the abscence of refrigeration.Salting pork and fish gives you a staple to carry into lean winter moths.Apart from this the issue of flavouring is obvious-if as weve conjectured elsewhere the Romans invented haggis as a ration "ball" salt would of necessity be added. If Mr Dalby is about I suspect he will have the information to hand.I presume that perhaps the "payment" was more of a "housekeeping neccesity" ?

Edited December 22, 2005 by Pertinax

[Primus Pilus]

The beer discussion deserved its own thread so I moved it here... Ancient Beer

[Tobias]

A little bit of information i thought i'd add; When Caesar was campaigning in Greece against Pompey, (around about the time of Dyrrachium I believe) his legion's staple rations were quite an interesting invention; It was called "bread", although apparently they resembled "slimy grey bricks of a fibrous, gluey substance." It was made of the roots of a local plant (called Chara i believe, or something along those lines), crushed, mixed with milk and baked, and apparently tasted rather...horrifying

Apparently, Caesar's soldiers slung this bread at Pompey's soldiers. When Pompey received word of what Caesar's legions were subsisting on, he kept the information from his soldiers, as he feared that if his soldiers found out what Caesar's soldiers were prepared to eat to beat them, it would have a demoralizing effect.

A bit of food for thought..........

Edited December 22, 2005 by Tobias

[Andrew Dalby]

What were the typical rations given to a Republican legionary while on campaign?

 

I'm rather suprised no one's mentioned cornmeal as the basic staple of the Republican legions. JC certainly hints to this in his works when he describes over and over again the importance of gathering corn for the legions. This cornmeal is basically a type of thick yellow grits called pulmentum and is still found today on the tables of Italian families called polenta. It's very versatile and you can add whatever else is available to eat with it. It's hearty peasant food that's not changed much over twenty-five hundred years and if you've never eaten it pick up some. Along with pasta I grew up on the stuff.

 

 

 

Sorry I've been away -- travelling -- and haven't seen this topic till now. I might add something on salt in a while. Meanwhile, I have a problem with Virgil61's cornmeal. To US speakers (I think Virgil may be one) corn means 'Indian corn' or 'maize', and that's what modern Italians make their polenta from and what Americans get their grits from. But Romans didn't, because corn = maize was domesticated in North America.

 

There is a polenta to be found in Latin texts, but it's a solid porridgy stuff made from barley, not corn. Any references in modern writings to corn in the Roman diet mean 'corn' as the British understand it, i.e. wheat or wheat/barley.

 

I recently, to my great pleasure, found a 16th century Italian text (Matthioli's commentary on Dioscorides) which tells me, as a piece of hot news, that the people in the Veneto have started making their polenta out of granturco, i.e. 'Turkish grain', i.e. Indian corn = maize. This is in roughly 1570.

[Andrew Dalby]

A little bit of information i thought i'd add; When Caesar was campaigning in Greece against Pompey, (around about the time of Dyrrachium I believe) his legion's staple rations were quite an interesting invention; It was called "bread", although apparently they resembled "slimy grey bricks of a fibrous, gluey substance." It was made of the roots of a local plant (called Chara i believe, or something along those lines), crushed, mixed with milk and baked, and apparently tasted rather...horrifying

Apparently, Caesar's soldiers slung this bread at Pompey's soldiers. When Pompey received word of what Caesar's legions were subsisting on, he kept the information from his soldiers, as he feared that if his soldiers found out what Caesar's soldiers were prepared to eat to beat them, it would have a demoralizing effect.

A bit of food for thought..........

 

A very interesting episode. I query the 'grey' (not sure if there's a Latin word for grey) but that bread must have been pretty unpleasant stuff. The plant is usually guessed to be an Arum, of which the root is poisonous unless thoroughly cooked (resembles yam in fact), so if you're going to try making the stuff, tread carefully!

 

The sources are Suetonius, Plutarch and Pliny the Elder. The differences between what they say are interesting, as I tried to explain in my paper 'Dining with the Caesars' at an Oxford Food Symposium about 2 years ago ... I'm about to look back at the paper to see if I still agree with myself, always an interesting exercise.

 

 

While we're on the topic, I've often heard that legionnaries were paid in salt and that the English word 'salary' derives from this widespread practice, yet I've never come across any literary evidence that this was the normal way to pay soldiers (not that I was looking very hard). I can't imagine salt would be the preferred currency, not that it wouldn't do in a pinch (so to speak...)

central to this is the essential nature of salt as a presevative of foods in the abscence of refrigeration.Salting pork and fish gives you a staple to carry into lean winter moths.Apart from this the issue of flavouring is obvious-if as weve conjectured elsewhere the Romans invented haggis as a ration "ball" salt would of necessity be added. If Mr Dalby is about I suspect he will have the information to hand.I presume that perhaps the "payment" was more of a "housekeeping neccesity" ?

 

Don't want to hog the forum (pun?) and in my wanderings I haven't much info to hand. Salarium definitely means 'salt-payment' literally, and I think it's Pliny who says that soldiers were once paid this way. They weren't in real historic times, surely? Legionaries were paid in money, making them maybe the first professional army in the world (? discuss, or maybe it already has been). But the importance of salt, especially in early times, is massive, as Pertinax says -- hence also the name of the Via Salaria approaching Rome from the north, the route by which salt was brought to Rome. It is also a dietary essential: we are being told to cut down (because of the excess of salt in certain processed foods) but the worm will turn and we will soon be reminded again that we need salt to keep healthy!

[Severus]

I'm rather suprised no one's mentioned cornmeal as the basic staple of the Republican legions. JC certainly hints to this in his works when he describes over and over again the importance of gathering corn for the legions. This cornmeal is basically a type of thick yellow grits called pulmentum and is still found today on the tables of Italian families called polenta. It's very versatile and you can add whatever else is available to eat with it. It's hearty peasant food that's not changed much over twenty-five hundred years and if you've never eaten it pick up some. Along with pasta I grew up on the stuff.

 

 

I guess I am confused by this reference to "corn". Corn, as we Americans know it, is yellow stuff that grows on a cob and originated in MesoAmerica and didn't reach Europe until after Columbus' "discovery"

 

What the heck are the Romans referring to when they say corn in ancient texts? I have always assumed that it was some kind of cereal or grain. However Virgil61's postulation that it is the same as polenta (which is made from cornmeal?) So I guess my question is.

 

1. What exactly was the Roman "corn" as it is not the "corn" people state-side think of.

 

2. What is polenta made from?

 

 

Matt

[Favonius Cornelius]

I'm rather suprised no one's mentioned cornmeal as the basic staple of the Republican legions. JC certainly hints to this in his works when he describes over and over again the importance of gathering corn for the legions. This cornmeal is basically a type of thick yellow grits called pulmentum and is still found today on the tables of Italian families called polenta. It's very versatile and you can add whatever else is available to eat with it. It's hearty peasant food that's not changed much over twenty-five hundred years and if you've never eaten it pick up some. Along with pasta I grew up on the stuff.

 

 

I guess I am confused by this reference to "corn". Corn, as we Americans know it, is yellow stuff that grows on a cob and originated in MesoAmerica and didn't reach Europe until after Columbus' "discovery"

 

What the heck are the Romans referring to when they say corn in ancient texts? I have always assumed that it was some kind of cereal or grain. However Virgil61's postulation that it is the same as polenta (which is made from cornmeal?) So I guess my question is.

 

1. What exactly was the Roman "corn" as it is not the "corn" people state-side think of.

 

2. What is polenta made from?

 

 

Matt

 

 

Andrew Dalby: Sorry I've been away -- travelling -- and haven't seen this topic till now. I might add something on salt in a while. Meanwhile, I have a problem with Virgil61's cornmeal. To US speakers (I think Virgil may be one) corn means 'Indian corn' or 'maize', and that's what modern Italians make their polenta from and what Americans get their grits from. But Romans didn't, because corn = maize was domesticated in North America.

 

There is a polenta to be found in Latin texts, but it's a solid porridgy stuff made from barley, not corn. Any references in modern writings to corn in the Roman diet mean 'corn' as the British understand it, i.e. wheat or wheat/barley.

 

I recently, to my great pleasure, found a 16th century Italian text (Matthioli's commentary on Dioscorides) which tells me, as a piece of hot news, that the people in the Veneto have started making their polenta out of granturco, i.e. 'Turkish grain', i.e. Indian corn = maize. This is in roughly 1570

Edited December 23, 2005 by Favonius Cornelius

[Pertinax]

Andrew-Arum is in my "Roman herbal " gallery-certain of its properties have made the picture an unexpectedly popular one .The stuff is very starchy and needs thorough preparation as you said indeed its seriously tricky-the nearer you got to Egypt the more poisinous the root tended to become. There are quite a lot of notes attached to the picture and in the blog.

Edited December 23, 2005 by Pertinax

[Andrew Dalby]

Andrew-Arum is in my "Roman herbal " gallery-certain of its properties have made the picture an unexpectedly popular one .The stuff is very starchy and needs thorough preparation as you said indeed its seriously tricky-the nearer you got to Egypt the more poisinous the root tended to become. There are quite a lot of notes attached to the picture and in the blog.

 

Thanks, Pertinax -- I should have checked, but I'm limited in my browsing at present. This Internet link costs my beloved mother-in-law serious money (a local call, that is)

[Pertinax]

No criticism intended! Just pointing to a side note.

Edited December 23, 2005 by Pertinax

[Virgil61]

Sorry I've been away -- travelling -- and haven't seen this topic till now. I might add something on salt in a while. Meanwhile, I have a problem with Virgil61's cornmeal. To US speakers (I think Virgil may be one) corn means 'Indian corn' or 'maize', and that's what modern Italians make their polenta from and what Americans get their grits from. But Romans didn't, because corn = maize was domesticated in North America.

 

There is a polenta to be found in Latin texts, but it's a solid porridgy stuff made from barley, not corn. Any references in modern writings to corn in the Roman diet mean 'corn' as the British understand it, i.e. wheat or wheat/barley.

 

I recently, to my great pleasure, found a 16th century Italian text (Matthioli's commentary on Dioscorides) which tells me, as a piece of hot news, that the people in the Veneto have started making their polenta out of granturco, i.e. 'Turkish grain', i.e. Indian corn = maize. This is in roughly 1570.

 

Thanks for correcting me, I was wrong and forgot my own American history--Squanto and all that.

 

You're right, I've been reading Brit translations, Penguin variety and somewhere along the way I'd let that one slip mentally. The polenta the Italians made until the intro to maize was different of course using wheat or oats or probably any cereal. The basic production and consistancy is similar.

 

Edit: I am pleading hunger. After thinking of polenta I bought a three-cheese polenta packet, made some marinara sauce and Italian sausage.

Edited December 23, 2005 by Virgil61

[M. Porcius Cato]

Relevant to the protein discussion: Caesar's Gallic Wars (hat tip to Germanicus) mention that the troops ate lentils, a cup of which contains 18 g of protein. Presumably this was sufficient to keep the troops strong if not the very image of the muscle-bound gladiator.

 

Thanks to all for your very enlightening comments.

Edited December 24, 2005 by M. Porcius Cato