Daily Life of a Roman Legionary

A Roman legionary in the early Empire could expect to spend 25 years in active service, marching, fighting, building, and waiting. He would be recruited at age 18, swear a sacred oath — the sacramentum — to the emperor, train for four months, and then march with his legion for the rest of his career. His life was hard, regimented, and dangerous, but it was also one of the most honored careers in the Roman world, and it offered the possibility of Roman citizenship for those who did not have it, a steady wage, a discharge bonus, and a plot of land at the end of his service. For the broader context, see the Roman legion and Roman military tactics.

The Roman legionary was, in many ways, the perfect soldier of the ancient world. He was well trained, well equipped, well paid, and well led. The discipline of the legion was legendary, and the legions were the backbone of the Roman state for more than a thousand years. For the equipment he carried, see Roman weapons and armor.

Recruitment and the Oath

Recruitment into the legions was a formal process. The recruiter would tour the towns and villages of the recruiting district, usually a province, and select young men of the right age (18 was the formal minimum), the right height (1.72 m, or about 5’8”), and the right character. A recruit had to be a freeborn Roman citizen, although in emergencies non-citizens were also recruited.

Once selected, the recruit was taken to the legion’s camp and formally enrolled. The enrollment ceremony was called the probatio, the “proving.” The recruit was examined by a doctor, and his physical fitness, his height, his vision, and his teeth were all checked.

The most important ceremony was the sacramentum, the military oath. The sacramentum was sworn on the standards of the legion and on the genius of the emperor. The recruit promised to obey his commanders, to follow the orders of his officers, to fight bravely in battle, and to die for Rome if necessary. Breaking the sacramentum was a capital offense.

Training

The training of the Roman legionary was rigorous and continuous. The recruit was assigned to a contubernium, a tent group of eight men, who would be his companions for the next twenty-five years. The contubernium was led by a decanus, the senior legionary of the group.

The recruit spent the first four months in basic training, learning to march in step, to use his weapons, to obey orders, and to build a camp. The recruits were expected to march at the military step of about 30 Roman miles (about 44 km) in five hours, fully loaded with their equipment. The training continued throughout the legionary’s career. For the tactics, see Roman military tactics.

Diet

The diet of the Roman legionary was, by ancient standards, regular and substantial. The basic ration was the frumentum, a daily allowance of about 1 kg of wheat per day per man, plus a small amount of bacon or salt pork, of olive oil, of vinegar, and of salt. The men would grind their own wheat in hand-mills, mix it with water, and bake it into a hard, unleavened cake called panis militaris, the military bread.

In addition to the basic ration, the men would supplement their diet by hunting, fishing, foraging, and buying from the local camp followers — the merchants, sutlers, and prostitutes who followed the legion everywhere. The diet of the legionary in the early Empire was, by ancient standards, rich in protein and calories, and the Roman soldier was, on average, better fed than the average Roman civilian.

The March

The Roman legion was famous for its marching. The standard march of a legion, fully equipped, was 20 Roman miles — about 30 km — in five hours, plus an additional hour at the end to build the camp. The legionary’s kit, the sarcina, weighed about 30 kg, and included his armor, his helmet, his weapons, his rations for several days, his cooking equipment, his tent, and his entrenching tools.

The march was led by the centurions, and the column was preceded by a vanguard of cavalry and scouts. The legion’s standard, the aquila (the eagle), the signa (the standards of the maniples and cohorts), and the imagines (the portraits of the emperor) marched at the head of the column. For the wars in which the legion marched, see famous Roman battles.

Camp Building

The Roman legion was also famous for its camp-building. Every night, when the legion was on the march, it would build a fortified camp, the castra, before the men ate their supper. The camp was a square of about 600 meters on a side, surrounded by a ditch (fossa), a rampart (agger), and a palisade (vallum). The camp was laid out according to a strict pattern, with the headquarters (principia) at the center. The camp could be built in a few hours, and the discipline of the camp-building was one of the great achievements of Roman military engineering. For the camp system, see Roman forts and frontiers.

Pay and Conditions

The pay of the Roman legionary, called the stipendium, was modest. In the time of Augustus, the annual pay of a legionary was 225 denarii a year. By the time of Domitian (r. 81–96 CE), it had been raised to 300 denarii, and by the time of Septimius Severus (r. 193–211 CE), to 500 denarii. The pay was supplemented by a donativum, a gratuity paid by a new emperor on his accession, and by the praemia, the prize money from a victorious campaign.

The discharge bonus, the praemia militiae, was substantial. Augustus set it at 3,000 denarii for a legionary who had served his full 25 years; Claudius raised it to 5,000 denarii. The bonus was paid in a lump sum, and the discharged soldier also received a plot of land and a certificate of honorable discharge, a diploma.

The End of Service

The legionary who completed his 25 years of service — the emeritus, the “exhausted one” — was discharged with honor. He received his honesta missio, his honorable discharge, his bonus, his land, and his certificate. He was free to return to civilian life, although many veterans chose to continue serving as evocati, “called out” — experienced men who volunteered to serve for additional years in exchange for higher pay. The veterans were the backbone of the Roman colonial system, and the colonies of Roman citizens in the provinces, from Lugdunum (modern Lyon) to Camulodunum (modern Colchester), were populated by ex-soldiers.

The life of the Roman legionary was hard, but it was also honored. For the broader military context, see the Roman legion and Roman weapons and armor.