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Roman Legions<br />
We know much about the armour worn by legionaries from excavations, particularly the wellpreserved<br />
finds from Corbridge, once a Roman fort in the north of England. Other information<br />
comes from relief carvings on Trajan’s column.<br />
Apart from his weapons, a soldier also carried tools for digging fortifications around temporary<br />
camps. He also carried personal possessions, such as a mess tin for his food. A legionary was responsible for<br />
his weapons and if he lost them he had to pay for new ones.<br />
At the start of each year in <strong>Rome</strong> the strongest men in an approximate age range of 25–50 were selected for<br />
the army by senior military officers called Tribunes. The Praetorian Guard, a force of about 10 000 men, were<br />
special soldiers who were responsible for protecting the emperor, though at times they overthrew an emperor<br />
and replaced him.<br />
The Auxiliaries in the Roman army (who carried oval shields) were captured soldiers from conquered nations<br />
and were often used for their special skills (as archers like the Syrians, slingers from Crete, cavalry from Spain<br />
etc). However, the legionaries had to be citizens of <strong>Rome</strong> for they were the backbone of the legions and their<br />
loyalty to <strong>Rome</strong> was paramount.<br />
When not fighting, soldiers built bridges, roads and walls to keep out hostile tribes.<br />
Sometimes, when attacking walled cities or heavily armed opponents, Roman soldiers would hold their<br />
shields overlapping edge to edge over their heads and down their sides (a testudo—‘tortoise’) to deflect<br />
arrows, spears, rocks etc. fired by the enemy.<br />
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– 12 – <strong>Ancient</strong> <strong>Rome</strong> Prim-Ed Publishing www.prim-ed.com.