The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

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The Roman A rmy
this instance the fact that it is spec i f i c a lly poi n ted out indicates that it was a wort
hy and unu sual ach i evem en t . Legi on a ries from l egio IIII Flavi a and l egio V I I
C l a u d i a built Tra ja n’s road along the river Danu be by cut ting back the cl i f f f ace ,
and an inscri pti on found near the river Oron tes in Syria attests to road bu i l d i n g
by four legi on s , III Ga ll i c a , IV Scyt h i c a , VI Ferra t a , and XVI Flavi a . The inscri pti
on also attests to the pre s en ce of s o l d i ers from twen ty auxiliary units, wh i chare
not men ti on ed in building inscri pti ons as of ten as legi ons (Ca m pbell , 1 9 9 4 ) .
Each legionary fortress contained a workshop (fabrica), where the production
and repair of arms and armor was carried out. Some of the workmen attached
to the fabricae also made bricks and tiles, which was an important secti
on of a ny legi on , but the place of m a nu f actu re was som etimes at a depo t
situated a short distance from the legionary headquarters, as at Holt near the legionary
fortress of Chester in England.
The Romans em p l oyed va rious types of a rti ll ery, de s c ri bed under severa l
names in the sources, such as catapultae, scorpiones, ballistae, carroballistae, and
onagri, or categorized under the general heading of tormenta, as in Caesar’s accounts
of the Gallic War. The projectiles were arrows or bolts of different sizes,
and stones. The heavier engines were employed only in sieges, but some Roman
artillery was light enough for use in the field. In his chapter on machines, the architect
Vitruvius (On Architecture 10.10–13) includes a short section on artillery
and siege en gi n e s , giving a de s c ri pti on of h ow to con s tru ct them and the dimensions
of each section, depending on the length of the arrows or the weight
of the stone projectiles. Josephus describes the use of artillery in the sieges of
the Jewish war under Vespasian, and in the later Empire Ammianus Marcellinus
gives an account of the siege of Amida. Vegetius discusses the use of artillery in
the legions (Epitoma Rei Militaris 2.25). These descriptions combined with archaeological
finds of various sections of artillery pieces from different provinces
en a ble modern historians to make recon s tru cti ons that work very ef f i c i en t ly.
(For more on artillery see Chapter 5.)
Less is known about the soldiers who operated the machinery. Artillerymen
(ba ll i s t a ri i) are spec i f i c a lly men ti on ed in Ta rruti enu s’s list of i m mu n e s , but
there is little evidence of their numbers or how they were organized. Vegetius
indicates that eleven men from each century were allocated to the operation of
the carroballista, which fired large arrows. Marsden (1969) points out that on
Trajan’s Column, only two men are shown working with an arrow-firing machine,
but there would be other soldiers who were designated to look after the
animals and the carriage used for transport. By the middle of the first century
ad , it is prob a ble that each cen tu ry had one arti ll ery en gi n e , f i ring arrows or
stones. Goldsworthy (1996) estimates that 70 wagons and 160 animals would be
needed to carry the artillery of one legion.
The men who manu f actu red and maintained the arti ll ery pieces would proba
bly be a rch i te cti , who are men ti on ed as i m mu n e s in Ta rruti enu s’s list. The legi
on a ry work s h ops could easily produ ce and repair arti ll ery piece s , with the hel p