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

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The Roman A rmy
usually denoted by an entry saying “to the barley” (ad hordeum) or equivalent
abbreviations (Fink, 1971). Although its main purpose was feed for the horses,
the soldiers did eat it when necessary, and it was used as a punishment ration.
According to Vegetius (Ep i toma Rei Mi l i t a ri s 1 . 1 3 ) , rec ruits who did not perform
well were issued barley rations until they could demonstrate their proficiency
before their senior officers. It used to be thought that cereals formed the
main part of the military diet, but the soldiers ate meat whenever they could.
Part of the standard military fare was fresh or salted pork, and sausages, ham,
and bacon were also eaten . Ot h er ra ti ons would inclu de pe a s , be a n s , l en ti l s ,
cheese, salt, olive oil, and wine (Davies, 1971; Roth, 1999).
Food was stored inside the forts in specially constructed granaries, usually
sited next to the principia or headquarters building. The stone-built granaries
are usually immediately recognizable from their ground plans. The walls were
reinforced by evenly spaced buttresses, and the floors were usually raised on pillars,
to facilitate the circulation of air, and to prevent rats and mice from entering.
It is not known whether the grain and other produce was stored in bins, or
in sacks stacked up or laid on shelves. There was probably a particular day when
grain ra ti ons were given out to each co n tu bern i u m , as both Livy (23.2.2) and
Caesar (Gallic War 1.16.5; 6.33.4) refer to distribution days for rations, but this
may only concern an army on campaign.
In the later Empire, payments to the army were made partly or wholly in rations,
under a system that is not fully understood, known as the annona militaris
(Develin, 1971). Some scholars suggest that this could have begun as early
as the reign of Trajan (Le Bohec, 1994). A large part of the food supply of Rome
was levied as a tax in kind administered by an equestrian with the title Praefectus
Annonae, so it is possible that the system was extended or diverted to feed
the army, but this remains hypothetical.
Under the heading of supplies, an ever-present need of any army is for water
and for fuel. The water supply of several forts has been studied in Britain and
Germany, where storage tanks, extensive lead piping, and sophisticated bathing
establishments are well known. On campaign, lack of an adequate water supply
could shift the balance between success and failure, especially for cavalry operations.
Fuel consumption in a Roman fort or fortress would have been vast. Caesar
regarded shortage of wood for campfires as seriously as shortage of food itself.
In the case of the Roman Imperial army, huge amounts of timber would have
been needed for coo k i n g, for cen tral heating in of f i cers’ houses and in som e
headquarters buildings, and most of all for heating the baths that were attached
to all forts. The Romans distinguished between timber for building and wood
for fuel (lignum), and foraging for fuel was termed lignari (Roth, 1999). The papryus
records of cohors XX Palmyrenorum at Dura-Europos in Syria show that
in the early third century Zebidas, son of Barneus, from the century of Nigri-