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

The Roman A rmy at Wa r 193
Tem pora ry camps of the Im perial peri od were usu a lly more rect a n g u l a r, wi t h
ro u n ded corn ers like perm a n ent fort s . A ditch su rro u n ded the peri m eter, a n d
the soil from the ditch was thrown inw a rdto cre a te the ra m p a rt . Th ere may have
been a palisade on top of the ra m p a rt form ed from the stakes that the soldiers
c a rri ed , c a ll ed va ll i in some sources and/or pila mu ra l i a . According to Liv y, t h e
s o l d i ers of Scipio Aem i l i a nu s’s army at Nu m a n tia each carri ed seven va ll i . Bo t h
Vegetius (Ep i toma Rei Mi l i t a ri s 1 . 2 4 ; 3.8) and Hygi nus (De Met a tione Castro ru m
48) refer to stakes as part of the defen s e s . The functi on of the sharpen ed stake s
with an inden ted hand gri p, l a bel ed pila mu ra l i a , is deb a ted . If these stakes were
p l aced indivi du a lly into the earth of the ra m p a rt , t h ey would not cre a te mu ch of
an ob s t acl e , even if t h ey were bound toget h er. If t h ey were com bi n ed in gro u p s
of t h ree or more , h owever, t h ey could be used to make large caltrop s , s om ewh a t
l i ke the antitank be ach defenses of World War II (Gill iver, 2 0 0 0 ) .
Inside the temporary camp, the road that ran around the perimeter was usually
wide enough to keep the rows of tents out of range of projectiles thrown
over the walls. This road also provided a space in which to form up the army if
it had to march out to engage in battle immediately. It has been estimated that it
would take two to three hours to erect the camp, but there are many impondera
bl e s , su ch as the ava i l a ble manpower and the type of e a rth that the soldiers
were expected to dig. The British army field manuals for World War I give different
estimates for trench digging and the construction of earthwork defenses,
depending on the nature of the soils. Another factor that might affect the time
taken to erect a camp is whether or not the army was under attack at the time of
digging in. Examples are known where this did happen, and part of the army
drew up in battle formation and shielded the workers. It is suggested that the
first two lines of the triplex acies battle formation protected the men of the third
line, who did all the digging (Gilliver, 2000), but in reality this was probably not
a prescribed formation to be adopted at all times, and the method of defense
was probably much more haphazard and flexible. Vegetius (Epitoma Rei Militaris
1.25; 3.8) says that all the cavalry and part of the infantry should be drawn
up in battle lines to protect those building the camp.
Protection of the gateways would always be a problem without solid wooden
doors , and apart from mounting a guard the Romans usu a lly dug a stra i gh t
ditch and bank (titulum) opposite the opening but unconnected to the rampart.
Alternatively, they placed a curved ditch and bank (clavicula) running directly
from the camp wall outward and around the gateway like a protective arm, positioned
so that any attackers had to turn and expose their unshielded side to
those on the rampart. Some camps had a double clavicula, consisting of the outward
projecting arm just described, and also an internal one, curving inward.
Full-scale attack was never really envisaged in Roman ideology. Camps were not
designed to be defended like castles from the tops of the walls, but they were inten
ded to stop unaut h ori zed pers on n el from en tering them . It has also been