Roman legionnaire essays

Roman legionnaire essays A day in the life of a Roman soldier was hard and tough even for the most resilient men. The men were taken away from their families, friends and away from their comforting homeland. They were expected to protect the provinces located throughout the empire. Some close to home others far, far away. These men had to be capable of enduring quarrelsome natives in foreign countries, who were defending their homelands from invasion. A soldier was expected to embark on gruelling marches across barbaric hazardous terrain in the harshest weather conditions. After this the soldier would then have to fight a long and difficult battle. Above all this they soldiers had to obey all orders without questioning, no matter what the situation involved. Through an examination of the basic training in recruitment, the employment opportunities during peacetime, rates of pay, and punishment; one will easily see what the life of a Roman soldier consisted of. In order to join the military one would have to undergo numerous physical activities in training. The first step of basic training that recruit would encounter is to be taught the military pace for marching. A soldier would often march tremendous distances in a restricted time frame, as a result of this a recruit would be instructed to march twenty roman miles in under five hours at military pace. After that has been reached they would be instructed to march at full pace and they should cover twenty-four roman miles in the same time frame. Physical training also had its place among the soldiers day. Mentions of running, jumping (both long jump and high jump), swimming, and carrying heavy packs. After all of this physical training has been done and passed satisfactorily the recruit would undergo weapon training. The recruit would be ordered to train with a round wickerwork shield, twice as heavy as those of service weight, and use a wooden sword, also twice the weight as one s in servi...