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The life of a Roman legionary (legionarius) was beyond all doubt very difficult and demanded enormous stamina. Volunteers (or recruits) were very often not sure whether they would come back home after sixteen years of service (in 5 CE the length of service was prolonged to 20 years). Both the legionaries’ duties and the discipline were supposed to create true men out of them, ready to win the battle against the stronger enemy.
More about a recruit in the Roman army
The legionaries were recruited between the age of 17 to 20 for sixteen years of service (The Marian Reforms). According to Vegetius, the Roman legionary should measure about 170 cm. Higher citizens could also join the army, and the standard for horsemen or the first legionary cohorts was about 180 cm.
Carried out Geoffrey Kron’s research, conducted on 926 adult male skeletons buried in Italy between the years 500 BCE and 500 CE confirmed that on average population was around 168 cm tall. Perhaps there was a height selection introduced to the Roman army for the legionaries had to keep the alignment in the right order (e.g. testudo).
Were Roman legionaries really short?
After hard training and everyday military drill, Roman legionaries were able to march 37,5 kilometres a day with bagage weighing even 36 kilograms. Gaius Marius’ one exercise was a long-distance run with full equipment.
From the very beginning, the young recruits’ previously acquired abilities were being properly used. If someone used to be a smith, he became an armourer, a shoemaker who sewed shoes for the soldiers, and those who specialized in wood processing built war engines. If somebody had no such ability, he could easily become a member of the surveyor’s group or the one responsible for cleaning the roads. Those were the legionaries’ duties when there were no battles, but once the trumpets gave a signal to fight, all of them were to be ready at their post and fully armed.
There was a division into experienced, veterans and young ones. The older and more experienced legionaries were telling stories and teaching the younger generation how to behave on the battlefield.
Also, the functions differed. The veterans were seeded in the middle of the fight or somewhere they could clinch the result of the battle and the younger soldiers’ main aim was simply to immobilize the enemy.
The matter of food is also worth mentioning as it was far different from what we can imagine nowadays. The bread was the major component of the legionaries’ diet – the daily wheat ration was approximately 8.7 litres. They ate hardly any meat or vegetables which were considered not valuable. The small portion of proteins consumed by the Romans was the reason for their poor bones growth and, as a result, for their short stature. On the other hand, as was already mentioned, the main component of the Gallic and Germanic diet was meat. Of course, it does not mean the Romans were only vegetarians. On their menu, there were also such things as beef, pork, lamb, and game. In Britain, venison or goat meat was available whereas in Egypt it was possible to get veal and different fish species.
Roman legionaries were drinking diluted wine (daily ration approximately 0,27 litres) or beer. It happened sometimes that the larger amount of alcohol led to some struggles. According to Tacitus, a historian of the Roman Empire, once when legionaries and Gauls from the auxiliary formation were feasting together in Ticinium in 69 CE, a friendly wres