How to be a Roman Soldier

How to be a Roman Soldier

Standing at attention!

Allow me to share a few subsequent installments from the original posting of "Monday morning learning sessions", after our children begged me to blog about their classes with you. smile

These are our son's point form notes on a few of the items he has learned so far during his Monday morning learning sessions. There are many details on each topic of course, these are his highlights so far....

During our first class, we learned all the requirements for becoming a roman soldier. To join the Roman army, a man had to be five foot seven inches tall. Our teacher had measuring tapes, so everyone in the class had to be measured for height, and for making battle armor.

A person’s sight and hearing had to be perfect.

Schooling was mandatory, even after any formal schooling to keep learning about war and geography for fighting.

Seven people in the army had to be flag people.

Two blacksmiths were hired by the army to fix swords, javelins, helmets and equipment.

Spare weapons were required for all soldiers aside from their armor and other gear.

People who owned a horse were very wealthy

The commander’s job is to lead the army into battle. He gives instructions, options and the war plan to all. He sets up ambushes. Commanders are rich, they are usually the ones with horses. Their horses carry the tents. Usually an army consists of 2000 men, 17 people per tent and when making camp, it became a village to keep organized with rules to follow.

The army men must carry thirty pounds of food, extra blankets, utensils, etc. for their own personal use.

Roman armor;

• Basic armor protects the shoulder, ribs, abdomen, and spine
  
• Helmet (includes protective temple pieces on each side of the head near the ear, a point on top of the helmet used to stab enemies, a part above the eyes so water won’t fall drip down into the eyes, and a back piece at the bottom back to protect from swords)
• Belt (five strips are attached to the waistband. The beads at the end bang together to make enough noise so the opponents think there are more men in their army coming to battle)
• Javelin
• Sword
• Scapperd
• Large Shield

Recycling; The dessert pie pan is now
in the center of this shield today.

Shhhhhh........

What this son doesn't know yet, are the few lessons left will concentrate on how he will have to pay for his armor now that he is fully dressed and prepared for battle. He will learn about denari coins, and how he will have to pay for his debt on the armor advance, what his scheduled duties will be, and how to battle safely.

Practicing his battle stance

This is a giant deja-vu in our family, another son with armor prancing about...