Roman Forts and Fortresses.
The Roman Army was constantly marching and they built a fort wherever they stopped a while. The always brought the fort down when they left.
The difference between a fort and a fortress for the Romans, was that a fort was only temporary lodging camps. Whilst fortresses were built to last and were more permanent fortified buildings.
Forts everywhere were built in the same basic layout. This was so any member of the Roman army could easily find thier way around, no matter what country they were in. So they always knew where the toilet was and what the forum and basilica looked like.
The basic layout of a fort was:
Two roads. One horizontally through and one vertically straight through the fort.
The Forum and Basilica were always situated in the center of the fort. Everything else in the fort were also in the same place in every fort.
The basic layout of a fortress:
Fortresses always had the two straight roads.
The Principia (The headquarters) was always in the center with the Praetorium (Commandant’s house) right next to it.
There are four gates into the fortress with a ditch dug outside the main wall. There is a granary, stables, and sometimes, amphitheaters. Some fortresses had hospitals, this showed that the Romans looked after themselves.
The Auxiliary forts, the forts for the non Roman citizens, were not built in the same organized structured way which the Romans used. They were not the standard square shape.
The Romans had bath houses, which were recognizable because of the domed roof. Another giveaway is if they are depicted with steam coming out. They used a hypocaust (underfloor heating) system.
The barracks for the Roman army were about 4 by 4 meters and this was to be shared by 8 people. With only 2 bunk beds, only 4 people could sleep at any one time. So whilst some slept, some kept watch, and others prepared food and such like.
The Praetorium was where the commandant and his family stayed.
The Principia, or beneath it, rather, was where they kept the money, after the standards and statues of their gods. If anyone wished to steal the money, they had to go past the eagle; the pride of the army knowing they were letting down the troops, the face of the emperor watching, and the watching statue of their gods.
The granaries were built to look like barracks but was raised high on stilts to prevent rats and mice from getting to the wheat and corn.
The Vicus was a little village which developed outside a fort. Villages developed outside forts because soldiers were the only ones who brought money and there was trade for the local people wherever soldiers were.
Duties in peacetime:
When the Roman legions were not fighting, they built everything, teh aqueducts, temples, roads, baths. The legions even collected the taxes.
Freetime:
The legions in their free time went to amphitheaters, or gambled. They loved gambling. They also went hunting bear or boar. Another place they spent a lot of time was the bathhouse. Up to 20 people could use the toilet at the same time and it was a social place. In bathhouses, they had sponges on sticks for wiping when they finished in the toilet and tehy had flowing water for washing their hands and the brush so it could be used by others.
Religion:
The Romans brought their gods and temples with them to Britain, but the Romans were happy for everyone to worship their own god. One of the most popular god with the soldiers was Mithras. He was a god from Irag and Iran, and was supposed to have killed a giant bull and the universe came from the bull’s blood.
Filed under: Classical Civilisations., Roman Britain
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