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In his history of the Jewish war, Josephus describes to us the Roman order of march, and what each soldier carried with him. While we have this and other descriptions of Roman marching order, we are unfortunate in lacking pictorial sources from which to base our reconstructions. Indeed, we are aware of only one depiction of Roman soldiers with their full marching packs, which is on the famous triumphal column commemorating the emperor Trajan’s Dacian campaigns, which stands in the centre of Rome. The column depicts a section of legionary infantry crossing a pontoon bridge in full armour, with baggage slung on poles over their shoulders. On each marching ‘pack’ we can see two large bags, a string bag and cooking equipment. Unfortunately we do not know for sure whether the equipment on the column was exactly copied from original items, or was just a superficial representation of how the soldiers were equipped. Archaeological finds of original equipment from the Roman frontiers and military zones are often at variance with that depicted on the column, leading many to suspect that the column only shows a very generic view of how Rome’s soldiers would have looked. The rigging of the pack as demonstrated on the column shows several items freely swinging from the pole, which we have found creates potential for loss or damage of said items, plus a needless amount of clanging and bumping. It may be that the sculptor chose to show the items freely dangling for aesthetic reasons, i.e. so that the onlooker could observe something of the nature of the soldier’s burden. |
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A Fresh Interpretation of the Marching Pack |
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“…the rest of the foot soldiers have a spear and a long buckler, besides a saw and a basket, a pick-axe and an axe, a thong of leather and a hook, with provisions for three days, so that a footman hath no great need of a mule to carry his burdens...“ Flavius Josephus, Book 3 Chapter 5
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Legionaries on the march, Trajan's Column |
