An Introduction to the Roman Military by Conor Whately

Author:Conor Whately [Whately, Conor]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781119139881
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2020-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

This selection of food items listed in the tablets meshes well with what we discussed about the food of the soldiers more generally above. The presence of meat (chicken, ham, pork fat, venison) is much as we would expect.37 While many of the animals consumed at Vindolanda might have been raised in the vicinity, we know that in some contexts animals were initially brought in from further afield, as seems to have been the case with some sheep, cattle, and a pig from Caerleon, a legionary fortress down in Wales.38 This is even true here at Vindolanda, it seems, with 20 chickens appearing on a shopping list along with a request for 100 apples and 100 or 200 eggs (Tab. Vind. II.302). The remains of animal bones from the site have broadened the image by revealing that the soldiers also ate beef, goat, and assorted birds, as well as the oysters (also found in Tab. Vind. II.299) and mussel shells.39

But we can find more evidence of goods brought in from some distance away in a letter, the longest of the collection, dealing with the purchase of grain and hides for the military (Tab. Vind. II.343).40 The hides are at a place called Cataractonium, and the letter indicates that the goods are due to come by wagon. At a distance of about 120km, the journey might take about 4 or 5 days.41 The letter also indicates that the roads are so bad that Octavius fears that travel along them might injure both the animals and damage wagons:

Octavius to his brother Candidus, greetings. The hundred pounds of sinew from Marinus – I will settle up. From the time when you wrote about this matter, he has not even mentioned it to me. I have several times written to you that I have bought about five thousand modii of ears of grain, on account of which I need cash. Unless you send me some cash, at least five hundred denarii, the result will be that I shall lose what I have laid out as a deposit, about three hundred denarii, and I shall be embarrassed. So, I ask you, send me some cash as soon as possible. The hides which you write are at Cataractonium – write that they be given to me and the wagon about which you write. And write to me what is with that wagon. I would have already been to collect them except that I did not care to injure the animals while the roads are bad. See with Tertius about the 8½ denarii which he received from Fatalis. He has not credited them to my account. Know that I have completed the 170 hides and I have 119 modii of threshed cereal. Make sure that you send me cash so that I may have ears of grain on the threshing‐floor. Moreover, I have already finished threshing all that I had. A messmate of our friend Frontius has been here. He was wanting me to allocate (?) him hides and that being so, was ready to give cash.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.