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A legionary's equipment

60 second histories

This video covers:

A description of the personal belongings, equipment, food and water the legionaries had to carry when they conquered new lands

Now to conquer new lands and rule effectively, the Romans had to be able to move from place to place quickly. They travelled by boat across the sea but over land, they had to march everywhere. When they marched, the legionaries had to carry a lot of stuff; all of their personal belongings, equipment, food and water. Now one of the commanders, Gaius Marius, did a lot to make the Roman army professional. One of the things he did was organise the legions so that every legionary was responsible for carrying his own kit including tools for say, building a bridge or a road. This earned the legionaries the nickname Marius’s mules because they carried so much equipment. As you can see with this pack it is all ready to go; to save anything falling off the whole thing is covered with a net bag and finally, there’s a pickaxe that we use for road building. This all weighs a lot, together with your with weapons and shield, around thirty kilos the equivalent of a very large dog on your shoulders.
Eras: 
Roman
Topics: 
Uniforms & Equipment
Character: 
Legionary
Key words: 
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