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Castra (pl.) is aLatin term used during theRoman Republic andRoman Empire for a military 'camp', andcastrum (sg.)[1] for a 'fort'.[2] Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortifiedmilitary base.[3]
InEnglish usage,castrum commonly translates to "Roman fort", "Roman camp" and "Roman fortress". Scholastic convention tends to translatecastrum as "fort", "camp", "marching camp" or "fortress".[3]
Romans used the termcastrum for different sizes of camps – including largelegionary fortresses, smaller forts forcohorts or forauxiliary forces,temporary encampments, and "marching" forts. The diminutive formcastellum was used for fortlets,[4] typically occupied by a detachment of a cohort or acenturia.
Castrum appears inOscan andUmbrian, two otherItalic languages, suggesting an origin at least as old asProto-Italic language.Julius Pokorny[5] traces a probable derivation from *k̂es-, 'cut', in *k̂es-tro-m, 'cutting tool'. These Italic reflexes based on *kastrom include Oscancastrous (genitive case) and Umbriancastruo,kastruvuf (accusative case). They have the same meaning, says Pokorny, as Latinfundus, an estate, or tract of land. This is not any land but is a prepared or cultivated tract, such as a farm enclosed by a fence or a wooden or stone wall of some kind.Cornelius Nepos uses Latincastrum in that sense: whenAlcibiades deserts to the Persians,Pharnabazus gives him an estate (castrum) worth 500talents in tax revenues.[6] This is a change of meaning from the reflexes in other languages, which still mean some sort of knife, axe, or spear. Pokorny explains it as "a camp, as a cut-off piece of land".
If this is the civilian interpretation, the military version must be "military reservation", a piece of land cut off from the common land around it and modified for military use. All castra must be defended by works, often no more than astockade, for which the soldiers carried stakes, and a ditch. Thecastra could be prepared under attack within ahollow square or behind abattle line. Considering that the earliest military shelters weretents made of hide or cloth, and all but the most permanent bases housed the men in tents placed in quadrangles and separated by numbered streets, onecastrum may well have acquired the connotation of tent.[7]
The commonest Latinsyntagmata (here phrases) for the termcastra are:
In Latin the termcastrum is much more frequently used as a proper name for geographical locations: e.g.,Castrum Album,CastrumInui,Castrum Novum,Castrum Truentinum,Castrum Vergium. The plural was also used as a place name, asCastra Cornelia, and from this comes theWelsh place name prefixcaer- (e.g.Caerleon andCaerwent) and English suffixes-caster and-chester (e.g.Winchester andLancaster).Castrorum Filius, "son of the camps", was one of the names used by the emperorCaligula and then also by other emperors.
Castro, also derived fromCastrum, is a commonSpanish family name as well astoponym inSpain and otherHispanophone countries,Italy, and theBalkans, either by itself or in various compounds such as theWorld Heritage Site ofGjirokastër (earlierArgurokastro). The termsstratopedon (army camp) andphrourion (fortification) were used byGreek language authors to translatecastrum andcastellum, respectively.
Acastrum was designed to house and protect the soldiers, their equipment and supplies when they were not fighting or marching. The most detailed description that survives about Roman military camps isDe Munitionibus Castrorum, a manuscript of 11 pages that dates most probably from the late 1st to early 2nd century AD.[8]
Regulations required a major unit in the field to retire to a properly constructed camp every day. "… as soon as they have marched into an enemy's land, they do not begin to fight until they have walled their camp about; nor is the fence they raise rashly made, or uneven; nor do they all abide ill it, nor do those that are in it take their places at random; but if it happens that the ground is uneven, it is first levelled: their camp is also four-square by measure, and carpenters are ready, in great numbers, with their tools, to erect their buildings for them."[9] To this end a marching column ported the equipment needed to build and stock the camp in a baggage train of wagons and on the backs of the soldiers. The camp allowed the Romans to keep a rested and supplied army in the field. Neither the Celtic nor Germanic armies had this capability: they found it necessary to disperse after only a few days.
Camps were the responsibility of engineering units to which specialists of many types belonged, officered byarchitecti, "chief engineers", who requisitioned manual labor from the soldiers at large as required. A unit could throw up a camp under enemy attack in as little as a few hours. Judging from the names, they probably used a repertory of camp plans, selecting the one appropriate to the length of time a legion would spend in it:tertia castra,quarta castra, etc. (a camp of three days,four days, etc.).[10]
More permanent camps werecastra stativa (standing camps). The least permanent of these werecastra aestiva oraestivalia, "summer camps", in which the soldiers were housedsub pellibus orsub tentoriis, "under tents".[11] The largest castra werelegionary fortresses built as bases for one or more whole legions.[12][13] Summer was the campaign season. For the winter the soldiers retired tocastra hiberna containing barracks and other buildings of more solid materials, with timber construction gradually being replaced by stone.[14]Castra hibernas held eight soldiers to a room, who slept on bunkbeds. The soldiers in each room were also required to cook their own meals and eat with their "roommates".[15]
From the time ofAugustus more permanent castra with wooden or stone buildings and walls were introduced as the distant and hard-won boundaries of the expanding empire required permanent garrisons to control local and external threats from warlike tribes. Previously, legions were raised for specific military campaigns and subsequently disbanded, requiring only temporary castra. From then on many castra of various sizes were established, many of which became permanent settlements.
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From the most ancient times Roman camps were constructed according to a certain ideal pattern, formally described in two main sources, theDe Munitionibus Castrorum and the works ofPolybius.[17] Alan Richardson compares both original authors and concludes that "the Hyginian model greatly reduced the area and perimeter length for any given force."[18] P. Fl. Vegetius Renatus has a small section on entrenched camps as well. The terminology varies, but the basic plan is the same.[19] The hypothesis of anEtruscan origin is a viable alternative.[20]
The ideal enforced a linear plan for a camp or fort: a square for camps to contain one legion or smaller unit, a rectangle for two legions, each legion being placed back-to-back with headquarters next to each other.[21] The religious devotion of the Romans to geometry caused them to build into their camps whole-numbered right triangles.[22] Laying it out was a geometric exercise conducted by experienced officers calledmetatores, who used graduated measuring rods calleddecempedae ("10-footers") andgromatici who used agroma, a sighting device consisting of a vertical staff with horizontal cross pieces and vertical plumb-lines. Ideally the process started in the centre of the planned camp at the site of the headquarters tent or building (principia). Streets and other features were marked with coloured pennants or rods.[citation needed] Richardson writes that from the aspect ratio of the castra one could determine the order of battle,[23] and the size of the legion it housed determined the area of the camp.[18] Steinhoff theorizes that Richardson has identified a commonality and builds on the latter's detailed studies to suggest that North African encampments in the time ofHadrian were based on the same geometrical skill.[24]
The street plans of various present-day cities still retain traces of a Roman camp, for exampleMarsala in Sicily, the ancient Lilybaeum, where the name of the main street, the Cassaro, perpetuates the name "castrum".
The castrum's special structure also defended from attacks. The base (munimentum, "fortification") was placed entirely within thevallum ("wall"), which could be constructed under the protection of the legion in battle formation if necessary. Thevallum was quadrangular, aligned on the cardinal points of the compass.
The construction crews dug a trench (fossa), throwing the excavated material inward, to be formed into the rampart (agger). On top of this a palisade of stakes (sudes orvalli) was erected. The soldiers had to carry these stakes on the march.[25] Over the course of time, the palisade might be replaced by a brick or stone wall, and the ditch served also as amoat. A legion-sized camp placed towers at intervals along the wall with positions between for the division artillery.
Around the inside periphery of thevallum was a clear space, theintervallum, which served to catch enemy missiles, as an access route to thevallum and as a storage space for cattle (capita) and plunder (praeda). The Romans were masters of geometry and showed it in their camps: a modern study shows that the intervallum "was 1/16th of the square root of the area it enclosed in the fort."[21]
Legionaries were quartered in a peripheral zone inside theintervallum, which they could rapidly cross to take up position on thevallum. Inside of the legionary quarters was a peripheral road, theVia Sagularis, probably a type of "service road", as thesagum, a kind of cloak, was the garment of soldiers.
Every camp included a "main street", which ran through the camp in a north–south direction and was very wide. The names of streets in many cities formerly occupied by the Romans suggest that the street was calledcardo orcardus maximus. This name applies more to cities than it does to ancient camps.[26] Typically "main street" was thevia principalis. The central portion was used as a parade ground and headquarters area. The "headquarters" building was called thepraetorium because it housed thepraetor or base commander ("first officer"), and his staff. In the camp of a full legion he held the rank ofconsul orproconsul but officers of lesser ranks might command. On one side of thepraetorium was thequaestorium, the building of thequaestor (supply officer). On the other side was theforum, a small duplicate of an urban forum, where public business could be conducted.
TheVia Principalis went through thevallum in thePorta Principalis Dextra ("right principal gate") andPorta Principalis Sinistra ("left, etc."), which were gates fortified withturres ("towers"). Which was on the north and which on the south depends on whether the praetorium faced east or west, which remains unknown. Along theVia Principalis were the homes or tents of the severaltribunes in front of the barracks of the units they commanded. The central region of theVia Principalis with the buildings for the command staff was called thePrincipia (plural ofprincipium). It was actually a square, as across this at right angles to theVia Principalis was theVia Praetoria, so called because thepraetorium interrupted it. TheVia Principalis and theVia Praetoria offered another division of the camp into four quarters.
Across the central plaza (principia) to the east or west was the main gate, thePorta Praetoria. Marching through it and down "headquarters street" a unit ended up in formation in front of the headquarters. The standards of the legion were located on display there, very much like the flag of modern camps. On the other side of the praetorium theVia Praetoria continued to the wall, where it went through thePorta Decumana. In theory this was the back gate. Supplies were supposed to come in through it and so it was also called, descriptively, thePorta Quaestoria. The term Decumana, "of the 10th", came from the arranging ofmanipuli orturmae from the first to the 10th, such that the 10th was near theintervallum on that side. TheVia Praetoria on that side might take the nameVia Decumana or the entireVia Praetoria be replaced withDecumanus Maximus.[27]
In peaceful times the camp set up a marketplace with the natives in the area. They were allowed into the camp as far as the units numbered 5 (half-way to the praetorium). There another street crossed the camp at right angles to theVia Decumana, called theVia Quintana, (English: 5th street, from Latin:quintana, the fifth). If the camp needed more gates, one or two of thePorta Quintana were built, presumably nameddextra andsinistra. If the gates were not built, thePorta Decumana also became thePorta Quintana. AtVia Quintana a public market was allowed.
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TheVia Quintana and theVia Principalis divided the camp into three districts: theLatera Praetorii, thePraetentura and theRetentura. In thelatera ("sides") were theArae (sacrificial altars), theAuguratorium (forauspices), theTribunal, where courts martial and arbitrations were conducted (it had a raised platform), the guardhouse, the quarters of various kinds of staff and the storehouses for grain (horrea) or meat (carnarea). Sometimes thehorrea were located near the barracks and the meat was stored on the hoof. Analysis of sewage from latrines indicates the legionary diet was mainly grain. Also located in theLatera was theArmamentarium, a long shed containing any heavy weapons and artillery not on the wall.
ThePraetentura ("stretching to the front") contained theScamnum Legatorum, the quarters of officers who were below general but higher than company commanders (Legati).[28] Near thePrincipia were theValetudinarium (hospital),Veterinarium (for horses),Fabrica ("workshop", metals and wood), and further to the front the quarters of special forces. These includedClassici ("marines", as most European camps were on rivers and contained a river naval command),Equites ("cavalry"),Exploratores ("scouts"), andVexillarii (carriers ofvexilla, the official pennants of the legion and its units). Troops who did not fit elsewhere also were there.
The part of theRetentura ("stretching to the rear") closest to thePrincipia contained theQuaestorium. By the late empire it had developed also into a safekeep for plunder and a prison for hostages and high-ranking enemy captives. Near theQuaestorium were the quarters of the headquarters guard (Statores), who amounted to twocenturies (companies). If theImperator was present they served as his bodyguard.
Further from theQuaestorium were the tents of theNationes ("natives"), who were auxiliaries of foreign troops, and the legionaries in double rows of tents or barracks (Strigae). OneStriga was as long as required and 18 m wide. In it were twoHemistrigia of facing tents centered in its 9 m strip. Arms could be stacked before the tents and baggage carts kept there as well. Space on the other side of the tent was for passage.
In the northern places like Britain, where it got cold in the winter, they would make wood or stone barracks. The Romans would also put a fireplace in the barracks. They had about three bunk beds in it. They had a small room beside it where they put their armour; it was as big as the tents. They would make these barracks if the fort they had was going to stay there for good.[29]
A tent was 3 by 3.5 metres (0.6 m for the aisle), ten men per tent. Ideally a company took 10 tents, arranged in a line of 10 companies, with the 10th near thePorta Decumana. Of the c. 9.2 square metres of bunk space each man received 0.9, or about 0.6 by 1.5 m, which was only practical if they slept with heads to the aisle. The single tent with its men was calledcontubernium, also used for "squad". A squad during some periods was 8 men or fewer. Thecenturion, or company commander, had a double-sized tent for his quarters, which served also as official company area. Other than there, the men had to find other places to be. To avoid mutiny, it was important for the officers to keep them busy.
A covered portico might protect the walkway along the tents. If barracks had been constructed, one company was housed in one barracks building, with the arms at one end and the common area at the other. The company area was used for cooking and recreation such as gaming. The army provisioned the men and had their bread (panis militaris) baked in outdoor ovens, but the men were responsible for cooking and serving themselves. They could buy meals or supplementary foods at the canteen. The officers were allowed servants.
For sanitary facilities, a camp had both public and privatelatrines. A public latrine consisted of a bank of seats situated over a channel of running water. One of the major considerations for selecting the site of a camp was the presence of running water, which the engineers diverted into the sanitary channels. Drinking water came from wells; however, the larger and more permanent bases featured theaqueduct, a structure running a stream captured from high ground (sometimes miles away) into the camp. The praetorium had its own latrine and probably the quarters of the high-ranking officers. In or near theintervallum, where they could easily be accessed, were the latrines of the soldiers. A public bathhouse for the soldiers, also containing a latrine, was located near or on theVia Principalis.
The influence of a base extended far beyond its walls. The total land required for the maintenance of a permanent base was called itsterritoria. In it were located all the resources of nature and the terrain required by the base: pastures, woodlots, water sources, stone quarries, mines, exercise fields and attached villages. The central castra might also support various fortified adjuncts to the main base, which were not self-sustaining as was the base. In this category werespeculae, "watchtowers",castella, "small camps", and naval bases.
All the major bases near rivers featured some sort of fortified naval installation, one side of which was formed by the river or lake. The other sides were formed by a polygonal wall and ditch constructed in the usual way, with gates and watchtowers. The main internal features were the boat sheds and the docks. When not in use, the boats were drawn up into the sheds for maintenance and protection. Since the camp was placed to best advantage on a hill or slope near the river, the naval base was usually outside its walls. Theclassici and theoptiones of the naval installation relied on the camp for its permanent defense. Naval personnel generally enjoyed better quarters and facilities. Many were civilians working for the military.
The ideal plan was typically modified to suit the terrain and the circumstances. Each camp discovered by archaeology has its own specific layout and architectural features, which makes sense from a military point of view. If, for example, the camp was built on an outcrop, it followed the lines of the outcrop. The terrain for which it was best suited and for which it was probably designed in distant prehistoric times was the rolling plain.
The camp was best placed on the summit and along the side of a low hill, with spring water running in rivulets through the camp (aquatio) and pastureland to provide grazing (pabulatio) for the animals. In case of attack, arrows, javelins and sling missiles could be fired down at an enemy tiring himself to come up. For defence, troops could be formed in anacies, or "battle-line", outside the gates where they could be easily resupplied and replenished as well as being supported by archery from the palisade.
The streets, gates and buildings present depended on the requirements and resources of the camp. The gates might vary from two to six and not be centred on the sides. Not all the streets and buildings might be present.
Many settlements in Europe originated as Roman military camps and still show traces of their original pattern (e.g.Castres inFrance,Barcelona inSpain).[30] The pattern was also used bySpanish colonizers in America following strict rules by the Spanish monarchy for founding new cities in theNew World.
Many of the towns of England still retain forms of the wordcastra in their names, usually as the suffixes "-caster", "-cester" or "-chester" –Lancaster,Tadcaster,Worcester,Gloucester,Mancetter,Uttoxeter,Colchester,Chester,Manchester andRibchester for example.Castle has the same derivation, from the diminutivecastellum or "little fort", but does not usually indicate a former Roman camp.Whitley Castle however is an exception, referring to the Roman fort of Epiacum inNorthumberland.
Activities conducted in a castra can be divided into ordinary and "the duty" or "the watch". Ordinary activity was performed during regular working hours. The duty was associated with operating the installation as a military facility. For example, none of the soldiers was required to man the walls all the time, but round-the-clock duty required a portion of the soldiers to be on duty at any time.
Duty time was divided intovigilia, the eight watches into which the 24-hour day was divided so they stood guard for three hours that day.[31] The Romans used signals on brass instruments to mark time. These were mainly thebuccina orbucina, thecornu and thetuba. As they did not possess valves for regulating the pitch, the range of these instruments was somewhat limited. Nevertheless, the musicians (aenatores, "brassmen") managed to define enough signals for issuing commands. The instrument used to mark the passage of a watch was thebuccina, from which the trumpet derives. It was sounded by abuccinator.
Ordinary camp life began with abuccina call at daybreak, the first watch of the day. The soldiers arose at this time and shortly after gathered in the company area for breakfast and assembly. Thecenturions were up before them and off to theprincipia where they and theequites were required to assemble. The regimental commanders, the tribunes, were already converging on thepraetorium. There the general staff planned the day. At a staff meeting thetribunes received the password and the orders of the day. They brought those back to thecenturiones, who returned to their company areas to instruct the men.
For soldiers, the main agendum was a vigorous training session lasting about a watch long. Recruits received two, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.[32] Planning and supervision of training were under a general staff officer, who might manage training at several camps. According to Vegetius, the men might take a 32 kilometres (20 mi) hike or a 68 kilometres (42 mi) jog under full pack, or swim a river. Marching drill was always in order.
Each soldier was taught the use of every weapon and also was taught to ride. Seamanship was taught at naval bases. Soldiers were generalists in the military and construction arts. They practiced archery, spear-throwing and above all swordsmanship against posts (pali) fixed in the ground.[32] Training was taken very seriously and was democratic. Ordinary soldiers would see all the officers training with them including thepraetor or the emperor if he was in camp.
Swordsmanship lessons and use of the shooting range probably took place on thecampus, a "field" outside thecastra, from which English "camp" derives. Its surface could be lightly paved. Winter curtailed outdoor training. The general might in that case have sheds constructed, which served as field houses for training. There is archaeological evidence in one case of an indoor equestrian ring.
Apart from the training, each soldier had a regular job on the base, of which there was a large variety from the various kinds of clerk to the craftsmen. Soldiers changed jobs frequently. The commander's policy was to have all the soldiers skilled in all the arts and crafts so that they could be as interchangeable as possible. Even then the goal was not entirely achievable. The gap was bridged by the specialists, theoptiones or "chosen men", of which there were many different kinds. For example, a skilled artisan might be chosen to superintend a workshop. Soldiers were also expected to build the camp upon arrival before engaging in any sort of warfare after a day's march.[33]
The supply administration was run as a business using money as the medium of exchange.[34] Theaureus was the preferred coin of the late republic and early empire; in the late empire thesolidus came into use. The larger bases, such asMoguntiacum, minted their own coins. As does any business, the base quaestorium required careful record keeping, performed mainly by the optiones. A chance cache of tablets fromVindolanda in Britain gives us a glimpse of some supply transactions. They record, among other things, the purchase of consumables and raw supplies, the storage and repair of clothing and other items, and the sale of items, including foodstuffs, to achieve an income. Vindolanda traded vigorously with the surrounding natives.[35]
Another feature of the camp was the military hospital (valetudinarium, laterhospitium). Augustus instituted the first permanentmedical corps in the Roman army. Its physicians, themedici ordinarii,[36] had to be qualified physicians. They were allowed medical students, practitioners and whatever orderlies they needed; i.e., the military hospitals were medical schools and places of residency as well.[37]
Officers were allowed to marry and to reside with their families on base. The army did not extend the same privileges to the men, who were not allowed to marry.[38] However, they often kept common law families off base in communities nearby. The communities might be native, as the tribesmen tended to build around a permanent base for purposes of trade, but also the base sponsored villages (vici) of dependents and businessmen. Dependants were not allowed to follow an army on the march into hostile territory.
Military service was for about 25 years. At the end of that time, theveteran was given a certificate of honorable discharge (honesta missio). Some of these have survived engraved on stone. Typically they certify that the veteran, his wife (one per veteran) and children or his sweetheart were now Roman citizens, which is a good indication that troops, which were used chiefly on the frontier, were from peoples elsewhere on the frontier who wished to earn Roman citizenship. However, underAntoninus Pius, citizenship was no longer granted to the children of rank-and-file veterans, the privilege becoming restricted only to officers.[39] Veterans often went into business in the communities near a base.[40] They became permanent members of the community and would stay on after the troops were withdrawn, as in the notable case ofSaint Patrick's family.
Conducted in parallel with the ordinary activities was "the duty", the official chores required by the camp under strict military discipline. Thelegate was ultimately responsible for them as he was for the entire camp, but he delegated the duty to a tribune chosen as officer of the day. The linetribunes were commanders ofcohortes and were approximately the equivalent of colonels. The six tribunes were divided into units of two, with each unit being responsible for filling the position of officer of the day for two months. The two men of a unit decided among themselves who would take what day. They could alternate days or each take a month. One filled in for the other in case of illness. On his day, the tribune effectively commanded the camp and was even respected as such by thelegate.
The equivalent concept of the duties performed in modern camps is roughly the detail. The responsibilities (curae) of the many kinds of detail were distributed to the men by all the methods considered fair and democratic: lot, rotation and negotiation. Certain kinds ofcura were assigned certain classes or types of troops; for example, wall sentries were chosen only fromvelites. Soldiers could be temporarily or permanently exempted: theimmunes. For example, atriarius wasimmunis from thecurae of thehastati.
The duty year was divided into time slices, typically one or two months, which were apportioned to units, typicallymaniples orcenturies. They were always allowed to negotiate who took the duty and when. The most common kind ofcura were the posts of the sentinels, called theexcubiae by day and thevigilae at night. Wall posts werepraesidia, gate posts,custodiae, advance positions before the gates,stationes. In addition were special guards and details. One post was typically filled by four men, one sentinel and the others at ease until a situation arose or it was their turn to be sentinel. Some of the details were:
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Below are a number of links to sites reporting or summarizing current research or thinking. Many are reprints of articles made available to the public at no charge. The historical researcher will find their bibliographies of great interest.
