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Castra

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Architecture; British
History 1500 and before (including Roman Britain)

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   Military of ancient Rome ( Portal)
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   Roman army ( unit types and ranks,
   legions, generals)
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   Campaign history
   Lists of Wars and Battles
   Decorations and Punishments
   Technological history
   Military engineering (castra,
   siege engines, arches, roads)
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   Political history
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   Infantry tactics
   Frontiers and fortifications ( Limes,
   Hadrian's Wall)
   Basic ideal plan of a Roman castrum. (1)Principia (2)Via Praetoria
   (3)Via Principalis (4)Porta Principalis Dextra (5)Porta Praetoria (main
   gate) (6)Porta Principalis Sinistra (7)Porta Decumana (back gate)
   Basic ideal plan of a Roman castrum. (1)Principia (2)Via Praetoria
   (3)Via Principalis (4)Porta Principalis Dextra (5)Porta Praetoria (main
   gate) (6)Porta Principalis Sinistra (7)Porta Decumana (back gate)

   The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the
   ancient Romans to mean any building or plot of land reserved to or
   constructed for use as a military defensive position. As the word
   appears in both Oscan and Umbrian (dialects of Italic) as well as in
   Latin, it probably descended from Indo-European to Italic.

Types of castra

   The best known type of castra is the camp, a military town designed to
   house and protect the soldiers and their equipment and supplies when
   they were not fighting or marching. 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 till 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 leveled: their camp is also
   four-square by measure, and carpenters are ready, in great numbers,
   with their tools, to erect their buildings for them." 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.
   Reconstructed barracks of a Castra Hiberna, or "winter camp". Each
   doorway provides entry to a large room, the sleeping quarters of one
   contubernium, or "squad" of about 10 men.
   Reconstructed barracks of a Castra Hiberna, or "winter camp". Each
   doorway provides entry to a large room, the sleeping quarters of one
   contubernium, or "squad" of about 10 men.

   Camps were the responsibility of engineering units to which specialists
   of many types belonged, officered by architecti, "chief engineers", who
   requisitioned manual labor from the soldiers at large as required. They
   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.

   More permanent camps were castra stativa, "standing camps." The least
   permanent of these were castra aestiva or aestivalia, "summer camps",
   in which the soldiers were housed sub pellibus or sub tentoriis, "under
   tents". Summer was the campaign season. For the winter the soldiers
   retired to castra hiberna containing barracks of more solid materials,
   with well-built barracks, public buildings and stone walls.

   The camp allowed the Romans to keep a rested and supplied army in the
   field. Neither the Celts nor the Germanics had this capability. Their
   armies found it necessary to disperse after only a few days; meanwhile,
   their open camps invited attack when they were least prepared.
   Ruins of the Porta Praetoria, or "Headquarters Gate", from a Castra
   Stativa, a more permanent base.
   Ruins of the Porta Praetoria, or "Headquarters Gate", from a Castra
   Stativa, a more permanent base.
   Castra at Massada. Note the classical "playing-card" layout.
   Castra at Massada. Note the classical "playing-card" layout.

Etymology

   Reconstruction of a specula or vigilarium (Germanic burgus),
   "watchtower", a type of castrum. An ancient watchtower would have been
   surrounded by wall and ditch.
   Reconstruction of a specula or vigilarium (Germanic burgus),
   "watchtower", a type of castrum. An ancient watchtower would have been
   surrounded by wall and ditch.

   The American Heritage Dictionary, following Julius Pokorny, lists
   *kes-, "cut", as the root. One castrum was a reservation of land "cut
   off" for military use. It could be an entire base, such as castrum
   Moguntiacum, or it could be a single fortified building. From the
   latter use came the English word castle (castellum, a diminutive of
   castrum).

   Castra in the plural refers to a collection of structures. Considering
   that the earliest structures were tents, which were cut out of hide or
   cloth, one castrum may well be a tent, with the plural meaning tents.
   All but the most permanent bases housed the men in barracks of tents
   placed in quadrangles and separated by numbered streets. From the
   plural come English place-name suffices such as -caster and -chester;
   e.g., Winchester, Lancaster.

Plan of the base

   Gateway of a Castra Stativa. Note the battlements, the Roman arch, the
   turres.
   Gateway of a Castra Stativa. Note the battlements, the Roman arch, the
   turres.

Layout

   Camp Arges, Dacia (reconstruction), showing a good stone vallum, a
   porta and a turris.
   Camp Arges, Dacia (reconstruction), showing a good stone vallum, a
   porta and a turris.

   The ideal enforced a linear plan for every single fort. The plan was a
   square for camps to contain one legion or less, or a rectangle for two
   legions, each legion being placed back-to-back with headquarters next
   to each other. Laying it out was a geometric exercise conducted by
   officers called metatores, or gromatici, who used graduated measuring
   rods called decempedae ("10-footers") or gromae (Roman equivalent of a
   transit, but without the lenses, which they did not have),
   respectively. The layout process was a well-defined algorithm conducted
   by experienced men. It started in the centre at the planned site of the
   headquarters tent. Streets and architectural features were marked with
   colored pennants or rods.
   Site map of Potaissa at Turda in Romania. The major features of the
   layout have been identified and are shown on the map.
   Site map of Potaissa at Turda in Romania. The major features of the
   layout have been identified and are shown on the map.

Wall and ditch

   The base (munimentum, "fortification") was placed entirely within the
   vallum ("wall"), which could be constructed under the protection of the
   legion in battle formation if necessary. The vallum 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 or valli) was erected. The soldiers had to carry these stakes on
   the march. Over the course of time, the palisade might be replaced by a
   fine brick or stone wall, and the ditch serve also as a moat. A
   legion-sized camp always placed towers at intervals along the wall with
   positions between for the division artillery.

Interval

   Around the inside periphery of the vallum was a clear space, the
   intervallum, which served to catch enemy missiles, as an access route
   to the vallum and as a storage space for cattle (capita) and booty
   (praeda). Legionaries were quartered in a peripheral zone inside the
   intervallum, which they could rapidly cross to take up position on the
   vallum. Inside of the legionary quarters was a peripheral road, the Via
   Sagularis, probably "service road", as the sagum, a kind of cloak, was
   the garment of slaves.

Streets, gates and central plaza

   Every camp included "main street", which ran unimpeded 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
   called cardo or Cardus Maximus. This name applies more to cities than
   it does to ancient camps.

   Typically "main street" was the via principalis. The central portion
   was used as a parade ground and headquarters area. The "headquarters"
   building was called the praetorium because it housed the praetor or
   base commander ("first officer"), and his staff. In the camp of a full
   legion he held the rank of consul or proconsul but officers of lesser
   ranks might command.

   On one side of the praetorium was the quaestorium, the building of the
   supply officer, or quaestor ("seeker"). On the other side was the
   forum, a small duplicate of an urban forum, where public business could
   be conducted. Along the Via Principalis were the homes or tents of the
   several tribunes in front of the barracks of the units they commanded.

   The Via Principalis went through the vallum in the Porta Principalis
   Dextra ("right principle gate") and Porta Principalis Sinistra ("left,
   etc."), which were gates fortified with turres ("towers"). Which was on
   the north and which on the south depends on whether the praetorium
   faced east or west, which remains unknown.

   The central region of the Via Principalis with the buildings for the
   command staff was called the Principia (plural of principium). It was
   actually a square, as across this at right angles to the Via
   Principalis was the Via Praetoria, so called because the praetorium
   interrupted it. The Via Principalis and the Via Praetoria offered
   another division of the camp into four quarters.

   Across the central plaza (principia) to the east or west was the main
   gate, the Porta 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 the Via Praetoria continued to the
   wall, where it went through the Porta Decumana. In theory this was the
   back gate. Supplies were supposed to come in through it and so it was
   also called, descriptively, the Porta Quaestoria. The term Decumena,
   "of the 10th", came from the arranging of manipuli or turmae from the
   first to the 10th, such that the 10th was near the intervallum on that
   side. The Via Praetoria on that side might take the name Via Decumena
   or the entire Via Praetoria be replaced with Decumanus Maximus.

Canteen

   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 the Via Praetoria, called the Via Quintana, "5th
   street". If the camp needed more gates, one or two of the Porta
   Quintana were built, presumably named dextra and sinistra. If the gates
   were not built, the Porta Decumana also became the Porta Quintana. At
   "5th street" a public market was allowed. The English word canteen
   comes from Quintana.

Major buildings

   Not much remains of these horreae at Arbeia, probably the floors of
   bins between aisles.
   Not much remains of these horreae at Arbeia, probably the floors of
   bins between aisles.

   The Via Quintana and the Via Principalis divided the camp into three
   districts: the Latera Praetorii, the Praetentura and the Retentura. In
   the latera ("sides") were the Arae (sacrificial altars), the
   Auguratorium (for auspices), the Tribunal, 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
   (horreae) or meat (carnarea). Sometimes the horreae 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 the Latera was the Armamentarium, a long shed containing the
   excess or heavy weapons and the artillery if it was not to go on the
   wall.
   Roman artillery piece (Onager)
   Roman artillery piece ( Onager)

   The Praetentura ("stretching to the front") contained the Scamnum
   Legatorum, the quarters of officers who were below general but higher
   than company commanders (Legati). Near the Principia were the
   Valetudinarium (hospital), Veterinarium (for horses), Fabrica
   ("workshop", metals and wood), and further to the front the quarters of
   special forces. These included Classici ("marines", as most European
   camps were on rivers and contained a river naval command), Equites
   ("cavalry"), Exploratores ("scouts"), and Vexillarii (carriers of
   vexillae, the official pennants of the legion and its units). Troops
   who did not fit elsewhere also were there.

   The part of the Retentura ("stretching to the rear") closest to the
   Principia contained the Quaestorium. By the late empire it had
   developed also into a safekeep for plunder and a prison for hostages
   and high-ranking enemy captives. Near the Quaestorium were the quarters
   of the headquarters guard (Statores), who amounted to two centuries
   (companies). If the Imperator was present they served as his bodyguard.

Barracks

   A sanitary channel at Potaissa. It is placed cross-slope with a slight
   decline and then exits down-slope.
   A sanitary channel at Potaissa. It is placed cross-slope with a slight
   decline and then exits down-slope.

   Further from the Qaestorium were the tents of the Nationes ("natives"),
   who were auxiliaries of foreign troops, and the legionaries themselves
   in double rows of tents or barracks (Strigae). One Striga was as long
   as required and 60 feet wide. In it were two Hemistrigia of facing
   tents centered in its 30-foot 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.

   A tent was 10 by 12 feet (two feet for the aisle), ten men per tent.
   Ideally a company took 10 tents, arranged in a line of 10 companies,
   with the 10th near the Porta Decumana. Of the 100 sq. ft. of bunk space
   each man received 10, or about 2 by 5 feet, which was only practical if
   they slept with heads to the aisle. The single tent with its men was
   called contubernium, also used for "squad". A squad during some periods
   was 8 men or fewer.

   The Centurio, 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 became
   extremely 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.

Sanitation

   For sanitary facilities, a camp had both public and private latrines. 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 the aquaductus, 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 the intervallum,
   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 the Via Principalis.

Territory

   The influence of a base extended far beyond its walls. The total land
   required for the maintenance of a permanent base was called its
   territoria. 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 in themselves self-sustaining (as was the base). In this
   category were speculae, "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. The classici and the optiones
   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.

Modifications in practice

   This ideal was always 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 defense troops
   could be formed in an acies, 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 centered on the sides. Not all the streets and buildings might be
   present.

Quadrangular camps in later times

   Many villages in Europe originated as Roman military camps and still
   show traces of their original pattern (e.g. Castres in France,
   Barcelona in Spain). The pattern was also used by Spanish colonizers in
   America following strict rules by the Spanish monarchy for founding new
   cities in the New World.

   Many of the towns of England still retain forms of the word castra in
   their names -- Lancaster, Chester and Manchester, for example.

Camp life

   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, all the soldiers were not required
   to man the walls all the time, but some soldiers were required to be on
   duty there without a lapse.

   Duty time was divided into vigilia, the eight watches of three hours
   each into which the 24-hour day was divided. The Romans used signals on
   brass instruments to mark time. These were mainly the buccina or bucina
   (a relative of English bugle), the cornu and the tuba. 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 some 40 or so signals for issuing
   commands. The instrument used to mark the passage of a watch was the
   buccina, from which the trumpet derives. It was sounded by a
   buccinator.

Ordinary life

   Ordinary camp life began with a buccina call at daybreak, the first
   watch of the day. The soldiers arose at this time and shortly after
   collected in the company area for breakfast and assembly. The
   centurions were up before them and off to the Principia where they and
   the Equites were required to assemble. The regimental commanders, the
   Tribunes, were already converging on the Praetorium. There the general
   staff was busily at work planning the day. At a staff meeting the
   Tribunes received the password and the orders of the day. They brought
   those back to the Centuriones, who returned to their company areas to
   instruct the men, already breakfasted.

   For soldiers, the main item of the agenda was a vigorous training
   session lasting about a watch long. Recruits received two, one in the
   morning and one in the afternoon. Planning and supervision of training
   were under a general staff officer, who might manage training at
   several camps. Vegetius tells us the men might take a 20-mile hike or a
   4- to 5- mile jog under full pack, or swim a river. Marching drill was
   always in order.

   Every soldier was taught the use of every weapon and also was taught to
   ride. Seamanship was not excluded at bases that were also naval bases.
   Soldiers were generalists in the military and construction arts. They
   practiced archery, spear-throwing and above all swordmanship against
   posts (pali) fixed in the ground. Training was taken very seriously and
   was democratic. Ordinary soldiers would see all the officers training
   with them including the Praetor or the Emperor if he was in camp.

   Swordmanship lessons and use of the firing range probably took place on
   the campus, a "field" outside the castra, 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 indoors equestrian ring.

   Apart from the training, each soldier had a regular job on the base, of
   which there were a large variety from the various kinds of clerks 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, the
   optiones or "chosen men", of which there were many different kinds. For
   example, a skilled artisan might be chosen to superintend a workshop.
   An aureus of the late republic
   An aureus of the late republic

   The supply administration was run as a business using money as the
   medium of exchange. The aureus was the preferred coin of the late
   republic and early empire; in the late empire the solidus came into
   use. The larger bases, such as Moguntiacum, 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
   from Vindolanda 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.

   Another feature of the camp was the military hospital (valetudinarium,
   later hospitium). Augustus instituted the first permanent medical corps
   in the Roman army. Its physicians, the medici ordinarii, 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.

   Officers were allowed to marry and to reside with their families on
   base. The army could not extend the same privileges to the men, who
   were not allowed to marry. 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. Dependents were not allowed to follow an army on the march
   into hostile territory.

   An enlistment was for about 25 years. At the end of that time the
   veteran was given a diploma, or 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.

   Veterans often went into business in the communities near a base. They
   became permanent members of the community and would stay on after the
   troops were withdrawn, as in the notable case of St. Patrick's family.

Duties

   Conducted in parallel with the ordinary activities was "the duty", the
   official chores required by the camp under strict military discipline.
   The Praetor 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 line Tribunes were commanders of Cohortes and were
   approximately the equivalent of colonels. The 6 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 the Praetor.

   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 of cura
   were assigned certain classes or types of troops; for example, wall
   sentries were chosen only from Velites. Soldiers could be temporarily
   or permanently exempted: the immunes. For example, a Triarius was
   immunis from the curae of the Hastati.

   The duty year was divided into time slices, typically one or two
   months, which were apportioned to units, typically maniples or
   centuries. They were always allowed to negotiate who took the duty and
   when. The most common kind of cura were the posts of the sentinels,
   called the excubiae by day and the vigilae at night. Wall posts were
   praesidia, 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:
     * guarding, cleaning and maintaining the principia.
     * guarding and maintaining the quarters of each tribune.
     * tending the horses of each cavalry turma.
     * guarding the praetorium.

List of castra

   Due to an unbounded enthusiasm for local archaeology, the locations and
   layouts of Roman castra are rapidly becoming known. Both amateurs and
   professionals are involved in excavation and publication. Internet
   sites giving photographs and the texts of inscriptions are numerous.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castra"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
