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Roman Marching Camp Layout
No one knows for certain what the layout was for the typical military camp during Caesar's time. Both Polybius (200-118 BCE ) and Hyginus (a man who wrote sometime between the first and fourth centuries CE) wrote treatises on camp layout which show two different designs which obviously evolved from one another. A possible camp layout derived from these two examples might resemble the layout in the diagram on the left.(click on the layout diagram, if you'd like to see a larger version).
The site of a Roman marching-camp was chosen carefully, with an eye toward chosing favorable (elevated) terrain with adequate water supply and grazing. The size, layout, and construction of the Roman marching-camp in the field was fairly standardized. The marching camp was laid out in a rectangle (or square) depending upon the terrain and the number of soldiers to be accommodated.
The camp had rounded corners and, instead of gates with doors as we know them, had "gates" that were either:
- openings in the rectangle shielded by a titulum (crosswise mound--sometimes half-moon shaped);
- an external clavicula (an opening formed by tonguing out the rampart and ditch); or
- an internal clavicula (an opening formed by tonguing in the rampart and ditch).
The two short side gates were the porta praetoria (Praetorian gate), which faced eastward, and the porta decumana (The Tenth Gate), which faced westward. The two long side gates were the porta principalis sinistra (left principal gate), which faced northward, and the porta principalis dextra (right principal gate), which faced southward.
The fossae (outer ditches) were 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) deep by 1 meter (3.3 feet) wide, or wider if the enemy was seen as quite formidable.
The agger (rampart, the dirt foundation for the palisade) of a marching camp were constructed so as to be 18 or more meters (60 or more feet) from the nearest tents and was about 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) wide by 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) high. The ramparts became the foundation for the vallum (palisade). The palisade was constructed by binding together the stakes carried by each legionary or by using local timber scrounged for this purpose.
The gap between the palisade and the nearest tents, called the intervallum, was designed to insulate the camp from enemy artillery fire and to provide easy access to the ramparts.
The area within the camp was further subdivided so that it had three main viae (streets): the via praetoria (decumanus maximus), the via principalis, and the via quintana. There was also a perimeter road just inside the ramparts in the intervallum called the via sagularis. The gates of the camp were approximately 12meters (40 feet) wide. In the event of an attack, there were materials available for closing them.
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Setting Up Camp
The legionaries responsible for laying out the camp was a "color party" of ten men detached from each of the Centuries. These six hundred men traveled in the vanguard of the legion and carried, in addition to their own gear, colored flags to identify the various areas of the camp.
Surveyors put up four large flags to demarcate the outer boundary of the camp. Next, the positions of the four gates were marked. Then the site was cleared and leveled, the location of the commander's tent determined, and the remainder of the camp laid out using flags to mark various sites. The main body of the army marched in, dumped their gear in appropriate locations, and completed the construction of the camp. Men were asssigned to dig the outer ditches, and the earth from those ditches was used to construct the rampart.
After the camp was laid out, the ditches dug, and the vallum (palisade) constructed, the officers' tents were erected: The Praetorium (the commander's tent), the Quaestorium, which was the quartermaster's tent where prisoners, booty, and supplies were kept, the Legates and Tribunes tents, and every Centurions' tent were erected first..
After the officers' and special purpose tents were erected, Legionary tents were pitched back to back, fronting along smaller streets which ran parallel to the main streets of the camp. The camp-followers were sheltered (somehow; but I've found no references dealing with this). Each cohort occupied a space 36.6 meters wide by 54.9 meters deep (120 feet wide and 180 feet deep). That space was further subdived to provide 6 slots 9.1 meters (30 feet) wide, one slot for each century. Each turma occupied a space 36.6 meters wide by 9.1 meters deep (120 feet wide and 30 feet deep).
If an enemy were threatening, all of the cavalry and half of the infantry would be drawn up into battle order while the rest of the legion finished digging the ditches, building up the ramparts, and erecting the palisades.
If the weather were stormy, tents would be put up before work on the ditches and ramparts would start.
Typically, it took 3 to 5 hours to complete the digging of the ditch.
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Breaking Camp
The procedure for tearing down camp was probably similar to that described by Polybius, although he was writing about the legion prior to the Late Republic:
"As soon as the first signal is given, the men strike their tents and assemble their baggage, but no soldier may strke his tent . . . until this has first been done for the tribunes and the consul. As the second signal they load the baggage on the pack animals, and at the third the leading maniples must advance and set the whole camp in motion."
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Other Facts
- The tent of a commander could be 18.6 square meters (200 square feet) or more.
- The tent of a centurion was 1.9 square meters (20 square feet) in area
- The papilio ("butterfly"; a tent) of a contubernium, an eight-man squad, was half the size of a centurion's tent and was made of squares of skins sewn together.
- The porta decumana may have gotten its name from the fact that in the Early Republic it was the gate nearest the Tenth maniple. Despite the fact that maniples were things of the past in the Late Republic, the gate retained its traditional name.
- Both day and night were divided into 3 hour watches; the end of each watch was signaled by the blowing of a horn.
- The gates of the camp were guarded and the wall was lined with sentries spaced approximately 9.1 meters (30 feet) apart. Sentries were relieved at the end of each watch.
- The troops heading out to battle usually left the camp through the porta praetoria
- The porta decumana was the "accursed gate"; condemned soldiers were taken out this gate on their way to their executions.
- At night, no one entered a camp without the appropriate watchword, which was changed daily for security reasons.
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