05-18-2015, 01:05 PM
Hello all, this is my first post on this forum.
Does anyone know of any classical sources that describe or illustrate how the defensive ditches of military encampments were dug? ("with spades and shovels I hear everyone say").
The reason for asking is the following. I was having a lazy Sunday afternoon in a pub garden with a friend that's in the construction industry and ended up discussing if a well trained legion could construct a standing camp quicker than modern machinery and tools, we were estimating the time and manpower to dig the ditches and in my calculations I assumed that the legions mules and oxen would be used to plough the ground (where appropriate) before it was shoveled. I've read a translation of "De Munitionibus Castrorum" and some of "Histories" by Polybius but while they're both full of information on the dimensions and position of the ditches, I can't remember any references to the actual digging of the ditches (next up Vitruvius)
Knowing the legend of Romulus and him ploughing the boundary marker around the Palatine Hill when founding Rome, and that in later generations this action became part of the religious rites while founding a new settlement, I assumed that using the cart animals would be a sensible and obvious thing to do while building camps.
I'm thinking of composing an article on the urgency and methods of camp construction but can't find a source to reference the use of animals in ditch construction, but then again I suppose lack of proof of something happening is not proof of it not happening.
I will make an appropriate offering to the relevant god at the local temple if anyone can point me to a source.
Does anyone know of any classical sources that describe or illustrate how the defensive ditches of military encampments were dug? ("with spades and shovels I hear everyone say").
The reason for asking is the following. I was having a lazy Sunday afternoon in a pub garden with a friend that's in the construction industry and ended up discussing if a well trained legion could construct a standing camp quicker than modern machinery and tools, we were estimating the time and manpower to dig the ditches and in my calculations I assumed that the legions mules and oxen would be used to plough the ground (where appropriate) before it was shoveled. I've read a translation of "De Munitionibus Castrorum" and some of "Histories" by Polybius but while they're both full of information on the dimensions and position of the ditches, I can't remember any references to the actual digging of the ditches (next up Vitruvius)
Knowing the legend of Romulus and him ploughing the boundary marker around the Palatine Hill when founding Rome, and that in later generations this action became part of the religious rites while founding a new settlement, I assumed that using the cart animals would be a sensible and obvious thing to do while building camps.
I'm thinking of composing an article on the urgency and methods of camp construction but can't find a source to reference the use of animals in ditch construction, but then again I suppose lack of proof of something happening is not proof of it not happening.
I will make an appropriate offering to the relevant god at the local temple if anyone can point me to a source.
