THE REAL ROMAN ARMY vrs. the renactments

[Carlton Bach]

did the ROME sereis display dailiy life in the city of rome accuratly?

Of course not. But for what it could afford, and what the average TV audoience will accept, it did a pretty decent job.

and besides the inaccurate military tactics in gladiator, why isnt the soldier accurate the only makeup they had is mud. and being on campaign for years, and had only ancient methods of cleaning your armor i think that u would look like the ones in gladiator right?

Hard to say, but probably not. The first thing you have to remember is that the Romans liked colourful and shiny. You are right that they wouldn't have had the opportunity to do all the spit-and-polish stuff on campaign, but there is no reason to assume they wallowed in the mud, either. There was a fashion in the 70s and 80s to depict history in muted earth tones and dirt, but that can be taken too far. After a few days' dfield march, Roman soldiers probably didn't smell too well, and acquired some stains and rents in their tunics. And that's that. The comparisonm with modern soldiers only works to an extent because of the fundamentsally different conditions they lived under. Modern combat is a 24/7 activity. A moment's inattention can kill you, and you remain forever within the enemy's reach by sniper, artillery or mine. There is no lull, no letup, no time to take care of even the most basic comforts. Roman soldiers, on the other hand, knew when combat was to be expected and when it wasn't. So once the tents had been set up and the sentries posted, food cooking over the fires, do you really think they wouldn't have taken the time to get clean? Not modern-day clean, with fresh clothing, deodorant and hot showers, but clean.

I can't see any organisation as large as a legion on the move not creating, willy-nilly, periods of 'empty' time.