05-10-2006, 08:04 PM
Marching speed depends, of course, on the terrain covered, the baggage carried and the length of the march overall, but I believe it's often stated that the Roman legion was expected to cover 20 miles on a good day - Caesar's forced marches I think did 25. In reality, I would think 15-18 more likely for a standard legion with all its baggage during normal operations. The baggage train is the real marker for the speed of the legion as a whole, and Caesar often rushed his troops on ahead of the train (when he was marching on the Nervii, for example) to pick up the pace.
As for individual speeds, they could be very swift indeed - Suetonius (Caesar, 57) has Caesar travelling 100 miles in one day during a journey from Rome to western Gaul. Plutarch writes that the freedman Icelus carried the news of Nero's death from Rome to Galba in Spain in only seven days, which would have required a speed of around 10 miles an hour: certainly possible with regular relays of horses, and these were available for rapid carriage of important news (or people). Without the rush, journeys would be much longer - 20 miles a day on horseback is quite tiring enough!
This was in summer, of course - winter could make journeys infinitely protracted, or even impossible. Vitellius' legions took two months to march from the Rhine to northern Italy in the early spring of 69AD.
- Nathan
As for individual speeds, they could be very swift indeed - Suetonius (Caesar, 57) has Caesar travelling 100 miles in one day during a journey from Rome to western Gaul. Plutarch writes that the freedman Icelus carried the news of Nero's death from Rome to Galba in Spain in only seven days, which would have required a speed of around 10 miles an hour: certainly possible with regular relays of horses, and these were available for rapid carriage of important news (or people). Without the rush, journeys would be much longer - 20 miles a day on horseback is quite tiring enough!
This was in summer, of course - winter could make journeys infinitely protracted, or even impossible. Vitellius' legions took two months to march from the Rhine to northern Italy in the early spring of 69AD.
- Nathan
Nathan Ross
