Women in the roman army? (Combatants)

[Steakslim]

I don't care about a governers wife or maneuvers I'm trying to figure a historically accurate way that a woman could serve in the legions in disgiuse as a combatant

[fasta]

Let us try to work this out :twisted:

The risk would be too great for any woman in her right mind.I'm not arguing that women can't fight(that isn't what the post is about :wink: ) but a Roman woman in that period wouldn't only be risking her life,but rape from the "other men" in her unit.She couldn't keep up a pretence for any length of time. They liked to have a good sit down and chat in the W.C. never mind the baths.

Or does she always run off to a girls only bush when in the field?

What motive could she have?.If she was able to pull off the trick with the rank and file she could never hope to be promoted as this would bring her more attention and thereby more risk of being found out.

She could never return to any position of Roman womenhood because if found out she would of been debased in the eyes of the culture. What is she getting out of it?

The only possible way is if she isn't a Roman woman but some sort of ally from a culture where is was acceptable for women to fight in open war.

:?

One thought an Emperor was travelling and in his retinue was a female gladiator and they were attack and she fought along side the troops.Very far fetched and I can't think off the top of my head which Emperor you could find to fit with this.It would only be a one off anyway.Could it work for a story?


:roll:

[M. Demetrius]

I don't care about a governers wife or maneuvers I'm trying to figure a historically accurate way that a woman could serve in the legions in disgiuse as a combatant

If you are writing a fiction story, and you don't care about historicity, then write it however you want. Other people do that.

If, on the other hand, you want to be historically accurate, you simply can't smuggle a woman into the ranks of the combat legion, period. That has been amply explained in this thread. You won't find people here who will side with you, if that's your plan, in saying "Go ahead, it's ok" because there is not a shred of historical evidence that any woman ever served in the Legions as a soldier. Courtesan, yes. Cook for the officers, perhaps.

Gaulic "Celts" had female soldiers, as did Britons. Romans didn't, period.

You needn't try to labor this point, or the thread will simply be locked.

If you have a historical reference to dispute what I just wrote, then by all means submit it, and people can look it over and see if it has merit. But when all of the historians who have commented say it never happened, well, that's about the end of that. Enough said, Clibanarie?

[Steakslim]

Enough said, Clibanarie?

Plural Clibanarii

Singular Clibanarius :wink:

[caiusbeerquitius]

Plural Clibanarii

Singular Clibanarius

Yes, and if you are calling or addressing someone (male, vocative ) it has the ending -e

*Edit* rubbish...

[M. Demetrius]

Right you are, CK. Vocative singular it is. In English, the case is called "Nominative of direct address". Grammar. It's the tool that builds language, eh?

[caiusbeerquitius]

Righty-right

[jkaler48]

For a fictional woman acting as a soldier try something like the Varus disaster where a young woman dresses as a soldier to prevent a worse fate and winds up fighting surviving and escaping. No literary evidence of
any woman serving seems to be turning up and in any event such service was very unlikely to go unnoticed absent extraordinary circumstances.

[Magnus]

I don't care about a governers wife or maneuvers I'm trying to figure a historically accurate way that a woman could serve in the legions in disgiuse as a combatant

Isn't this an oxymoron?

Seriously, I don't think you're going to pull that one off without compromising history.

[Matthew Amt]

The vocative of Clibanarius would be Clibanari, because in words ending in -ius the -us is simply dropped. The -e is for words ending in just -us. So Quintus, Quinte, and Marcus, Marce, but Julius, Juli, and Tiberius, Tiberi.

Sorry, had to throw that in!

Matthew (Don't call me Matthe!)

[caiusbeerquitius]

You´re right there... "tite tati" it is, of course... :lol:

[Proximus]

If you nead to write a book about this, I think you should drop the idea of legionnaire woman disguised in man and having a normal life with other legionnaires in the camp.

Maybe you could turn to something like a woman follower who, sometimes, tries to disguise herself in a legionaire and try to get into the army, assuming she can keep anonymity while in formation, witch is hard to beleve.

I think it will be your bigger problem : how to find her a place in the formation where all the rank know each other. Maybe she could argue everytime she infiltrate she is a "newly affected man from an other cohort" ? And everytime she infiltrate the army, she changes the cohort where she get into ?

It could be interesting to see the reaction of a soldier who had seen her before in an other cohort, the intrigue could be a good way to start a episode !

[Ron Andrea]

That raises another point: even if your female could disguise herself to look like a soldier, she probably wouldn't know how to act like one.

Assuming she somehow interposed herself, appropriately attired and somehow carrying the weight, in the ranks, the first time a command was given and she responded wrong, everyone around her would be thinking, "This new-bee is going to get me killed."

Followed by a closer look at the strange soldier. At which point the charade falls apart. :oops:

[Robert Vermaat]

Is it just me or is this becoming more and more like a discussion about some WWII (C-)movies of downed allied pilots escaping - how to disguise yourself as a German soldier without speaking one word of German. "Don't mind him major, he's mute".

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Says the Legate :My, what a narrow waist you have, Legionari!
Says cross dressing Legionari : I've been following the Weider Plan sir!