Where did they keep the mules in garrison?

[jkaler48]

By all accounts each Legion had quite a number of pack and draft mules to haul gear on the march as well as Horses for Officers and others requiring mounts.
When one looks at diagrams of forts and Fortresses they seem quite full of buildings but often no or little space is labeled stables. Probably the mules and horses are out with details
grazing and doing local hauling during the day but where may they have been secured at night and when the Fort came under attack? Annexes are certainly probable locations
but not all Forts/Fortress had one.

[D B Campbell]

Each legionary fortress appears to have had its own prata legionis, or "legionary meadowlands" (later known as the territorium, or "territory"), which could cover hundreds of square miles. The best evidence comes from Spain, where boundary markers of Augustan date have been studied. I would guess that the legion's livestock were treated in the same way as any other livestock, probably with barns and byres dotted around the countryside within this "territory". Heaven help the thieves who tried to rustle the legionary cattle! :wink:

[M. Demetrius]

If by "in garrison" you mean during the long winter non-battle season, that's one thing. For a campaign fort, in Polybius (in a book I no longer have) there was a mention of how a campaign fort was constructed, the order of building/pitching tents, digging the ditch/berm, and who was responsible for what. In that passage, it said that the ditch was placed outside of javelin distance from the tents, etc., and the horses were tethered in the grassy area between the berm and the fort.

Wish I could find that book again, and cite the specific passage. Maybe someone else could help out here?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I recall the bit about the tents being outside javalin distance, but thats all I'm afraid. No help there until I can get home to find the copy of Polybius.....

[Americus]

Polybius (Penguin Classics version), Book VI, The Roman Military System.

Para 27: ". . . They pitch the tents of these officers all in one straight line running parallel to the selected side of the square and fifty feet from it, so as to leave space for the hourses, mules and baggage of the Tribunes."

Para 31: "The rampart is dug on all sides at a distance of 200 feet from the tents, and this empty space serves a number of important purposes. . . . Also all the cattle which are brought into the camp and all plunder captured from the enemy are located (here). . . "

Does this help?
Rob

[D B Campbell]

... forts and fortresses, they seem quite full of buildings but often no or little space is labeled stables.

I think the question was about permanent army bases.

On the march, baggage animals had to be accommodated in the marching camp, as your quote from Polybius demonstrates. For the imperial period, Hyginus mentions a space allocation for mules. The soldiers' tents are erected in rows 30 feet wide: leaving a 6 foot gap as a lane between rows, the remaining 24 feet are made up of the 10-foot wide tent, a 5-foot wide area for stacking arms and equipment, and 9 feet "for the mules" (papilioni dantur pedes X, armis pedes V, iumentis pedes IX, fiunt pedes XXIV: Hyg., De munitionibus castrorum 1).

[M. Demetrius]

Thanks for that reference, D.B. That's probably exactly what the original question was seeking.

And thanks, too, Americus, I'm glad the memory cell still held true. That's exactly what I was vaguely remembering. Just think of how much more entrenching that required! And I grump about having to dig a hole to plant a small tree. :!:

[jkaler48]

Thanks everyone! I now know where to keep the mules if I ever get any, and a Fort and or a camp and tents and muleteers! :lol:

[M. Demetrius]

And a new use for all those shovels, eh?

[jkaler48]

And a new use for all those shovels, eh?

With 500 -1000 animals per Legion they must have had quite a few shovels but very few have been found in Legionary contexts.
It may be that the shovels for this use were all wood and did not survive in the ground when discarded.

[D B Campbell]

... they must have had quite a few shovels but very few have been found in Legionary contexts.

I had the impression that we have about as many shovels as dolabrae. Am I wrong?

[mcbishop]

I had the impression that we have about as many shovels as dolabrae. Am I wrong?

Utterly, Duncan :-) ) I'm not sure we have any shovels from the Roman period. There are certainly spade sheaths in a similar sort of abundance to dolabrae but all archaeologists will tell you the profound difference between shovels and spades (incidentally I never dig with a shovel as I can throw further with a spade).

Mike Bishop

[PhilusEstilius]

Mike
I have to agree about the shovel and spade situation for anyone with any sense would not try to dig with a shovel, that's why we have spades as also did the Romans.

Infact is not the shovel more of a modern western world invention, and of course the Romans would have used the entrenching tool to drag the earth into a basket which would be passed up to their buddies to empty where needed.

Therefore no shovels but lots of spade sheaths.

[D B Campbell]

I'm not sure we have any shovels from the Roman period.

I must be mistranslating Schaufelhacke. :oops: Apologies.

[jkaler48]

This photo is supposed to be a Shovel from Noricum. I don't remember if there was any detail find information.
I found the link:
http://www.unrv.com/roman-events/magdal ... hotos3.php