Chafing. How did the ancients avoid chafing?

[delite]

Hello all.

Well I have waited to ask a question for quite some time. I had hoped it would be a detailed, learned question. Sadly, although detailed, I am not learned. And one question boggles my mind. Here it is.

With all the marching over many miles, how did the Roman army cope with chafing?

I apologise if this question is lame. I just wonder about it from a basic human perspective.

Many thanks for your time.

With respect. Dale

[Robert]

Hi Dale,

Well, tunica are loose fitting and for under the armor there is the subarmalis, a thick padded garment. I suppose they would also use woolen pads on pressure points to avoid the rub and grind. There are some on this forum who have made monumental treks in full kit, so I am hoping they will step in and share their experience.

[Tarbicus]

Scarves were worn, which would have helped at the neck when wearing segmentata in particular.

[jvrjenivs]

Just make sure your armour works. If it hurts, you're doing something wrong.
Furthermore, remember that the imperial Roman army was a proffesional army, with man trained for the job. A body can take a lot, when it is used to do so. Of course this means one have to have his armour rightly padded.

[delite]

Thank you all so far. I did not expect answers so quickly.

Before asking this of you, I checked into people such as Antyllus, Hippocrates etc. I have found nothing. I suppose this detail was beneath the likes of Dio. But Thucidides? He is so involved in the politics he seems above the marching soldier.

In my field, drumming, chafing in the 21st Century remains an issue. Indeed, if a drummer is not careful, chafing in the buttock region can develop into severe piles. Talc on a tour is a given. Did talc exist in ancient times? The sourses I found seemed to urge exercise in order to avoid the results of exercise??

Again, I am grateful for any time members can spare to answer this silly query.

Much respect. Dale

[Athena Areias]

I chafe when my skin is too dry.

Remember, these military boys cleaned up by scraping (with oil), doing soaks in a bath (where possible) - no modern (drying) soap! - and the oiling up again after the baths. I doubt their skin was too dry. The rest is padding for equipment. We modern folk use many products that dry out our skin.

[john m roberts]

When I was in basic training, our feet were always sore because we marched for miles in new, unbroken-in boots. We complained about it. Amazingly, our trainers didn't care. We were expected to suck it up and soldier on. I suspect it was much the same for legionaries.

[Robert]

Perhaps, but a soldier with sore feet is less effective, so the attitude sucks a bit. OK, this was training, so it was supposed to toughen you up, but still. The main thing is the boots not being broken in, I suppose. Once they are molded to your feet, things get better. Getting them really wet and then allowing them to dry on the march should help? Jurjen made a good comment to assure your armor fits well. Good thing Roman armor has plenty of buckles and straps that allow for adjusting. And padding!! All important!

[Quintius Clavus]

This kind of detail would have been beneath the notice of any of the writers in the ancient world, who were from the upper strata of their societies. Soldiers, especially Roman soldiers, were supposed to endure hardship on the march, in battle and even in camp. Too luxurious living on the part of the ordinary milites led to all sorts of accusations of softness - usually described in terms of being more like women.
To lessen the appearance of the commander or emperor living a too soft life in contrast to the ordinary soldiers, especially when on campaign or even on training exercises, the better emperors - like Vespasian, Trajan and Hadrian - made the effort to on occasion march on foot, eat the same rough fare, partake at least somewhat in tasks like entrenching.

[Jori]

I would have tons of things to say about it...

First of all, the training. When we did our marching (7 days, 20 kms per day in full equipment, food, water, furca, sarcinae etc), the first day was OK. Because we weren't tired yet. The second day was terrible. The third even worst. The last day was OK.

Because of the training. Our equipment improved a lot during these days, precisely to avoid chafing of course, but also muscular pain without need, simply in trying to bring the gear in different ways. We tested everything.

To avoid chafing, everyone has is own recipe. Mine was to :

1) never be wet. Never ever. So it's vital to be properly covered against the rain, it's vital to have clothes that can breathe. With linen or wool, this is not really an issue, not like cotton for instance.

2) nothing loose. Everything is well adjusted to the body.

3) of course subarmalis, scarf (mandatory with the armour!).

4) and most important : training. We get used ot it.

The worst of all are the feet. But there, no special advice, it depends on the feet.

- some prefer caligae with no socks. Advantage : when your feet are wet, they dry fast.
- some prefer caligae with socks. Advtange: you don't get cold.
- some prefer calcei : if your feet get wet, awful chafing and pain. But you avoid stones.

This is the basics things I can tell you about chafing.


We are preparing a book and a video about the marchs we've done (in french) with everything explained in it. Soon to be released

[Tarbicus]

This kind of detail would have been beneath the notice of any of the writers in the ancient world, who were from the upper strata of their societies.

Not necessarily, as many, if not most, would have had military service. Even Cicero served under Sulla and Strabo during the Social Wars. Such details may have just been a given, not worthy of comment.

[Tarbicus]

When I was in basic training, our feet were always sore because we marched for miles in new, unbroken-in boots. We complained about it. Amazingly, our trainers didn't care. We were expected to suck it up and soldier on. I suspect it was much the same for legionaries.

I'm personally a bit wary of those kinds of comparisons. The main mode of travel in the ancient world was by foot, so I don't see why their feet and posture wouldn't have been conditioned for walking long distances from childhood.

The Tarahumara tribe of Mexico are famous for their ability to run barefoot for more than 100 miles at a time, injury free. An interesting feature of their running technique is to land on the toes and/or balls of their feet, rather than the heel as modern runners generally do. There have been many mentions on RAT of the best way to walk in caligae being a flatfooted way of landing the feet. The Tarahumara also practice by kicking balls during sporting runs, which makes them more flexible and able to negotiate obstacles easily without losing balance. One of the legionary training techniques was to have them play a form of hop-skotch in full kit to make them more flexible in maintaining balance.

[Renatus]

The main mode of travel in the ancient world was by foot, so I don't see why their feet and posture wouldn't have been conditioned for walking long distances from childhood.

And very probably, at least until their teenage years, barefoot. I spent part of my childhood in what was then Northern Rhodesia. The Africans rarely had shoes and walked everywhere barefoot. The soles of their feet must have been like leather. I suspect that that would have applied equally in the Roman world, especially among the peasant class which would have made up the bulk of the soldiery. I think that being footsore would have been the least of their problems.

[M. Demetrius]

In the 70s, I walked a summer in Texas with no shoes. I didn't have any. The callouses on my feet were so thick that I didn't feel the heat of a sun-baked street or sidewalk, and small gravel didn't bother me. I could crush out cigarette butts with my heel without pain. (Cigars were another matter--they stick to the foot. Bad.) So if the ancients had callouses like that, the soles of their feet would be equally tough.

Once I began to wear shoes, though, the callouses went away. By spring, I was back to having more tender feet. With respect to shoes, I suspect the difference between, say, their caligae and ours was that theirs were all custom-fitted, rather than off-the-shelf. That makes a gigantic difference.

[Jori]

Yes, those from us that wear custom made caligae were in advantage, clearly. With this kind of shoe, if it is not well adjusted to your feet, when you walk, your muscles can suffer.

About the callouses on feet : that is clearly the main difference between us and ancient people. That's why we prepare a lot our feet seveeral days before marching, with nok cream for instance.