Roman military engineering

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'Roman military engineering is that Roman engineering carried out by the Roman Army - almost exclusively by the Roman legions for the furthering of military objectives. The military engineering of Ancient Rome's armed forces was of a scale and frequency far beyond that of any of its contemporaries. Indeed, military engineering was in many ways instiutionally endemic in Roman military culture, as demonstrated by the fact each each Roman legionary had as part of his equipment a shovel, alongside his gladius (sword) and pila (spears).

Roman military engineering took both routine and extraordinary forms, the former a proactive part of standard military procedure, and the latter of an extra-ordinary or reactionary nature.

[edit] Proactive and routine military engineering

[edit] The Roman legionary fortified camp

Each Roman legion had a military legionary fort as its permanent base. However, when on the march, particularly in enemy territory, the legion would, after a day's marching, construct a fortified camp or castra, requiring as raw materials only earth, turf and timber. Camp construction were the responsibility of special engineering units to which specialists of many types belonged, officered by architecti (engineers), from a class of troops known as immunes since they were excused from or, literally, immune from, regular duties. These engineers would requisition manual labor from the soldiers at large as required. A legion could throw up a camp under enemy attack in as little as a few hours. Judging from the names, they probably used a repertory of camp plans from a set textbook, selecting the one appropriate to the length of time a legion would spend in it: tertia castra, quarta castra, etc., "a camp of three days", "four days", etc.

[edit] Bridge building

Further information: Roman bridge

The engineers also built bridges from both timber and stone depending on required permanence, time available etc. Some Roman stone bridges survive to this day. Stone bridges were made possible by the innovative use of the keystone to allow an arch construction. One of the most noteable examples of military bridge-building in the Roman Empire was Julius Caesar's Bridge over the Rhine River. This bridge was completed in only ten days and is conservatively estimated to be more than 300 feet long.^[1][2] The construction was deliberately over-engineered for Caesar's states purpose of impressing the Germanic tribes^[3], who had little experience of engineering, and to emphasise that Rome could travel wherever she wished. Caesar was able to cross over the completed bridge and explore the area uncontested, before crossing back over and dismantling the bridge. Caesar relates in his War in Gaul that he "sent messengers to the Sugambri to demand the surrender of those who had made war on me and on Gaul, they replied that the Rhine was the limit of Roman power". The bridge was intended to show otherwise.

[edit] Engineering siege machines

Although most Roman seighe machines were adaptations from earlier Greek designs, the Romans were adept at engineering them swiftly and efficiently, as well as innovating variations such as the repeating ballista.

[edit] Road making

Further information: Roman road

When invading enemy territories, the Roman army would often construct roads as they went, to allow swift reinforcement and resupply, as well as a path for easy retreat if necessary. Roman road-making skills are such that some Roman roads survive to this day.

[edit] Civilian engineering by military troops

Further information: Roman engineering

The Roman army also took part in building projects for civilian use. There was sound reasons for the use of the army in building projects: primarily, that if they weren't directly engaged in military campaigns, the legions were largely unproductive, costing the Roman state large sums of money. But the involvement of the soldiers in building works, kept them not only well accustomed to hard physical labour, but also kept them busy, since it was the widely held belief that busy armies weren't plotting to mutiny, whereas idle armies were.

Of both military and civilian use was the construction of roads within the boundaries of the Empire, in which the army was heavily involved. But so too were soldiers put to use in the construction of town walls, the digging of shipping canals, the drainage of land, aquaeducts, harbours, even in the cultivation of vineyards. In some rare cases soldiers were even used in mining work.

[edit] Reactive and extra-ordinary engineering

The knowledge and experience learned through such routine engineering lent itself readily to any extra-ordinary engineering projects required by the army, and it is here that the scale of Roman military engineering exceeded that of any of its contemporaries in both imagination and scope.

One of the most famous of such extra-ordinary constructions was the walling in of the entire city of Alesia and its Celtic leader Vercingetorix, withing a massive length of double-wall - one inward-facing to prevent escape or offensive sallies from the city, and one outward-facing to prevent attack by Celtic reinforcements. This wall is estimated to be over 13 miles long

A second example would be the massive ramp built using thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth up to the invested city of Masada in the Jewish Revolt. The siege works and the ramp remain in a remarkable state of preservation today.

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