The building of walls for a Roman fort, the castrum (video)

**Roma_Victrix** · August 27, 2016, 04:00 AM

I like the music.

This is interesting. It's not exactly packed like rammed earth, but the inclusion of dirt poured in between the wooden beams certainly made it far more solid and less susceptible to being burned down. This is a temporary castrum (plural: castra), mind you, which would have been built rapidly during a marching campaign. The more important ones guarding strategic locations were built of stone and their ruins can be seen today as far afield as England and Slovakia.

Just a small reminder of the discipline of the Roman army and the brilliance of its engineering capabilities. Perhaps more impressive was the Roman ability to throw up bridges over rivers and dismantle them with ease over the span of a few days. Julius Caesar was keen to demonstrate this ability to the Germanic tribes along the Rhine River (55-53 BC).

**+Marius+** · August 29, 2016, 12:57 PM

Would the army bring already processed wood parts from some relatively nearby lumber workyard or would the legionaries seriously have to process all those tree trunks into boards themselves?

**Morifea** · August 29, 2016, 02:01 PM

Should be easier without the Gladius messing around the legs of the ordinary miles :-D

Interresting Video, Thanks!

**Roma_Victrix** · August 29, 2016, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by +Marius+

Would the army bring already processed wood parts from some relatively nearby lumber workyard or would the legionaries seriously have to process all those tree trunks into boards themselves?

Logistically speaking shipping a bunch of lumber to the battlefront, before there was an extensive network of paved roads, would have been a nightmare, even if cutting and felling a bunch of trees was hard work for the army grunts. Sure, they'd complain, but they'd do so quietly, and not in front of their centurions. It also fits with Caesar's approach of being totally self-sufficient and able to rely on the lay of the land and natural resources at his disposal. Europe was incredibly wooded at this stage, so there was virtually an abundant amount of wood to be had wherever he marched.

**+Marius+** · August 29, 2016, 03:55 PM

I did not mean all the wood, just the boards and other more processed stuff.

But you are right, a couple carpenters in a legion and a bunch of equipment on a couple mules/oxen would make do for a mobile woodwork station.

**Roma_Victrix** · August 30, 2016, 06:28 AM

I see. In either case, whatever the tools the Romans decided to bring for the journey, they were absolutely prepared to take advantage of the local terrain and resources to build defensive posts. I'm not sure how successful this would have been in Scotland, seeing how the Romans only managed to conquer the Scottish lowlands for a time. The absence of timber would have been a big hindrance, probably why they settled for just using the local stone from quarries in order to build a big freaking wall, Hadrian's Wall. Actually, scratch that, two big freaking walls, since they also built the Antonine Wall in the mid 2nd century and perhaps even a damn third one with the Several Wall (of Septimius Severus), although the latter was probably just conflated with either Hadrian's or Antoninus Pius' wall.

I don't know much about the logistical details of Gnaeus Julius Agricola's campaign in Caledonia (Scottish Highlands) in 83 AD. Even if he was able to score some small, temporary victories, one must wonder how the Romans faired in a terrain that was so inhospitable to their ways. The Romans relied on the style of defensive fortifications that they built across the European limes, with most of their forts built of earth and timber instead of stone. If the Romans had really wanted to conquer Caledonia, however, they could have done so if they had a bit of patience and took full advantage of the stone deposits lying around the Scottish Highlands to build some impressive castra.

**Dr. Chet Manley** · August 31, 2016, 06:00 AM

I thought the English had deforested Scotland later in history? Can't remember where I got this from though - probably wrong here.

**Condottiere 40K** · August 31, 2016, 06:34 AM

With Hadrian's Wall they had time and a restricted front; a general frontier one tends to use packed earth and elements that support it.

It might have been easier to dig a canal, import crocodiles and let them loose along the central Scottish belt.

**Roma_Victrix** · August 31, 2016, 06:54 AM

Originally Posted by Condottiere 40K

With Hadrian's Wall they had time and a restricted front; a general frontier one tends to use packed earth and elements that support it.

It might have been easier to dig a canal, import crocodiles and let them loose along the central Scottish belt.

I like the way you think.

Originally Posted by Dr. Chet Manley

I thought the English had deforested Scotland later in history? Can't remember where I got this from though - probably wrong here.

They did? It was heavily wooded in antiquity? I can see the Scottish Lowlands having some woods, but the Scottish Highlands? I'd like to read about that. In either case you're generally right about the British Isles losing its woodlands by the early modern period, in the lead-up to the Industrial Revolution (preceded by the Agricultural Revolution).

**Ringeck** · August 31, 2016, 07:37 AM

That's not a temporary marching camp, I think. We have descriptions of those from the (rather muddled) text surviving of pseudo-Hyginus (De Munitionibus Castrorum) and the walls are there (rather sensibly given the time available) as I remember it, not made from planks, but as palisades. This is corroborated from archaeology. They didn't take the time to axe out planks for the walls (anyone who's axed planks knows how much work that is, and green (raw and undried) wood isn't exactly ideal plank material anyway), saving that for platforms, well covers, drains and some roofs. This, I think, is how they might construct one of the more permanent ones, and even many of those were not built with plank walls, at least not the ones I have seen archaeological reports on.

**Roma_Victrix** · August 31, 2016, 08:47 AM

Thank you for those insights, Ringeck! With your last line I'm assuming you mean the more solid, lasting stone fortifications of some Roman castra.

So what exactly did Caesar's walls look like outside of Alesia (to defend against the Gallic relief force)? Just a bunch of quickly assembled palisades?

**Condottiere 40K** · August 31, 2016, 11:08 AM

The video doesn't mentioned the boob trapped approaches, sharpened branches and probably some form of iron caltrop.

**Ringeck** · September 01, 2016, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by Roma_Victrix

Thank you for those insights, Ringeck! With your last line I'm assuming you mean the more solid, lasting stone fortifications of some Roman castra.

No, I mean that even some of the permanent castra were built with palisade walls - but some of those have the same "chest-wall" construction we see here, with earth between. It is only the ones that really last that get built up in stone. Many castra seem to have made do with wooden walls for extended periods of time. It is the night camps that really went up fast.

Alesia was a pretty big project - Caesar (well, according to himself) circumwalled the Gallic oppidum like a boss. Read about it here: http://www.forumromanum.org/literatu...lic_e7.html#73 (chapters 72-74 from book 7 of Commentaries of the Gallic Wars). But we are likely talking about palisades here was well.

**Roma_Victrix** · September 01, 2016, 07:01 AM

Originally Posted by Ringeck

No, I mean that even some of the permanent castra were built with palisade walls - but some of those have the same "chest-wall" construction we see here, with earth between. It is only the ones that really last that get built up in stone. Many castra seem to have made do with wooden walls for extended periods of time. It is the night camps that really went up fast.

Alesia was a pretty big project - Caesar (well, according to himself) circumwalled the Gallic oppidum like a boss. Read about it here: http://www.forumromanum.org/literatu...lic_e7.html#73 (chapters 72-74 from book 7 of Commentaries of the Gallic Wars). But we are likely talking about palisades here was well.

Awesome! Thanks for that link and the explanation. This thread is bearing fruit.

**Roma_Victrix** · October 06, 2016, 01:54 PM

Although it's not about walls per se, this documentary is interesting. Covers the archaeological finds at Vindolanda (a Roman castrum just south of Hadrian's Wall), including the now famous Vindolanda Tablets (in wood). And it's narrated by James Woods! Because you...have...JAMES WOODS.

Family Guy fans know what I be sayin, yo.