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Roman Marching Kit


The army reforms of the great general Marius around 100 BC saw the Roman soldiers expected to carry most of their own gear so they were nicknamed "Marius's Mules". A contubernium of eight soldiers and two auxiliary "servants" shared a tent, and they had a single pack-mule to carry the tent and the cooking equipment.

The soldier carried a furca, a 4 ft long pole with a T-shape formed by a crossbar. The pack (a leather bag) was strapped to the crossbar. His digging-tool was the dolabra, which got a lot more use than his sword did! He carried a bronze patera (an all-purpose cup, cooking pot and food bowl), and a water-flask. Sometimes a hollowed-out gourd with a wax-stopper made a lightweight water-flask, carried in a string net. He also carried several days food-rations, including buccellatum, a dried hardtack that could last for years. The Roman handbag was a leather loculum ("little-place") of the design below.


​Below, our legionary Marius Dacius displays his marching pack of the VI Ferrata.
Camp display items

Pera (square leather furca bag), loculus, and net bag (with linen bags)
red wool blanket
paenula and fibula
patera (cooking pan), stitula (pot), and canteen
ceramic jug and drinking cup
knife, seive, andduck-handled spoon
spice jar and daily ration of red wheat-berries
oil lamps and flint striker
Mithras statue
writing tablet
sling and sling bullets
tessarae (dice)
coin purse with actual coins
braccae, and fascia ventralis. 

Picture