The Life of Roman Soldiers on Hadrian’s Wall
Question one
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Roman Legionaries who were from all over the Roman Empire built
Hadrian’s Wall in six years. The building of the wall must have been
welcome activity in this edge of the world outpost. The Romans had the
best artisans working on this Wall, from architects to carpenters to
masonries. The wall is mostly built of stone, and in parts is 10 Roman
Feet wide and later 8. It was started in the east and reached the
river irthing near what is now Carlisle. It then weaves west to the
Solway Firth but is built of 18" by 12" by 6" regulation turf blocks.
Mile castles were placed at regular intervals, with each pair of Mile
castles having two Turrets between them. A Mile castle could garrison
between 8 and 32 men and the Turrets could also shelter some soldiers
but acted primarily as lookout vantage points. As Hadrian's Wall
developed more legionaries were moved up to the wall and then large
Forts like Bird Oswald were built which were along side it. These
Forts had gates to allow traffic to pass north and south through the
wall.
Housteads was one of these forts perched high upon a crag over looking
the Scottish countryside perfect site for a fort but what was it like
to live in the fort? Was life comfortable for the solders? Was it a
healthy place to live? In this essay ill look at how comfortable life
was for the roman legionaries. In the third centaury
It is evident in the ruins of the fort that the Romans were able to
make use of water. In the south east of the site they had a network
stone gutters that ended up in the toilets or latrines. These were at
the edge of the site to get rid of the waste quickly its was a health
hazard they realized this and were able to change the fort accordingly
for example the fort was changed numerous times for numerous reasons