Why Were Ancient Roman Soldiers More Afraid of the Moon Than the Enemy?

What did ancient Roman soldiers fear most at night? No soldier left us a ranking, but the ancient writers show the same three terrors again and again: fire, the sky, and a shape in the dark you cannot name. You know that feeling when you hear a sound in a dark house and cannot tell what it is? Ancient Roman soldiers lived inside that feeling for years, and this video follows the sources to see how they survived it. In this video about ancient Roman soldiers: Caesar's winter camp burning around Quintus Cicero's men, a moonlit night battle outside Cremona where friend and enemy looked identical, two eclipses that did opposite things to two armies, and a ghost in Brutus's tent. We also look at where the ancient writers disagree (Livy, Cicero, Plutarch and Polybius do not tell the Pydna eclipse the same way). Everything here comes from named authors of ancient Rome, and we say so when a story is a story. 🔔 Subscribe to Being Roman:    / @beingroman61026   ▶ Watch the full series:    • Ancient Roman Soldiers   Watch next: ▶ What a Roman soldier did all day long:    • What Did Ancient Roman Soldiers Actually D...   ▶ Where they slept when there was no camp:    • Where Did Ancient Roman Soldiers Sleep Whe...   ▶ What happened when they finally retired:    • What Happened When Ancient Roman Soldiers ...   Chapters: 00:00 What ancient Roman soldiers feared most at night 02:47 The camp where the roofs were made of straw 07:20 A full moon over a road outside Cremona 13:06 The night before Pydna, and the moon that disappeared 20:11 The strangest story in the sources Sources used (ancient authors): Caesar, Gallic War, book 5 · Tacitus, Histories, book 3 · Tacitus, Annals, book 1 · Livy, History of Rome, book 44 · Plutarch, Life of Brutus and Life of Caesar · Ovid, Fasti (the Lemuria). Historians of ancient Rome still argue about several details, and the video says where. If you want more history told through the people who actually lived it, subscribe for more ancient Roman soldiers, told one night at a time. #romansoldiers #ancientromansoldiers #ancientroman