The Brutal Truth About Becoming a Roman Soldier

What did it really take to become a Roman soldier? This is the life of a Roman soldier in ancient Rome the brutal training of the Roman army that turned an ordinary farm boy into a hardened Roman legionary. It is just after dawn, and you are standing in a line of young men outside a building you have never been allowed to enter. In a few hours a Roman officer will look at your body the way you’d look at an ox before you buy it, and decide whether you are worth the next twenty years of your life. Becoming a Roman soldier was never really about picking up a sword. Before a recruit could stand beneath Rome’s eagle he was stripped and inspected like livestock, marked and counted like property, and marched until his feet gave out, all under men who carried a vine-staff and were not shy about using it. And waiting at the end of it was an oath he could never take back. This is a day in the life of a Roman soldier taken right back to the beginning the examination, the lead identity tag, the endless marching, the weighted weapons at the stake, the punishment, and the oath that handed his life to Rome. It is the story of how the Roman army took ordinary men and quietly built the most disciplined fighting force the ancient world had ever seen. ⚔️ Want to become a Roman this Halloween? Grab a Roman soldier costume here before it sells out: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CAA2254 (As an Amazon Associate, this channel may earn from qualifying purchases.) Where in that line do you think you would have broken? Tell us below. Subscribe for more illustrated journeys into the lives of ordinary people in ancient Rome — history made of people, not dates. SOURCES • Vegetius, Epitoma Rei Militaris, Book I — https://readancienttexts.com/vegetius... • Imperial Roman Army — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperia... • Roman Military Diploma — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_m... • Roman Military Diploma (The Met) — https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect... • Legion: Life in the Roman Army (British Museum) — https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibit... • Roman Recruits (Tirones) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirones • Signaculum — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signaculum • Exercises of Roman Legionaries — https://imperiumromanum.pl/en/curiosi... • How Did the Romans March? — https://imperiumromanum.pl/en/article... #AncientRome #RomanArmy #RomanSoldier