I was at Housesteads fort a couple of weeks ago, discussing with friends the logistics and practicalities of laundry. We assumed soldiers washed their own clothes, but where? At the nearby stream? At one of the water cisterns at the fort??? Anybody know of any military references?
EDIT: other possibilities exist, that military servants carried out laundry activities (where? the cisterns at Housesteads show signs of long term wear, or 'scalloping'...) or that civillians within the vicus carried out these tasks, just as South Vietnamese locals washed the clothes of US soldiers during the Vietnam War.
A soldier will do dhobi but his preference would be to get someone else to do it, preferably for, erm, "gifts in kind" (the polite way to put it!!!) It still happens today
I am sure it would not take long for a static outpost to attract local civilian attention, and certainly the British Army offer contracts to the locals as part of the integration/socialisation of an occupying force. You would be amazed how quickly a queue forms at the gate and the services offered are many and varied! I see no reason why the Roman Armies of occupation were much different.
These days, dhobi will be done as soon as a patrol returns to make sure individual kit is ready for the next sortie as soon as possible. Having somewhere for it to dry is the key thing and I don't see why there could not be washing lines slung between the barrack blocks. You would have to pick your day, though, if you were posted to the Northern European provinces.
EDIT: Day before we crossed from Kuwait into Iraq in 2003. Spare set of uniform and my jim jams washed before the "off" (There's more washing hanging against the tent on the left if you can make it out). Sadly, I had to do this myself with brakish water from the 5l a day ration...
Moi Watson
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
Well, the "jim jams" went well. I hope, unfortunately not available to the "Masses" of the legions. BUT, I say again BUT, just maybe clothes were washed in conjunction with the Bath house, 2 birds, 1 stone. Re Moi's comment about time lapse.....I think blokes can go 3 weeks without washing, proper, hygiene is imperative but it has to be put in context, ie Roman Conquest of an area compared to the pacification of the same area. Everyone wants to be "clean" but operational circumstance's depict otherwise. Does not mean they were all "mingers".
I would think that over time the Legions/Auxiliaries in camp would use anything available.
Just my thoughts.
Kevin
Quote:I was at Housesteads fort a couple of weeks ago, discussing with friends the logistics and practicalities of laundry. We assumed soldiers washed their own clothes, but where? At the nearby stream? At one of the water cisterns at the fort??? Anybody know of any military references?
.
Hi, I'd recommend this book, Running the Roman Home by Alexandra Croom. She discusses a lot of the domestic processes, including laundry, in civilian homes and in forts, quantifying the necessary resources as well. It's a good book.
A common cleaning agent in the Roman world was old urine (high in ammonia), so by our standards even clean Romans would ming quite a bit...
