09-06-2013, 04:41 PM
I just saw this thread on sleeping in a contubernium tent, and had some evidence and suggestions to add to the overall discussion.
There is some literary evidence for the bedding that milites used from the accounts of famous Roman commanders who set the example by avoiding luxuries or living under similar conditions as the soldiers they led:
As one of the measures to restore discipline in the army before Numantia, Scipio Aemilianus forbade the soldiers to sleep in beds, and
Plutarch records that Gaius Marius won favor with the common soldiers through his personal frugality and enduring their hardships, noting:
It is interesting that in both of the above passages both "straw" and "simple pallet" is a translation of the Greek word στιβάς, which can mean a bed of straw or rushes, or a mattress stuffed with straw, esp. one used by soldiers. (source: Perseus Greek Word Study Tool)
Ammianus Marcellinus commented on the Emperor Julian's sleeping habits:
Rolfe footnoted that a susurna is "A coarse blanket made from the fur or hide of an animal."
These references support some of the suggestions earlier in this thread that soldiers in a contubernium tent used straw or hides for bedding.
I was a little surprised by the suggestion that 8 men could not sleep together at the same time in a contubernium tent. There is enough physical space in a tent that roughly matches Hyginus' dimensions. This was noted by Carol van Driel-Murray in her analysis on the Vindolanda I leather tent. Here is her supporting illustration showing a possible sleeping arrangement:
[attachment=7922]contubernia.jpg[/attachment]
I have slept with 5 other reenactors in a papillio in a roughly similar arrangement, but have never seen it tried with 8 total (there always has been excess tentage available in my and other reenactment units that has made this unecessary, in my experience). Certainly there must be some members of this forum who have tried to sleep 8 to a tent as an experiment at some point, considering the hundreds of Roman events that have been held around the world in the last 20 years. Wasn't Junkelman's march over the Alps done with a contubernium sized unit with one papillio and a mule? What did they do? I don't have Legionen des Augustus handy — could someone check to see if this is mentioned therein?
There is some literary evidence for the bedding that milites used from the accounts of famous Roman commanders who set the example by avoiding luxuries or living under similar conditions as the soldiers they led:
As one of the measures to restore discipline in the army before Numantia, Scipio Aemilianus forbade the soldiers to sleep in beds, and
Quote:"was the first one to sleep on straw."
(Appian, Wars in Spain, 14.85)
Plutarch records that Gaius Marius won favor with the common soldiers through his personal frugality and enduring their hardships, noting:
Quote:"For as a general thing it would seem that every man finds solace for his labours in seeing another voluntarily share those labours; this seems to take away the element of compulsion; and it is a most agreeable spectacle for a Roman soldier when he sees a general eating common bread in public, or sleeping on a simple pallet, or taking a hand in the construction of some trench or palisade. ..."
(Plut. Mar. 7.3)
It is interesting that in both of the above passages both "straw" and "simple pallet" is a translation of the Greek word στιβάς, which can mean a bed of straw or rushes, or a mattress stuffed with straw, esp. one used by soldiers. (source: Perseus Greek Word Study Tool)
Ammianus Marcellinus commented on the Emperor Julian's sleeping habits:
Quote:"But Julian could wake up as often as he wished, without any artificial means. And when the night was half over, he always got up, not from a downy couch or silken coverlets glittering with varied hues, but from a rough blanket and rug, which the simple common folk call susurna."
(Ammianus 16.5.5, John C. Rolfe translation, 1935)
Rolfe footnoted that a susurna is "A coarse blanket made from the fur or hide of an animal."
These references support some of the suggestions earlier in this thread that soldiers in a contubernium tent used straw or hides for bedding.
I was a little surprised by the suggestion that 8 men could not sleep together at the same time in a contubernium tent. There is enough physical space in a tent that roughly matches Hyginus' dimensions. This was noted by Carol van Driel-Murray in her analysis on the Vindolanda I leather tent. Here is her supporting illustration showing a possible sleeping arrangement:
[attachment=7922]contubernia.jpg[/attachment]
I have slept with 5 other reenactors in a papillio in a roughly similar arrangement, but have never seen it tried with 8 total (there always has been excess tentage available in my and other reenactment units that has made this unecessary, in my experience). Certainly there must be some members of this forum who have tried to sleep 8 to a tent as an experiment at some point, considering the hundreds of Roman events that have been held around the world in the last 20 years. Wasn't Junkelman's march over the Alps done with a contubernium sized unit with one papillio and a mule? What did they do? I don't have Legionen des Augustus handy — could someone check to see if this is mentioned therein?
