11-22-2018, 08:34 PM
(11-22-2018, 07:04 PM)Stug50 Wrote: the duty roster for a Century in Legio III
Do you mean RMR 9, for Legio III Cyrenaica in Egypt, c.AD90-97? This roster is given in full (with suggested expansions) near the bottom of this page here.
I don't think anyone really knows what 'boots' means! One entry is for 'Helius's boots' (expanded from cal hel, apparently) - Helius seems to be a centurion, judging by some of the other entries. Interestingly, Aemilius Valens has the duty 'batman to Helius' - I'd like to know what word or abbreviation is translated as 'batman'! But this suggests that 'boots' was not, as some have suggested, a sort of servant for a superior officer.
I was wondering the other day why there have been so many finds of Roman boots and shoes at Vindolanda - but then considered that each man might get through a pair a year, and with c.1000 men or so that's a lot of old pairs... So the roster entries might just mean that these men were given the task of repairing old or damaged caligae, or perhaps making new ones - think of all those hobnails that needed hammering into place!
Nathan Ross
