Dinner Time

[Carlton Bach]

:?: Hmm... what's the best way to store drinks? I mean, there weren't canteens then, were there? What about back at camp -- is there a store of amphoras filled with water, etc? As I'm assuming there aren't any huge bottles of Gatorade lying around. :wink:

Ain't no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid answers, and I do those on this forum.

The thing is, we don't know how the Romans would have solved the problem. There were, of course, containers they could have used. Buckets (metal and wood, and probably also straw, fabric and leather), pottery amphorae and dolia as well as canteens, wooden casks, waterskins and, of course, the (in)fampous metal canteen. On the march I'd choose a waterskin, gourd or wooden container if I didn't have a metal canteen. I have a gourd that works just fine and a lathe-turned wooden bottle that I think I destroyed last winter by storing it badly. Carried the gourd with me everywhere I went at a very hot event this summer to uphold the Romans' bad reputation, too.

For larger quantities, every permanent camp would have had a cistern, well or aqueduct. Since we can't make those portable, we need to guesstimate our own solution with what is available. I have a seven-litre coarseware pottery container with rope loops (it looks more medieval than ancient but it does the job), and if the well is too far away, I hide a 20l plastic canister in the tent. A bucket, original-size amphora or small cask would do just as well. Of course a waterskion is most likely given it's what depictions of pack animals frequently show, but I haven't found any way to get or make those.