Weight of Marching Pack

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I always base my statement on the combat formation march I'm afraid, which would logically require the men to be in closer formation and ready to manoeuvre. Perhaps the requirement to keep in step would be relaxed if the formations were left to amble along. I think the disciplin in the Roman army would probably require the formations to keep in step and keep the required speed up.

We see in the sculptural remains men in close formation in combat, so is this a case of the evidence only being reliable if it fits the theory.......

I know people say they can form testuedo, etc with out keeping in step, but from the experience I have had, the
whole affair is more stable in step that out.
Also, if you go out of step on rough ground, getting back into step helps to make formation changes smoother too.
It's not impossible, and certainly is no less an assumption than assuming they didn't because we do it today.

[Sean Manning]

But are we sure about how much depth each rank was assigned in a Roman formation that was ready to manoeuver? The evidence seems clear about width (2 or 4 cubits per man) but I'm not sure about depth. I know that some armies add a fair bit of space between each two ranks for road marches, so stepping on the guy in front of you might not have been a concern.

I'm kind of skeptical of a typical load of 50 kg or more too, but I haven't studied the subject. Romans were taller and healthier than a lot of other people, but that's still an impressive load.