Roman Military Equipment Storage

[kevair464]

Ok, this is going to sound like a dumb question, but really that fits right along with most of my posts....but...

What did the Romans (if there is evidance) use for equipment carrage and storage in castra (by this i mean equipment other than what was carried by the milites). Did they most likely use simple wood plank crates? I ask cause I have easy access to modern wooded shipping crates I can modify to hide the modern aspects that I would like to use to carrying my equipment to events and presentations (to replace the very roman Rubbermade and cardboard box containers)

Let me know, just looking at plausability

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

According to josephus in the Jewish War, they used crates/boxes.

About the parade in front of the defenders of Jerusalem, he writes:

"So the troops, as was their custom, drew forth their arms from the cases (latin quote needed) in which till now they had been covered and advanced, clad in mail, the cavalry leading their horses which were richly caparisoned"

*Josephus BJ 5. 349-53

M.VIB.M.

[kevair464]

Well that is a pretty definitive answer to my question...thanks!

[jkaler48]

The corbridge hoard (of Military equipment) wasw found in a iron bound leather covered storage box>
http://www.legionxxiv.org/lrgcorbrghoard.htm

[jvrjenivs]

The corbridge hoard (of Military equipment) wasw found in a iron bound leather covered storage box>
http://www.legionxxiv.org/lrgcorbrghoard.htm

yeah, but was it 'stored away' on a normal occasion?

[D B Campbell]

According to josephus in the Jewish War, they used crates/boxes.

Interesting reference, which was unfamiliar to me -- thanks!

Josephus uses the word thêkê, which can mean a container of any sort. Liddell-Scott-Jones suggest "a case to put anything in", noting that it can even mean a scabbard or a bow-case, depending on the context. Josephus tells us only that they "advanced in full armour, having uncovered their hopla from the thêkai which until then had covered them, ..." So it probably depends on what you think Josephus means by hopla (Liddell-Scott-Jones entry). (I'd check the concordance to see what Josephus usually means by this word, but I don't have one!)

Maybe they were just uncovering their shields?

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

That indeed is a possibility Duncan ! Josephus is shady at best, and looking at the rest of his book i have not (yet) come across other references to it.

Its a drag, also because the Corbridge hoard is only one find... Epigraphical evidence or iconographical evidence is also very scarce.. you dont see an entire legion including baggage train depicted on Trajan's Column either...

Darn!!

Today i was wondering why the Romans never invented book-printing... Geeez and its so simple! *but that aside....

M.VIB.M.

[kevair464]

Well, they must have used something for storage, and I am just trying to have plausibly accuarate storage at events, without having to hide modern storage bins under things. I figured just a simple nailed together wooden crate would be completely feasable, with or without simple handles on the side for carrying

[jvrjenivs]

Something like this strongbox from Pompeii?


I would say every wooden box would do the trick, as long as you don't decorate it with medieval motivs etc. Surely for storage at events that would be okay. You can even go for one with an authentic lock closed by a keyring

[Peroni]

jkaler48 wrote:
The corbridge hoard (of Military equipment) wasw found in a iron bound leather covered storage box>
http://www.legionxxiv.org/lrgcorbrghoard.htm

yeah, but was it 'stored away' on a normal occasion?

No, the Corbridge box was not a storage box specifically for one soldier's military equipment. It was a box full of metal junk to either be repaired or re-used by the fabrica. But, I see no reason why a soldier would not have his personal equipment stored in a box like it.

Here's Peter Connolly's exploded diagram of the hoard..

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

Was anything written on the wax tablet found inside the hoard, and if so, was it published?



M.VIB.M.

[Peroni]

There is more than one tablet in that box! I can see four :wink: You would have to ask Corbridge Museum or the museum at Newcastle.

[D B Campbell]

There is more than one tablet in that box!

According to the report, fragments of three were found, with traces of (indecipherable) writing where the stylus had cut through the wax.

[jkaler48]

One looks like the PDA I lost on my recent time travel trip

[mcbishop]

Was anything written on the wax tablet found inside the hoard, and if so, was it published?

Yes, it contained notes of some blue-skies thinking about what they could call 'lorica segmentata' (they rejected lorica fallsaparta pretty quickly), a forwarding address for legio IX Hispana, and conclusive evidence for the colour of Roman military tunics. Sadly, Lindsay and I felt the world was not yet ready for this information.

Mike Bishop