Disability rates in Roman armies

[Sean Manning]

Does anyone know of a good study of the percentage of Roman soldiers who were unable to work, due to illness or accident or chronic disease, on a typical day in campaign season? I get the impression that our peacetime strength records show a significant disability rate (on the order of 10%?); on the other hand, I don't know if the pressure of combat would lead to some sick men marching and fighting. Rather like the problem of figuring out how many of these tiny detachments were called back to the standard in wartime ..

John Lee lists some possible conditions but doesn't estimate many numbers in his book.

[Currahee Chris]

Hello Sean-

I cannot immediately say I have read anything on this though I seem to recall reading something along the lines of ancient warfare resulting in KIA rates of approximately 15% in major pitched battles. I believe I read this @ this time last year about Cannae. The authors point was that Cannae was so utterly shocking and demoralizing because the Roman KIA rate was in the stratosphere.

Based on the Roman triage system and how effective they were in treating the injured, I would venture my own guess of 20-25% WIA with probably half of that number being combat ineffective and cycled out.

[D B Campbell]

I seem to recall reading something along the lines of ancient warfare resulting in KIA rates of approximately 15% in major pitched battles.

Maybe you are thinking of Peter Krentz's analysis of hoplite battles?* He concluded, from a small sample, that the losers generally suffered 14 per cent casualties, while the winner might suffer only 5 per cent.

* P. Krentz, "Casualties in hoplite battles", Greek, Roman & Byzantine Studies 26 (1985), pp. 13-20.

[M. Demetrius]

Along the lines of the soldier who was on sick/injured call coming to battle, there's a story in Gallic Wars of a wounded centurion who took up his arms in defense of the fort. His scutum is recorded as having around 150 impacts they could count, presumably from spears, swords, rocks, etc. But the fact that he survived in the face of all that says the situation was pretty dire, doesn't it?

No percentages or numbers given in Caesar's report. However, there was something listed on a tablet or two in Vindolanda about the morning report one day (so many fit to serve, so many on sick call, so many on excursion detail elsewhere, etc.) I don't have that resource handy at present, though someone else might.

[D B Campbell]

However, there was something listed on a tablet or two in Vindolanda about the morning report one day (so many fit to serve, so many on sick call, so many on excursion detail elsewhere, etc.) I don't have that resource handy at present, though someone else might.

Good call, David. It's Tab. Vind. 154. (Go here and key 154 into the search box.)

Out of 296 soldiers present in the fort, 15 were sick, 6 wounded, and 10 suffering from eye disease.

[Sean Manning]

However, there was something listed on a tablet or two in Vindolanda about the morning report one day (so many fit to serve, so many on sick call, so many on excursion detail elsewhere, etc.) I don't have that resource handy at present, though someone else might.

Good call, David. It's Tab. Vind. 154. (Go here and key 154 into the search box.)

Out of 296 soldiers present in the fort, 15 were sick, 6 wounded, and 10 suffering from eye disease.

Thank you very much. I would appreciate any other such documents that someone knows about. I would prefer Roman exempla, because its likely that there were more and worse diseases and parasites circulating in early modern Europe, because humans had longer to carry them out of their original environments (and to breed new ones in their herds of pigs and fowl).

[Epictetus]

Out of 296 soldiers present in the fort... 10 suffering from eye disease.

This is slightly off-topic, but I have always thought that Galen mentions eye problems a lot. Perhaps it was a common problem - here more than 3% of the soldiers suffered from it. I wonder if sitting in smoke-filled rooms without proper ventilation could be blamed.

[D B Campbell]

Perhaps it was a common problem ...

I'm probably not the only one thinking "Aristodemos and Eurytos at Thermopylai".

[Sean Manning]

Perhaps it was a common problem ...

I'm probably not the only one thinking "Aristodemos and Eurytos at Thermopylai".

I also think that eye problems are common in Afghanistan and parts of Africa today. The specialized verb lippire "to have wattery or swolen eyes" is interesting.

The Vindolanda Tablets website refers readers to the editio princeps for other works on strength lists, so I will track it down.