Roman Soldier Diet and fitness

[Peroni]

R.W. Davies in "The Roman Military Diet," published in 1971, says on the basis of his reading of history, epigraphy, and archaeological finds that Roman soldiers throughout the Republic and Empire ate meat. Especially when as Mark said above - in permanent barracks/forts.

Much of Davies' work in "The Roman Military Diet" is interpretation, but some of it is scientific analysis of bones excavated from Roman British and German military sites dating from Augustus to the third century. From the analysis, we know the Romans ate ox, sheep, goat, pig, deer, bore, and hare, in most places and in some areas, elk, wolf, fox, badger, beaver, bear, vole, ibex, and otter. Broken beef bones suggest the extraction of marrow for soup. Alongside the animal bones, archaeologists found equipment for roasting and boiling the meat as well as for making cheese from the milk of domesticated animals. Fish and poultry were also popular, the latter especially for the sick.

Roman Soldiers Ate (and Perhaps Drank) mostly grain.
Davies is not saying the Roman soldiers were primarily meat eaters. Their diet was mostly grain: wheat, barley, and oats, mainly, and also spelt and rye. But, just as Roman solders were supposed to dislike meat, so too they were supposed to detest beer -- considering it far inferior to their native Roman wine. Davies brings this assumption into question when he says a discharged Germanic soldier set himself up to supply the Roman military with beer near the end of the first century.

It might be argued that the information about Roman soldiers of the Imperial period is irrelevant for the earlier Republican period. But even Davies argues that there is evidence from the Republican period of Roman history for meat consumption by soldiers: "When Scipio reintroduced military discipline to the army at Numania in 134 B.C., he ordered that the only way the troops could eat their meat was by roasting or boiling it." Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidicus made a similar rule in 109 B.C.

Lack of Refrigeration Meant Summer Meat Would Have Spoiled
Davies lists one passage that has been used to defend the idea of a vegetarian military during the Republican period: "'Corbulo and his army, although they had suffered no losses in battle, were worn out by shortages and exertion and were driven to ward off hunger by eating the flesh of animals. Moreover, water was short, the summer was long....'"

Davies explains that in the heat of the summer and without salt to preserve the meat, soldiers were reluctant to eat it for fear of getting sick. Also mentioned is a passage from Suetonius' biography of Julius Caesar in which Caesar made a generous donation to the people of Rome of meat.

Soldiers Could Carry More Protein Power in Meat than Grain. Davies is not saying the Romans were primarily meat eaters even in the Imperial period, but is saying that there is reason to question the assumption that Roman soldiers, with their need for high quality protein and to limit the amount of food they had to carry, avoided meat.

The literary passages are ambiguous, but clearly the Roman soldier of at least the Imperial period did eat meat and probably with regularity. (More often than not when garrissoned at a permanent camp or fort rather than a moving army) That the later Roman soldier may have been more likely to be from Gaul or Germania may not be sufficient explanation for the Imperial soldier's diet. This seems to be one more case where there is reason at least to question the conventional (here, meat-shunning) thoughts.