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Great point. The picture you paint seems generally like the ancient world. In Rome, malaria, unsanitary apartment buildings burning down, highway men if you tra
by nescioquid 4y ago
Great point. The picture you paint seems generally like the ancient world. In Rome, malaria, unsanitary apartment buildings burning down, highway men if you travel by road, pirates if by sea, everyone was sick (I vaguely recall Cicero mentioning another senator suffering from diarrhea soiling himself in public) and the bread you ate wore down your teeth. Do you happen to know if the Romans thought that these things were especially worse on campaign (wouldn't doubt it at all)?
- sandworm101 4y agoA soldier on the move would probably have been healthier than a slave in the heart of a Roman city. But deaths associated with day-to-day life are very different than deaths far away on campaign. Remember that it would be many months, possibly years, before a family knew whether their son had survived his military service. And a good number of sons that did survive never actually came home, instead settling in some far away place or were stuck without money enough to make the return trip.