WHAT THE ROMAN ARMY WAS DOING WHEN NOT ENGAGED IN BATTLE?

The Roman army was an exceptional and efficient war machine that expressed loyalty to its leaders. However, the army mirrors the evolution of the Roman society as well. In fact, during the republican period, the army was not composed of professional soldiers and the people were drafted from their economic contribution to the Res Publica.In republican Rome the rule was: the more you own, the more you can afford in terms of weaponry and the more you can count when giving orders to other soldiers. The general Marius, uncle of Caesar, introduces an innovative measure: the army begins to be formed by people who owned nothing, and from citizens who were unemployed. The result of this change in the selection of the new recruits was that the new soldiers could serve for more than 20 years, and they were not eager to return back to Rome after the war to take care of their fields.
Marius reformation brought to the stage thousands of men eager to conquer new lands and have part of the booty. In addition, the Roman war machine was restless. When the Romans were off duty, they built bridges, aqueducts and forts. In Rome there is a popular monument that shows how the Roman army was very busy even when not fighting. The Trajan columns shows in its 35 scenes the history of the conquest of Dacia in the years 101- 106 AD. The bottom relief is very popular because it shows a pontoon bridge built by the Romans before crossing the Danube River.In the middle of the column there is also another scene that shows the Roman soldiers building a fort. The sceen is very emblematic of the committment of the Romans in building secure structures that could push back threatening forces.This post cannot end with the most popular construction that the Romans did at the time of the Samnite wars: the Appian way, that linked the city of Rome to the newly conquered Capua in 312 BC. More about Rome's history can now if you will join my tours.