Life in a Roman Fort - What Was it Like? DOCUMENTARY

In this live history documentary we join Roman soldiers as they take up their watch along the fortified border of the Rhine frontier. We begin with a brief introduction to the Roman Limes which was composed of a network of forts, walls, and outposts. These allowed the Roman army to effectively control hundreds of miles with just a few men. But the key to this system was information with which to properly react to events along the frontier. Thus a vast series of small forts and watchtowers was established. This episode focuses on what the experience of ancient daily life in a Roman fort on the Germanic Limes.

Stay tuned for more episodes of Live History which will cover other aspects of daily life in the past though reenactment footage and on location aerial shots.

Other related episodes:

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:22 The Germanic Frontier
06:18 Roman Fort
07:24 Daily Duties
09:17 Watch Duty
11:42 Maintenance
14:19 Off-Base Missions
15:15 Off Time
16:13 Merchants
17:43 Outro

Credits
Research: Chris Das Neves
Writing: Invicta
Narration: Guy Michaels
Reenactment: Veteres Milites, Imperium Romanum
Editing: Penta Limited

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[InvictaHistory]

Love producing these "Live History" documentaries as there is no beating the value of actually seeing the past in living color! Huge thanks to the reenactors from Veteres Militer and Imperium Romanum!!!

[fideliselan]

"There is always something to do, even if it is painting the pebbles" - written by a veteran. I once had to rake the sand around my squad bay into a "Zen Garden" for the Gunny. He thought it was funny as hell... Excellent video as always, Invicta!

[SultanBrokenClock]

Ahh the Witcher music in the background AMAZING! 👍🏽

[uamsnof]

I grew up near the Saalburg: A larger fortification along the Limes-Wall at the edge of the Roman Empire. We would go for a class trip. They've rebuilt/reconstructed the walls and some of the buildings inside to serve as a restaurant with Roman dishes and a museum. They also let kids practice the bow-and-arrow and throwing the pilum. Good times. It's great to see a video on a large youtube channel bring the experience back to life and go into detail about the daily lives of the people that lived there.

[ak]

I got my two sons into Roman and greek history. They love these videos and all the times we visited actual sites from the UK to Germany to Italy.

[ShaDOWDoG]

Having done this, almost the exact same thing in the modern military, this is a captivating topic.

[DragonxFlutter]

I started watching this channel for the Warhammer stuff, and clicked this video on a whim. But honestly? This was actually really cool! I think it helps that you had the assistance of the live reenactment groups and their footage, because it was actually really fun to see them perform the same tasks that an actual soldier would have done back then!

[robbabcock_]

The wonderful reenactors really add a whole other dimension to these videos! Fantastic! 😎⚔🔥

[patrickb]

Perfect timing. I’m taking the plastic sprues from my models for AoS gonna trim them down and make Roman palisade terrain with them. So yes I am a nerd. And now I can use these as visual reference.

[mariuslorson]

Good video. May I add that one of the common features associated with fixed fortifications on the Roman borders was the "vicus". The vicus was a kind of village, which started to grow outside of the fortifications themselves. Often these began as fixed housing for merchants, the families of soldiers & local service providers. This was a consequence of the mixed supply system, which was used by the Roman military (sending supplies from larger fortifications to smaller ones, buying from local traders & living off the land). Sometimes a vicus got so big, that it would be recognised as an actual town. We can see an example of that in the modern German town of Rottweil - which was founded a fort by Emperor Vespasian around 69 AD. The vicus underneath the modern suburb/village of Göllsdorf in Neckar valley grew so large that it later was recognised as the "municipium arae flaviae". [It should be mentioned that Arae Flaviae by that point in time wasn't a border town any more. Though it is a neat example. I could go into other places such as Augusta Treverorum, which also is quite a tale, worthy of a video. Maybe Invicta will get to that some day.]
We have further examples of Roman soldiers on the frontiers creating their own gardens to grow food, herbs and other useful plants such as hemp to turn into fibres (though linen seems to have been the preferred fibre to make clothing).

[nuclearmedicineman]

I'd assume life in a Roman fort is pretty much like life in a forward operating base. Crappy food, sleeping in tents, waiting for something to happen, training, fiddling with your gear, writing letters home, patrolling...

[schlirf]

Remember visiting a Limes in Germany back in the day. Very similar to our border camps on the former East German and Czechoslovakian borders during the 1980s.

[rnnr_as]

Awesome! Cooncidentally, this video released THE DAY BEFORE I am visiting Limesfort Pohl on 20/10. I went to Saalberg a few weeks ago. As an American Soldier stationed in Wiesbaden and a Roman enthusiast I feel so lucky to be here.

[ColonelPeppers]

Video on Roman Empire: Intrigued.
Video on Roman Empire fort: guaranteed click.

[jacktribble]

Falling asleep on watch hasn't been a minor infraction in any military organization I can think of.

[MichaelSmith-ijut]

As someone who was once ordered to "sweep the puddles", I relate heavily to pebble painting.

[pavlobirch]

I love "life in a XYZ" series - they fascinate me the most. There is nothing interesting for me to know about yet another battle number #7890, but learning how regular people lived is way more enjoyable.

[z]

Don’t you love some Witcher bgm while listening to how the Romans operated their forts? Almost imagined some poor blokes getting ambushed by some drowners

[tacitronin]

Yet another fantastic doc on the Romans. Keep it up please. I watch ever episode released. Cheers!

[babysealsareyummy]

I love these, please keep making these! Seriously well made!