Roman Soldiers Had to Clean Their Rooms Too (3rd C BC- 3rd C AD)
Contrary to popular belief, it appears that women had a very high presence in Roman military forts, living and working alongside the men even in wartimes. Although previously it was thought that the forts were exclusive to men, a number of objects and their distribution pattern throughout a number of Roman forts have begun to dispel that notion!
A typical Roman soldier was not legally allowed to have a wife, although commanding officers frequently had wives and children. The belief was that the only women in a Roman fort would have been these officers’ wives, and that any other women inside the forts were prostitutes or concubines – women who didn’t live there on a regular basis. However, it is likely that this concept was reinforced by male military historians in the 19th century, who believed that women were merely a distraction and a disruption to military life.
In direct contract to this outdated belief, over 30,000 objects such as hairpins, beads, perfume bottles, and spindle wheels have been found all across the fort buildings and in along their streets. These kinds of artifacts show that women played roles as craftspeople, traders, and shopkeepers, in order to keep the small town-like economy of the forts running smoothly. After all, if the men were expected to receive military training and work for the army all day – who would be left to negotiate shipments of food supplies and mend clothing?
Another intriguing piece of the puzzle comes in the form of 11 babies, buried underneath the barracks of one of the forts. Historians who still believe the forts were segregated have tried to explain this phenomenon as coincidence, claiming the babies’ remains were accidentally brought into the fort in shipments of soil and then laid down in the barracks’ foundations unawares, however that is highly unlikely – a coincidence of 11 burials transported from elsewhere is rather impossible.
According to archaeologists, tombstone inscriptions in and around the Roman forts detail how many soldiers left property to women upon their deaths, which is a very significant act for any Roman male, and not something he would have done for a concubine or prostitute. These Roman soldiers were forming long-term relationships with women while inside the forts, and though they may not have legally been allowed to wed, it appears that women still lived and worked alongside the soldiers as common-law wives, taking care of the soldiers and bearing their children.
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