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Re: [RC] [RC] Ancient Greeks & Romans - Howard Bramhall

Not to ever correct my buddy, Truman, on anything, but I must differ here. 3 years stationed in Germany did teach me something (Eine bierre, bitte). One kilometer equals 5/8ths of a mile, not 3/4's. I do remember this for some absurd reason. The suggested speed on the German autobahn, where they rarely posted a speed limit at all, was 120 KPH, which, equated to 75 MPH.

Back then (not sure how it is now) that was considered a moderate speed, and, if you only went 120 KPH you'd better stay in the right hand land so the Beamers and Mercedes could pass you by.

cya,
Howard (Zwei bierre, bitte)


From: Truman Prevatt <tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Ed & Wendy Hauser <ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: WRSINOSKY@xxxxxxx,  ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [RC]   Ancient Greeks & Romans
Date: Sat, 01 May 2004 23:23:51 -0400

But if their mile was measured by 1000 paces, it was only about a kilometer since I don't know anyone with a stride of much more than a meter. A kilo meter is about 6/10's of a mile which would put their 25 miles at 15 mles and thier 23 miles at 13.8 miles.

Truman



Ed & Wendy Hauser wrote:

"...Maybe they wore lightweight armor..."
Since my last post I did some checking. First, the Roman "Mile" is only about 4800 feet so Julius Caesar's 25 mile march, 3 hours rest, and 25 mile return march was only about 23 miles each way. During training they did do forced marches of greater than 25 (Roman) miles. Usually, a days march was 15 miles. But remember they had to break camp in the morning, and set up camp at night. Setting up camp included "digging in" and planting the sharpened stakes for defense. The source said that the estimate is that they carried 60-80 lbs on the march. The reason the Romans dominated Europe for 1500 years (don't forget the Eastern Roman Empire lasted until 1453) was that they had extremely well trained and organized military.
To make this endurance related, they had extremely good cavalry. They imported desert horses (Akel Tekes??) to improve their own stock. Ann Hyland has written a great book "Training the Roman Cavalry" The Roman cavalry's limitation was that the stirrup had not been yet come into use. I also have her book "the Medieval War Horse, From Byzantium to the Crusades" This is also a must read for horse persons. I have not yet read a third book: "Equus: The Horse in the Roman World"
Ed
Ed & Wendy Hauser
2994 Mittower Road
Victor, MT 59875
ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx>
406.642.6490


--

We imitate our masters only because we are not yet masters ourselves, and only

because in doing so we learn the truth about what cannot be imitated.




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