Observations on marching Roman legionaries: velocities, energy expenditure, column formations and distances.

A combination of modern-day medical and military studies, together with some simple facts about the lives of Roman legionaries, allows: an examination of energy expenditure (EE) and other key physiological factors such as food and water consumption; the legionary rate of march and subsequent implications for the form of marching armies; and insights into the building of temporary marching camps.

A key aim of this essay is to identify the typical, day-to-day, march velocity of a Roman army unit as it travelled along roads between marching camps and forts within its province, and also when journeying far greater distances between provinces. Efforts are also made to understand the probable march velocities and column formations for Roman units marching off-road.