Watchtowers: the Roman System of Border Defense
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2024
- The watchtower was at the core of the Roman empire’s system of border defense in the European mainland. Placed at a fixed interval, the number of Roman watchtowers along the frontier must have been staggering in ancient times. But what role did they fulfill exactly, who manned the watchtowers and what was life like inside a watchtower? Find out in this documentary!
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00:00 channel trailer
00:10 introduction
00:58 World Anvil
02:30 the system of border defense
05:09 design and defense
08:10 life inside the tower
11:30 watchtower duty
14:20 outro
15:01 the end
"The Beacons are lit, the Border calls for aid"
"And Rome shall answer."
Ibic runi
Tututu tu-tu tu tuu-tu
It's really nice (and rare) to see a history video that's visually acted out, not just simple animations with a narrator.
Much worse, written by AI, and all images used are AI, and much worse, the AI was trained off by incorrect information.
This is secretly the best history channel on rome. Seriously.
thanks so much, it means a lot to read such a thing :D
@@ImperiumRomanumYTit's true!
cant agree more!
100%
Your videos are absolutely essential to us who are serious about the study of Roman military history. I have been at it for nearly 60 years and can assure you that this first person detail is the very best that I have ever seen.
Thank you all so much for the wonderful work. I could have said hard work but yours is a labor of love for history.
Thanks a lot David, such a nice thing to read! And indeed it is a labor of love, hard labor that is haha
And hard work also!!
I read Clash of Eagles Trilogy g.co/kgs/gwLbF5b
By Alan Smales years ago and recall his verbal illustration of a Roman watchtower in ca: AD 300 North America.
It informed me of much the same. It's likely I've forgotten but I don't recall a moat. It makes so much sense especially considering you might have to beat feet and having enemy beleaguered with obstacles makes for a better chance at escape. Er tactically advancing to the rear.
10:15 This channel is incredible; it's the only one that takes into account the human aspect of history rather than focusing solely on mundane weapons and armor like all the others. That's what makes it exceptionally professional. Beyond weapons and armor, there has always been, is, and will always be a human element, and without that humanity, you cannot accomplish anything. I believe that with these "family" short sequences, we briefly had a genuine glimpse into the past, as if we had a real-time machine and saw how the Romans truly lived and who they really were: people just like us.
This is far from the "only" channel that considers the human factor. Lots of other channels do the same: toldinstone, Adrian Goldsworthy, etc.--and that's just for ancient Rome.
That isn't true at all. There are channels that go so far as to trace and task about the careers of individual soldiers. It's extremely rare anyone only focus on the equipment...
Another important aspect of the watchtowers is that they did not operate alone. They were part of a defense in depth strategy that stretched back several miles behind the border. While a watchtower would be every 500-1000 meteres apart, there would be small fortlets spread every few kilometers that might house a century or two of soldiers. When the alarm was spread, they could be used as a skirmishing or delaying force to slow down the invading enemy. Every dozen kilometers or so would be a slightly larger fort with a cohort of legionaries. Depending on the size of the invading enemy, tese might be all that was necessary to stop the enemy, but if not, then spread roughly a few days march apart would be the much larger legionary fortresses with 5-10,000 soldiers.
Look at all those white soft legs… those aren’t even basic fitness level legs, let alone ancient infantry
They really are though, I mean we noticed right?
@@charlescatt4607
Always good to see yall upload. Thanks for the video :3
The quality of the video, the reconstruction, the information, the editing, the voice over, and everything is just mind blowing... I hope this channels continue growing even more
Thanks a lot, great to get some appreciation for those things which are easily taken for granted/not noticed by many. Every aspect of making a video takes quite a bit of effort and expertise to be done right
How has this channel not blown up yet. Seriously, this is high quality content!
Great to see a fresh video guys. Very enjoyable.
Most excellent. Always interesting and educational, with an entertaining presentation.
Awesome episode again guys! Thanks I could be of any use! Very enjoyable again ❤
Best Roman history channel with Maiorianus, Invictus, or Metatron!
Your reenactment, the costumes, narration... I love it! Sadly TH-cam did not notify me.
Great video as always! Bravo!
Thanks Ravenclaw! Spread the word!
Excited for another great video! Hope the comment helps with the algorithm
The Romans had nicer towers than the ones we used in West Germany when I was stationed there in the early 80's. Our MP company called ourselves "Tower Rats" at that NATO site. Probably the same thing the Roman tower guards called themselves since tower duty gets pretty boring.
I was at a Nike Hercules site in north Germany 1978-1981. Tower duty was boring but it was just for two hours and you could get caught up on your sleep.
This may just be embracing the memes, but is it bad I think this actually sounds like fun. It's almost like an extended camping trip! 😅
Wroooong, guard duty is one of the worst things.
@@SterlingcapeGuard duty beats latrine duty or digging fortifications, being voluntold to help with logistics etc. If it's parade guard or some such I 100% agree, standing stock still for hours is not for me.. I'd rather dig ditches or latrines in that case..
Craziness. Firstly selling your body and one and only life by becoming a puppet soldier for arbitrary politics is literally psychotic and insane. Usually only the most desperate, poor, brainwashed or just unstable ADHD lost/episode type people join the military. Military pay is always shit. Standing in one spot for 8-12 hours is hell. You have no rights or will and if they overwork you and burn you out and you as a fickle human say it’s not for you anymore they’ll jail you 😂. Imagine going to jail for quitting your job.
Now time travel to the Roman Era?Ignoring the obvious concerns; Months upon months staring at empty trees while baking in the sun and humidity or freezing surrounded by what will surely be some lunatics and not “cool chill people”. Sounds lovely eh?
Try to really put yourself in someone’s shoes before relating guard duty to a camping trip.
It's just security work in ancient times
Especially if they got to smoke big "fatties". ❤
God I just love all things Ancient Rome. Thanks for the new vid lads.
Cheers!
That tower is the most "lived in" reconstructed Roman space I've ever seen. Well done!
Thanks James, we did quite the make-over to make it seem that way haha! Luckily the tower had quite some furniture already, we just filled it up with stuff and people and proper lighting :D
Me and the boys in the treehouse.
All of the video you guys upload are so cool
I was stationed in the German province of Hesse in the 70's. The foundations of Roman walls and watchtowers still existed in the forests. They were marked and noted on the topographical maps we used.
I just found this channel recently and have really come to appreciate it a lot. Thank you so much for what you do!
Always great when you guys post! I am curious about a few things ... how good were Roman maps? Since Rome was particularly expert at making glassware, why did they not come up with the telescope or reflecting device for signaling purposes. Never knew about Roman pigeons used for messaging. Many Thanks!
As far as all the information I've ever seen goes, Roman glass wasn't optically clear enough for lenses.
If anyone knows differently, then please share links to the relevant papers 😊
There are no Roman maps known besides the medieval copy of the Tabula Peutingeriana. Roman glassware wasn't that good in quality, otherwise they could have invented glasses as well. Glass drops were sometimes used to enlarge writings in books or letters, but not much more than that. Signalling was done with banners, smoke, light or musical instruments.
@@Cydonius1701 thanks for the reply.
Most maps in that time would be purpose made and pretty rough. Some might have been more accurate for smaller areas especially for building projects but those would have been incredibly expensive. They wouldn't have been very detailed and just include important things since they were all hand drawn
What a wonderful and in-depth look at Roman watchtowers! ⚔🔥👏
4 to 6 soldiers is an unlogical number for a watch tower crew. A contubernium would have been more logic, which was also proven during a week long experiment in which Roman life on a watchtower was reconstructed 24/7 in the Netherlands.
Anyway, it's nice to see my old mates (and even myself) again!
For the uninformed. How many men form a contubernium?
And if you have the extra time, could you elaborate a bit on why that number is better suited to be asigned to a watchtower?
thanks :D
@@AkantorJojo there were eight men in a contubernium (possibly with two calones (military slaves) to serve the contubernium).
I was part of the experiment we did in the Roman watchtower, for which I also made the schedule for the guard duty. We know from Roman sources that a guard duty lasted three hours, and that a solder never went on duty solo.
For this we came to shifts of every three hours with two soldiers each, that makes a total of eight soldiers in 12 hours time, repeated in the next 12 hours. So for example the first guard shift started at 06:00 and lasted till 09:00, and the same duo would again have the first shift off the night, from 18:00 till 21:00. This worked like a charm.
Besides that it wouldn't be much of a logic to seperate two or four soldiers from their unit to do something else.
While making preparations for the experiment I looked up sources for the number of soldiers that would have been present on a watch tower, but there are (to my knowledge) no antique sources that give any information about this. Only modern interpretations (that say four or six), mainly based on the available space for bunkbeds. We tackled this by using only two bunkbeds, of which each bed was shared with another soldier. After all there is never a moment when everybody sleeps; neither is there a moment when everybody is awake.
It's generally assumed every contubernium had at least one calo (military slave) to tend to the mule and other support for the contubernium. It's however not unlikely there were two calones, as they needed sleep as well. They could very well have taken shifts too. The Roman contubernia were originally ten men strong (where also the name centurio (originally commanding 100 men; hence the name) is derived from, leading ten contubernia). This was later changed to 80 men, and around the same time fixed calones positions were made. That's why I find logic in the thought those missing 20 spots were filled by the slaves; two slaves per contubernium.
It's also known that watch tower guards are large sums of meat on bone (unlimited spare ribs), which would have been most likely transported to the tower by mule to make the crew self sufficient for their stay. So I find it highly likely the calones and mule were present as well.
Another interesting thing is that archaeological sources point out most ground floor spaces were most likely absent, and the watchtowers would have been only the living quarter and guardroom on top of it, creating a empty open space underneath. Hence the external ladder to reach the tower.
I hope this answers any questions!
@@sandervdbrink84Many thanks for the detailed explanationd :D much appreciated :+1:
Thanks Sander, glad to have had you with us for as long as it lasted! About your comment on the crew of a watchtower, first of all: ET TU BRUTE!? Just kidding, we invite proper academical discussion of course ;P. But, unless your source says specifically that a WATCHTOWER shift lasted three hours, I’m gonna go ahead and strongly disagree with you. Right now I can't find the source that mentions shifts were three hours only, but I’m gonna assume it doesn’t specifically mention watchtowers.
Shifts in any other place - a castellum or marching camp - could be much shorter simply because there's many more troops available to fill the 24 hours in a day. In such locations, the remark that a guard shift would never be done by just a SINGLE soldier makes all the sense in the world as well, as it would simply be a huge and unnecessary risk to rely on a single guy; it would be an invitation for any traitor to seek out his opportunity to open the gate, throw down a rope or commit other acts of sabotage. Of course you could say the exact same thing for the guarding of a watchtower, but the stakes are simply much MUCH lower when talking about a watchtower, so it seems like a risk worth taking if that means you can cut the crew in half. Even so, it seems fair to assume every shift would be done by two men, if only to prevent death by boredom. About your schedule then: according to your schedule a single person would work two shifts of three hours per day, for a total of 6 hours of work per day. Assuming a luxurious 8 hours of sleep, all soldiers at the watchtower would then still be left with no less than 10 hours of non-work per day! Sure there'd be some other chores to do in and around the tower which would take up some capacity, but 10 hours of spare time per person seems absolutely redundant, not to say ludicrous. As for the argument that they wouldn't 'break up' a contubernium; a contubernium was just a nice latin term we’ve come to know for a group of men who shared a tent, but there’s no evidence that suggests a contubernium was anything more than that, that is to say; an actual cohesive unit that shouldn’t be broken up. If half of the contubernium would go on watchtower duty, they would simply get replaced, or not, no issues there at all.
In conclusion, like you said, no one knows for sure, but i agree with the 'mainstream historians' and think 4 to 6 men was the entire crew of a watchtower, although not because there wasn't enough space for more beds, but simply because it was sufficient to fill 24 hours per day of keeping watch.
3 hours of guard duty is not very long. I'd say a half-contubernium (4 men) would also suffice, especially when supported by a calo and maybe the men from the cavalry patrols that must have passed by frequently (and who no doubt slept in the towers).
Awesome video guys!
YOOOO IMPERIUM ROMANUM I LOVE YOUR REENACTING!!!
Thanks mate!
I believe, as well as you guys, that your content about SPQR is very original and with top quality. Here you have a loyal follower. Thank you, once again
Very informative and hands-on video, thanks for making it!
Hands down best channel to learn Roman history on. The details are incredible!
amazing work guys)
you put us viewers back in time 2000 years, on the frontier!
Very interesting👍
Great work as usual. Thanks. Informative, entertaining, and well produced.
Thanks a lot!
super excellent video !!! many thanks for your time to produce and share this video with us. good Nederlands accent narration too. have a great day always
Cheers doctor Enoch!
Great work guys! I am always happy when I get the youtube-notification that you uploaded a new video 🙂
Love your videos!
Excellent work
Awesome video, just what I always wanted to see - the watchtower life....wish you could go into even more detail on the tower life, although I do imagine it WAS fairly boring, and overplas with the topics of hunting, foraging, scouting etc
Thanks! You are right, it must have been quite boring, a lot of waiting and just like with modern police work 90% of the people you check are just regular hard working people, nothing exciting about that. But probably for some soldiers this was just fine, pretty easy way to make your money!
love your research!
This watchtower service is my dream job, especially in some remote place.
Little stress, good pay, fine food and friendship. On the other hand not all that much to do...
YeaYeah until some Dogman or Wendigo starts lurking around your tower hahaha...
Alien abductions..😂
You guys are awesome! Great content
Great stuff. Kudos!
been binge watching your videos and I LOVE it
Thanks for the video
Very informative video, what a great history lesson!
High quality work. Well done
Thanks!
very good vid. Thanks.
Very high quality video. Excellent. Subscribed 👏⚔
Thanks Martyn! Welcome!
I always love your guys's videos they're always really well done and super informative
Cheers!
Nice video!
Babe wake up new Imperium Romanum video just dropped
Another fantastic video!
love your costumes!
I love the production and style of this channel, and it's becoming one of my favorites to watch. Keep up the amazing work!
Thanks a lot!
Man THANK YOU!
That was very interesting & informative, I truly appreciated that dive into such an underappreciated aspect of the Roman Empire.
😎👍
Great to hear, thanks!
You guys are excellent, keep up the great work!
thanks a lot, will do!
Oh, the good old days, with stark madding boredom, and then crazy wild things painted blue attacking! We deeply missed home and it's foods, really mainly the "garmain" fish sauce, taste of home! Decent wine too!😅
amazing
7:10 I love the extreme detail you put into those historically accurate Roman metal stairs ;)
Great video, thanks.👍
Absolutely incredible presentation on the Roman Watch Tower! Great job gentlemen, I just subscribed to your channel.
Thanks Madras!
Excellent detailed content.new subscriber so have much catching up to do🤙🏻
is it sad i go to bed dreaming of massive roman border wall from the norse sea to the black its a fun idea lol
I love you guys so much. Great team work with acting out your story. I'm looking forward to your next video ❤
thanks a lot :D
historia militum did one video too, have you considered making a team up video? best would be part 3 of funny roman soldier story with perfect reenactment who cares about roman battlelines and discipline if you can ski with elephants on mountains or dig up half of africa for some punic gold
Why team up? This channels better
I'm like a kid with a new toy whenever I see a new video from you guys.
Haha! Thanks for the compliment!
Seriously love your guys content!
Insightful, comprehensive and technically excellent production. I have to believe this is the best video ever made on the role of Roman Watchtowers.
Thanks a lot, your comment makes us proud!
Thanks, very well done!
Interesting and informative video. And very realistic reenactment. I will bookmark this video. Cheers from Denmark.
Thanks Lars!
I'm happy to have found this channel today ! Really good video ! I'll watch the other ones.
Thanks, and welcome!
Building a watchtower 500 denarii
Excellent work! Thank you :-)
Very informative, also very nice tower.
U guys do n excellent job
For the algorithm, I offer this comment as sacrifice!😂
It was sometimes hard to hear the words through the host's accent, but I've got to say that it was a very good presentation overall. I liked the way you all put thought into the episode. You had a lot of clear information presented and the host was clearly passionate about the subject and did very well. You have a brand new viewer and a new subscriber! Thank you for taking the time and effort to make this video =)
I LOVE this channel.
What I find remarkable is the deeper understanding the Romans and ancients had for hygiene, cleanliness and disease until the modern era.
In the middle or dark ages it was common for militaries to have outbreaks of disease and many military expeditons being a failure due to this. However, at least in my understanding such a thing was exceptionally rare with the ancients especially the Roman military.
I love how these videos bring a real life view of the Romans!! ❤
This channel is a gem for history nerds.
The effort you put into making videos is unparalleled .
Hopefully you can increase the number of videos because waiting for a new vid3o from you guys is unbearable.
Best regards for the crew all the way from sri lanka ❤
thanks a lot buddy, it's the finding of new sponsors that's slowing us down unfortunately at the moment; and without sponsors we're just throwing away money, so yeah ... patience for now
Awesome video, guys!🦆
Quack quack!
Towers look kinda cozy although I’m sure they weren’t in the winter months…🥶
Very dark, very cold. And trust me, winters in the Netherlands take forever, 6 to 7 months of grey clouds, lots of rain, bit of snow, sometimes a little ice, but most important of all, hardly ANY sun. I can imagine why people of the past celebrated the arrival of spring. We still do nowadays lol.
thank you for your efforts!
No problem friend:)
At 7:44 you mention a small watch tower found in the Netherlands, do you have anymore details of that tower?
There's an archaeological report in Dutch called 'Vroege Wacht' which you can find via google, it's topic is the tower at 7:44 in the background, but also touches upon the topic and other towers in general.
Yes.
si vis pacem para bellum
Thanks for this sponsor. I normally don't pay them any attention but I am a fan fiction writing and this is a wonderful tool and I never heard of them before. Thanks again guys
wonderful to hear!
Stunning and Brave
Subscribed!
Greetings from Australia. This is really interesting. I like the Armour and helmets.
4:09 It's always nice to hear Rome Total War music 🔥🔥🔥
Awesome! Educational and entertaining at the same time.
We have started home schooling our children and it has just occurred to me what a wonderful history resource this channel will be.
Subscribed.
Be well.
what a great compliment to know we will be helping a new generation to better understand history, thanks a lot!
As a Living Historian of the Great War, this is a seriously well put together video and very well delivered (I know very little of Roman History) The fact you have such an impressive Watchtower to utilise is wonderful, and makes me slightly jealous 😉 New subscriber
I've studied history, and let me share something with you. I've always held the Romans accountable for their actions. When you really delve into Roman history, guys, you'll be shocked by the sheer number of massacres, rapes, and genocides they committed throughout their existence. But then, one day, I considered that I was analyzing things from the perspective of someone in my own time, viewing the past as barbaric. I tried to imagine being there, in their world, and in a split second, I realized that life in one of those North tribes was miserable. It wasn't much different from living in the modern third world, but with the added grim reality that every night, someone could emerge from the darkness, wipe out everyone in your village, and enslave your wife and children. Enter the Romans. They offer you food, a safe city with walls, soldiers, and governors. They provide you with a job, and if you're a barbarian, they simply tell you, "Take your spear and fight for us." You accept it because they provide free food every day, and you're no longer afraid of winter. You can take your loot without fear that your village chieftain will take everything for himself. You can have friends from all over the world to share stories, food, and more. When I imagined all of this, I realized that yes, the Romans were violent, aggressive, and terrifying to everyone. But in their time, they were seen as one of the few sources of order, offering a few extra years of life, some food, and more.
I also understood why so many people accepted Rome. Many of you might think of the Romans as invaders who swept in, killed everyone, and annexed the place to the empire. But that's not entirely accurate. Just like today, a conquest involves soldiers fighting each other, with the primary aim being to acquire intact cities, people, and all their riches. Conquerors want to annex other countries with their resources, not obliterate them senselessly. Even the worst figures in history, like Stalin and Genghis Khan, eventually annexed people, creating multicultural empires in their conquests. That's what the Romans did, too. To annex territories, you must consider whether the population will accept it, or no conquest can survive for more than a few years. Take, for example, the great British Empire, so powerful but unable to quell the revolts of hordes of poor Indians. So the "Conquered" people of Rome, instead of being conquered, were in some ways absorbed after many negotiations. The entire empire was largely built through small deals with small tribes, day after day, tribe after tribe. People thought, "Okay, I want to play with the big guys now. We'll become Romans and f**k the rest."
The Romans weren't part of an empire like the evil one in Star Wars but rather part of the Republic. Many people chose to be Roman, from Britain to the darkest corners of Africa! The Watchtowers showcased in this incredible video serve as the perfect symbol of what the Romans provided to people: a safety that cannot be achieved alone or in a small tribe, but only when thousands of individuals come together to ensure the security of their homes, culture, and lives!
💀☠💀☠💀
very good documentary
Thanks!
Having come across what appears to be a limes in the east of England (from East Bergholt to Bury St Edmunds) built days after the Iceni raids on London and Colchester, there seems to be consistent themes which are missing from the narrative.
1: The tower would almost certainly not be enclosed at the top. This so that one sentry could look in both directions along the road to see if raiding parties were crossing the road.
2: A means of signalling to the immediate forts in ether direction, including fires at night.
3: Possibly semaphore so that a whole limes could be used as communications relay stations.
4: A two storied barn like store room attached to the tower with double doors in the east, aligned with the rising sun on the day the structure was built. The doors allowing for the sun to shine directly into the interior at the start of the day. This structure incorporating stables, stores, billets, tools and spare capacity for housing additional troops above that of the regular garrison.
5: It would be almost part of every small garison to have a garden for producing food and a means to store it. Plus livestock.
A very interesting and widely overlooked topic regarding the Limes are the Agri Decumates, the region to the west and south of the Rhine and Danube, bounded to the north and east by the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes. The conquest and subsequent securing of this rich area by promoting settlement by Gauls, Celts, followed by its loss to the Alemanni after the fall of the Limes, after whom the region, indeed all of Germany today is named, is a somewhat overlooked chapter of the Roman Imperial period. Fantastic video btw.
Thanks!
Thanks so much Michael! If you continue like this I'm gonna have to add your name to the end screen with paying supporters haha
@@ImperiumRomanumYT keep up the good work and continue having fun doing it! Ave Imperium Romanum!
Amazing!❤
Back to the lobster!!