What the men in the army traveled with

[canto]

I know that each man in the traveling army had certain tack and supplies he brought with him, and I was wondering if he had some kind of small grain mill for making bread, also did certain men out of the group carry some kind of oven to bake it in?I just received a book called "the Army of Alexander the Great", Men-at-Arms series. I wanted to know more about the way they dressed. It looks like some of the men wore no shoes or boots. Is this so? How could they manage this way?lightofdawn

[boris]

Must have been quite a callous on their feet! I guess being brought up that way helps, but for the long marches, i'd be surprised if all the men werent issued with sandals of some sort.Still, I'm no expert but I remember hearing or reading from somewhere that every 10 Macedonian troopers had an attendant. Presumbably, this attendant may have had cooking/baking materials. I think that grain supplies where also carried in flour form as well. And that soldiers and officers where trained to carry 30 days supply of flour. Still, being a bit of an amateur in the field, if anyone can correct me or add some more info on this, please do!

[beausefaless]

ALEXANDER THE GREAT-HIS ARMIES AND CAMPAIGNS 334-323 BC/ by Nick Sekunda & John Warry
Reards, Andrew

[Kit]

Hi Boris,According to Hammond (Philip of Macedon), each member of the phalanx was expected to carry rations for a 55km per day march; in addition one 'porter' was allocated to each file of 10 men, and one 'groom' for every cavalryman to carry the soldiers gear (probably including cooking implements?). As the Macedonian State provided the equipment for army it is unlikely they allowed the soldiers to go barefooted.Regards,Kit.

[beausefaless]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 81729&rd=1

[amyntoros]

Sekunda and Warry's books use illustrations where the clothes are copied from extant artworks such as the Issus Mosaic and the Alexander Sarcophagus. Many of the figures on the sarcophagus (and other pieces of artwork) are shown shoeless. For instance, Perdiccas on the far right of the long battle scene has bare feet and even many of the Persians are also shown without shoes. I think it is *extremely* doubtful that either army went into battle, on a lion hunt, or on long marches without footwear. This seems to be an example of artistic license. In fact, one soldier in the sarcophagus battle scene is shown wearing only a cloak, and a couple in the hunt scene are also naked. This is a common motif in ancient Greek art, but can you really imagine a soldier going into battle without any protective clothing? :-)Andrys, a visitor to the Istanbul museum has some photos of the sarcophagus at:http://www.pbase.com/andrys/istanbul2And there's a site with links to *huge* detailed photos at:http://rubens.anu.edu.au/raider5/turkey ... iews/Click on the link that says "figures" to bring you to the right page.Best regards,Linda Ann

[amyntoros]

Wow, how strange is the format on my previous post? Or is it only on my computer?

[canto]

Linda, your right about the format. I have never seen a photo zoomed in so close. One could almost teach a microbiology course from the surface of this pics. My computer can't print out the pics this large. It would only have like the nose of a horse or something. Good pics though. I will save this site and save some images before they are enlarge to that degree. Thanks for the help.And I want to thank everyone who responded to my question. I really appreciate the help.lightofdawn

[kenny]

I guess the traveled John Wayne style rolled up blanket and plenty of beans.
kenny

[kenny]

I guess the traveled John Wayne style rolled up blanket and plenty of beans.
kenny