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What Did Roman Soldiers Eat?

Weird History | April 25, 2026



Throughout both its Republican and Imperial periods, Rome was one of the most dominant cultures in the history of the world. That dominance was mainly based on the military strength of Roman Legions — but if the Legionnaires powered Rome, what powered the Legionnaires?

#RomanSoldiers #foodhistory #weirdhistory

Written by Weird History

Comments

This post currently has 37 comments.

  1. @jmaris4eva

    April 25, 2026 at 10:46 pm

    To think anyone was a vegetarian or vegan before 200 years ago just isn’t using your brain, there would be no way to get enough calories and nutrients to power any human much less a soldier

  2. @RonBaker456

    April 25, 2026 at 10:46 pm

    It's always fun to hear people talk about meat as the protein was the only thing we actually need out of it. The fat is even more important than the protein. If one ate a diet solely of rabbit one would die, but people can and have lived on beef for years at a time. Meat – it's more than just protein… and it's what's for dinner.

  3. @dennisleighton2812

    April 25, 2026 at 10:46 pm

    Before we get started, just to point out that Roman soldiers were NOT "legionaires" as you keep saying. They were legionaries (as in the subtitles).
    Legionaire is a French word for soldiers in the French Foreign Legion, and a very recent name. It seems as if the word "legionaire" has crept into mainly American literature and has become almost "acceptable" usage. However it is still wrong to refer to a member of a Roman Legion as a legionaire – the correct term is legionary.
    Bread: Roman legionaries were divided into contubernia (a contubernium is a 8-man unit, plus 2 slaves and one or more pack animals, usually donkeys or mules – horses were not suitable and needed complicated diets). One of the most important items to be carried by the pack animal was the contubernium's grinding stone, and was used to grind their grain into flour for all 10 people. So, there were no long queues.

  4. @windhelmguard5295

    April 25, 2026 at 10:46 pm

    one correction: legionaries didn't grind their own grain every day.
    it was generally the task of one soldier per contubernium to grind the flour.
    there is also evidence that the legionaries would sometimes grind flour to last multiple days.

    also roman legions didn't usually steal food, more often they bought it from willing suppliers close to market value. although they did have authority to seize food from those unwilling to sell to them, when necessary.
    when in enemy territory however plundering was commonplace.

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