An Archaeogastric Study on the Basic Food Sources and Their Values Consumed in the Roman Army

Authors : Kadir Çetin, Salih Soslu

Pages : 337-350

View : 4 | Download : 3

Publication Date : 2024-12-26

Article Type : Review Paper

Abstract :In order to understand how important the nutrition of military personnel was in the Roman Period, it is necessary to examine the military power of the Roman army and the nutritional culture that maintained this power. When soldiers do not have access to adequate and balanced nutrition during campaigns and wars, their combat abilities, strength and influence can be seriously affected. For this reason, it is very important for military managers to take into account the nutritional needs of soldiers when making strategic planning, to choose products with high nutritional value, and to provide adequate supply and logistics support. The aim of this study is to determine the main food sources consumed by the army in the Roman Period and to examine their nutritional values. In order to be suitable for the purpose of the thematic topic, systematic literature review and content analysis methods were adopted in order to obtain a wide data set on the basic food sources consumed by the army and to examine these data within a certain framework. Accordingly, the army’s grain (wheat, barley, oats); vegetables and fruits (beans, peas, lentils, apples, apricots, pomegranates, dates, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, cherries, mulberries, walnuts, hazelnuts, olives, chestnuts); meat, dairy and seafood, poultry and animal foods (beef, pork, lamb, sheep, kid, goat, deer, rabbit, goose, duck, chicken, fish, periwinkle, snails, oysters, mussels, It was determined that he consumed products such as cheese) and olive oil, wine, beer, honey, fish sauce and salt. According to these findings, a Roman soldier consuming approximately 830 grams of wheat daily provides approximately 1675 calories of energy. This provides 57.26% of a soldier’s total daily calorie needs. A soldier’s daily consumption of smoked meats, cheeses, boiled or fried pork, beans and lentils is estimated to be approximately 212.2 grams of protein. This is proof that the diet of Roman soldiers was very rich in protein and met their daily needs.
Keywords : Arkeogastromik, Roma ordusu, beslenme kültürü, besin değerleri