Could You Survive a Day in Rome's Front Battle Line?

[00:00:01]The Roman Empire conquered half the known world.

[00:00:05]And it did so not through subtle diplomacy.

[00:00:10]It did so thanks to the men who face death every day at arms length. Today we often marvel at the gleaming armor and orderly ranks of legionaries in Hollywood historical films. But the reality of the front lines of the Roman formation was infinitely far from the beautiful cinematic image on screen. It was a place where life expectancy was measured in minutes and the air was thick with the acrid smell of sweat and [music] iron.

[00:00:40]Imagine being placed in the very front row directly [music] opposite a screaming crowd of enraged barbarians.

[00:00:46]Sounds like a great way to end your military career quickly [music] and painfully, doesn't it? Many people today would break down psychologically just from the sight of an enemy [music] horde charging toward them. But the Romans built an entire sophisticated system to survive and [music] prevail in this primal chaos.

[00:01:06]They turned the most dangerous spot on the battlefield into a precisely and ruthlessly functioning conveyor belt.

[00:01:13]And to understand this complex mechanism, we'll have to delve into the terrifying details of ancient warfare.

[00:01:20]Do you think you could easily handle it if you were given a good heavy shield and a sharp sword?

[00:01:28]Modern history buffs often believe that in ancient combat, personal fencing skills are the only deciding factor. In reality, in the front ranks of the Roman legion, individual skill mattered [music] far less than you might think.

[00:01:42]There was absolutely no room for fancy pirouetses, sweeping blows, or heroic one-on-one jewels. forward.

[00:01:50]>> It was hard work, more akin to the physical labor of a porter in conditions of extreme pressure.

[00:01:57]In this video, we'll break down every detail of exactly what happened to a living person on the front lines. We'll learn how the Roman killing machine worked from the inside and why it was so terrifyingly effective in practice. Get ready because this fascinating journey into the past will be brutal, bloody, and utterly ruthless.

[00:02:18]It's time to finally find out what you're really made of.

[00:02:26]The first thing a soldier faced at the start of any major battle was the monstrous psychological pressure of agonizing anticipation. You stand there in full heavy armor while a huge crowd of enraged people is slowly gathering a few hundred meters away. Barbarian tribes such as the fearless Gauls or the fierce Germanic tribes used psychological terror as their most important weapon. They screamed at the top of their lungs, banged their weapons against wooden shields, and blew into terrifying war horns known to historians as Carnaxes. This sound closely resembled the roar of demons and was specifically designed to panic the enemy even before the battle began. Modern researchers confidently refer to this phenomenon as an acoustic shock, and it truly paralyzed unprepared people on the spot. Imagine you're in a massive stadium where tens of thousands of fanatical fans are screaming in blind fury all at once. But all these people don't just want to watch a sports game.

[00:03:25]They want to physically tear you to pieces. A Roman legionary had to stand motionless in this deafening cacophony, completely silent, maintaining a cool and calculating mind. Such unnatural, deathly silence on the part of the Romans terrified the barbarians themselves, completely throwing them off balance. This disciplined silence served as a powerful psychological shield, demonstrating the Legion's absolute and unshakable confidence in its own strength. It's as if you've arrived at a wild party, but forgot to warn everyone in advance that you intend to methodically destroy them. But then the inevitable moment of collision arrives, and subtle psychology quickly gives way to crude, destructive physics. The enemy army breaks ranks and charges straight at your formation, [music] gathering immense, crushing kinetic energy. Thousands of large men, each weighing about 80 kg, crash into your wall of shields at full speed. The force of this concentrated blow was so great that it could easily and effortlessly break the ribs of an unprepared man. If you didn't manage to plant your feet firmly and rigidly into the ground, you were simply knocked backward like a lightweight bowling pin. And any accidental fall in the front row meant a virtually guaranteed and very quick death under the feet of the raging crowd. To confidently withstand this monstrous blow, the Romans developed the ideal fighting stance based entirely on proper biomechanics, the legionnaire would step forward with his left foot, brace his right knee against the ground, and press his massive shield tightly against his shoulder. The weight of the body shifted in such a way as to absorb the incoming energy from the charging enemy battering ram as effectively as possible. Modern American football coaches teach their defensive linemen exactly this same stance to stop massive players. The Romans simply understood this basic physics 2,000 years before the advent of any professional contact sport. They transformed their own bodies into living pulsating shock absorbers capable of stopping even a bull charging at them. However, in this brutal reality, physical pressure came not only from the front from enemies, but also from behind. Behind your vulnerable back stood your own comrades in arms, who physically propped you up with their shields and massive bodies. This clever tactic prevented the front line from buckling backward, but created an incredible, suffocating compression for all the soldiers in the front ranks. You found yourself in a terrifying trap between enemies trying to kill you and loyal friends relentlessly pushing you forward. Breathing in such cramped conditions became critically difficult due to the chest being deformed and squeezed from all sides. It is incredibly reminiscent of a rush hour subway car. But with the addition of gleaming sharp blades and rivers of hot blood, the problem of acute oxygen deprivation in close combat was one of the most dangerous for all ancient warriors. Under the influence of wild adrenaline, [music] the pulse can easily jump to 180 beats per minute, and the body requires a huge amount of fresh air. But in a dense closed formation, where dust hangs thick in the air and a heavy helmet covers the face, there is practically nothing to breathe. Barbarian Germanic helmets looked very impressive and intimidating, but it was the Roman models that had one truly ingenious design feature. They were designed to leave the soldier's face as open as possible to allow for the free flow of precious oxygen. Roman military [music] engineers understood perfectly well that a stylish appearance would not save a soldier if he suddenly lost consciousness from lack of air in such an unbearably dense crush. Swinging a long slashing sword was simply physically impossible for anyone. Try taking a long wooden stick and swinging it with all your might while standing in a crowded office elevator with your neighbors. You're far more likely to accidentally gouge out your best friend's eye [music] than to inflict any real damage on a supposed enemy. That is precisely why the tall kelts and ghouls armed with beautiful long swords so often lost in dense hand-to-hand combat.

[00:07:34]They simply lacked the space [music] to swing their weapons wide, and their fearsome weapons became practically useless chunks of heavy iron. The Romans, however, carefully took this important factor into account and armed all their men with the incredibly practical short gladius. The famous gladius was the absolutely ideal tool for the dirtiest work at the closest possible range. Its total length was only about 60 cm, which made it easy to wield even in the most chaotic, tightly packed crowd. Legionnaires never hacked at their numerous enemies. They delivered only short, highly efficient thrusts [music] directly from behind cover. Roman authors noted with incredible cynicism in their writings that a stab wound just a couple of inches deep is usually fatal. Such a sharp blow instantly damages vital internal organs, and the shocked opponent bleeds out very quickly on the battlefield. This sounds quite horrific to modern ears. But in a major war, cold efficiency always triumphs over any romantic notions of honor. Delivering such precise strikes in the chaos of battle required truly iron discipline and nerves of steel. A legionaire had to peak carefully from behind the edge of his shield for exactly 1 second to drive his blade with force into the belly of a surprised enemy. Any unnecessary, ill-considered movement immediately exposed his own body to a deadly counterattack from a heavy barbarian ax.

[00:09:01]It was a brutal, blood soaked game of hideand seek where the stakes were your one and only life. Modern tactical knife fighting instructors teach special forces to operate in exactly the same way. Minimum movement with maximum lethal effect. The Romans transformed primitive slaughter into a cold-blooded, [music] almost monotonous industrial process for the mass disposal of living enemies. But the most terrifying thing about working on the front lines is that you always clearly saw the eyes of the people you were coldbloodedly killing. This isn't a modern remote bomb drop from 10,000 m up. Nor is it a clean shot from a sniper rifle. You constantly smelled the pungent odor of garlic and unwashed bodies. You could clearly hear the final gurgling gasps of dying people right in front of your face. Hot blood regularly splashed into your eyes, slid down the hilt of your sword, and soaked through the leather straps of your military sandals. The psychological trauma from such a horrific experience would today guarantee any soldier long and agonizing years of intensive therapy. But the ancient Romans had absolutely no licensed psychologists. They had only the centurion's harsh order to continue the relentless advance.

[00:10:19]The primary and absolutely indispensable guarantee that you would return home alive to a warm dinner was your shield known as the scutum. It was not just a hap-hazardly cobbled together piece of wood, but a true masterpiece of ancient engineering thought out down to the smallest detail. It consisted of three layers of thin wooden slats firmly glued together at various carefully calculated angles. Modern professional carpenters call this technique plywood manufacturing, and it is characterized by incredible strength combined with lightweight. The Romans invented lightweight composite materials long before they were used to build modern supersonic aircraft and race cars. This ingenious shield could easily withstand a powerful blow from an axe, a strike from a sharp arrow, and even a throw from a light javelin. The massive scutum weighed about 10 kg, and holding it out at arms length for [music] extended periods was a veritable, exhausting ordeal. If you seriously doubt my words, try picking up a 10 kg weight and holding it in front of you for at least 5 minutes. Your left shoulder will very quickly start to burn as if it were being continuously doused with boiling acid that corrods the muscles. But in real combat, legionnaires had to hold this substantial weight for hours on end, constantly fending off the enemy's fierce and powerful attacks. It was precisely for this reason that Roman recruits [music] trained every day with heavy wooden weapons that were exactly twice as heavy as the real thing. Thanks to this basic principle of overload in the brutal reality of battle, their well-trained muscles handled the monstrous workload with ease. The shape of this legendary shield was also far from random. It was noticeably convex and slightly [music] cylindrical. This not only provided excellent protection for the warrior's body from the hips to [music] the shoulders, but also perfectly deflected powerful glancing blows. If an enraged enemy struck with all his might using a heavy sword against a flat surface, the shield could well [music] have split from a direct hard hit. But on the curved smooth surface of the skutum, enemy blades simply and gracefully slid off to the side, instantly losing their lethal kinetic energy. This physical principle is actively used today by engineers in modern slope tank armor to ensure the ricochet of armor-piercing shells. Roman military carpenters [music] may have had no knowledge of complex theoretical physics, but they understood the geometry of survival perfectly and intuitively. At the very center of the shield was the characteristic metal umbbo, a heavy and sturdy iron plate outwardly very [music] similar to a steel fist. The vast majority of people mistakenly believe that an ancient shield was needed only to passively hide behind it from incoming blows. In reality, the Roman scutum was a fullyfledged, extremely dangerous and very [music] brutal offensive weapon designed for the closest close quarters combat. A legionary could strike with all his might using this protruding iron umbbo directly into the face or unprotected chest of a barbarian, closing in on him. Such a crushing blow easily broke noses, instantly knocked out teeth, and completely knocked the wind out of the enemy, leaving them perfectly exposed for a fatal thrust with the Gladius. It was a polished, deadly [music] dance, a powerful strike with the shield, a sharp step forward, a short thrust with the sword into the stomach, and a quick return to the original defensive position. However, in the bloody heat of battle, [music] the wooden shields of the enemies and the Romans very often became tightly locked together in a dense [music] scrum. An exhausting stalemate ensued, strikingly similar to a fierce wrestling clinch or a clash between two massive sumo wrestlers in the ring. In this critical situation, sheer muscle mass, proper body balance, and physical support from the ranks behind played a decisive role.

[00:14:20]The frontline legionary had to brace his feet and push with all his might to ensure under no circumstances that the enemy could break through the precious formation. If the Roman formation broke, the barbarians would gleefully rush into the resulting breach and the orderly military machine would instantly turn into a chaotic slaughter. This is precisely why accidentally losing a shield or cowardly retreating was considered the greatest disgrace in the Legion, punishable without exception by a cruel death. Another incredibly deadly threat on the front line was always the enemy's throwing spears and heavy armor-piercing javelins. Just before the most terrifying clash in close combat, the bright sky would often darken with a vast amount of iron and wood flying overhead. The mighty Gauls and Germans hurled their long spears with such monstrous force that they easily pierced even the thick laminated plywood of the scutum. When a heavy spear became deeply lodged in the shield, it made it too cumbersome and completely impractical for any further use in close quarters.

[00:15:24]The barbarians sincerely hoped that the Roman legionary would simply [music] throw the now burdened shield to the ground and remain completely defenseless against their swords. But the clever Romans elegantly solved this complex problem with the help of their famous innovative throwing spear, the legendary pill. The pillum was specially designed by engineers with a very long and incredibly thin iron tip that bent easily upon a strong impact. When legionaries threw them in mass at the enemy before the clash, these spears pierced the enemy shields and became firmly lodged in them. Because of the long bent iron tip, it was physically impossible to pull the pill back out.

[00:16:03]Right in the middle of the surging crowd and the chaos of battle, the unfortunate barbarians had to curse as they threw their ruined shields to the ground, which instantly made them easy targets for the advancing infantry. It was a truly ingenious asymmetrical engineering feat that easily turned the enemy's defensive equipment into a completely useless piece of heavy wood. The Romans [music] always preferred to defeat their enemies with their sharp wits and technological ingenuity rather than just brute physical strength and courage.

[00:16:35]Standing in the thick of battle on the front line, a legionary relied not only on his sturdy shield but also on excellent metal armor, the famous Laurica segmentata, consisting of flexible iron strips, provided superb protection for the torso against powerful slashing blows from above. This complex design gave the soldier incredible physical flexibility. Unlike the heavy solid bronze curasses of the ancient Greek hoplights, you could bend over, bend at the waist, and breathe deeply with complete freedom. All while remaining securely encased in sturdy polished steel. Modern bulletproof vests with ceramic plates for special forces use a surprisingly similar principle of segmented flexible body protection.

[00:17:21]Ancient blacksmiths through trial and error created a perfect balance between a heavy infantryman's mobility and his personal safety on the battlefield. But the much praised segmented Lorica had one very significant drawback which filmmakers for some reason [music] rarely mention in historical films. It offered absolutely no protection for the soft lower abdomen, exposed thighs [music] and arms, leaving them as prime targets for swift enemy attacks. This is precisely why legionnaires always wore special sturdy leather belts with metal plates on the waist known in the army as terri. They hung heavily downward and served as highly effective additional protection for the most vulnerable areas while also clanging very loudly during marches. This eerie rhythmic clanging of thousands of soldiers marching in perfect unison created an additional powerful psychological pressure before the battle began. Hearing this sound, enemies understood perfectly well that what was inexraably approaching them was not just a bunch of people, but a ruthless and welle equipped machine. And yet the Roman soldiers most important [music] absolute protection was not cold steel, but the living man [music] standing to his right. In close formation, your own wide shield perfectly covered the left side of your body and part of your comrade's vulnerable right side. This created a virtually impenetrable continuous wall of wood and metal where each fighter's life depended critically on the reliability of the person next to him.

[00:18:51]If your comrade suddenly fell dead or cowardly retreated, [music] your right side was instantly exposed to any enemy spear. Therefore, the famous brotherhood and absolute trust in the legion were not just beautiful, grandiose words meant to boost morale at parades. It was an [music] extremely harsh pragmatic mechanism of collective survival where one soldier's life literally and [music] physically rested in the callous hands of another.

[00:19:20]The most remarkable and effective invention of the Roman army was a complex system of tactical rotation of soldiers right in the midst of a fierce battle. The vast majority of ancient battles were chaotic, bloody brawls where enraged men fought haphazardly until they were completely physically exhausted. Fierce Kelts or savage Germanic tribesmen would happily charge into battle with the fury of berserkers sincerely hoping to crush the enemy with their very first powerful onslaught. But even the most well-trained human body is physiologically incapable of sustaining maximum muscular activity for longer than 15 or 20 minutes. After this brief interval, the muscles become completely saturated with lactic acid. Breathing becomes labored and the once lightningast [music] strikes become slow and predictable. The Romans understood this basic human physiology perfectly and used this immutable fact incredibly effectively against their less [music] organized enemies. As soon as the barbarians front line began to visibly run out of steam and slow down, the Romans coolly set their welloiled conveyor belt of fresh troops in motion.

[00:20:32]Within the dense formation of the Roman legion, there were always small, precisely calculated gaps that appeared to the untrained [music] eye as a gross tactical error. But these gaps were vital safe corridors for the rapid withdrawal of the mortally exhausted fighters of the worn out front line. At a special sharp signal from the Centurion, the soldiers in the first row would take a quick step back directly through these open corridors and instantly without the slightest hesitation. completely fresh, well-rested legionnaires from the supporting second row would take their rightful place. The barbarians, who had just expended absolutely all their strength on the breakthrough, suddenly found themselves facing completely new, energetic opponents. Imagine for a second that you're playing an incredibly grueling tennis match and can barely stand on your trembling legs from sheer exhaustion. And then right in the middle of a crucial point, your exhausted opponent is suddenly replaced by a completely fresh athlete who has just stepped out of the locker room for Rome's unprepared enemies. This was so demoralizing and humiliating that many simply threw their weapons to the ground in despair. They had been furiously swinging their heavy swords for a good half hour, sustaining painful wounds, choking on dry dust and their own acrid sweat. and before them, as if by magic, an impenetrable wall of gleaming shields, and men who hadn't even had time to get slightly out of breath would rise up again. This unique rotation system was a true masterpiece of military strategy, one that was easily ahead of its harsh times by many millennia. Modern professional hockey teams regularly rotate their offensive lines on the ice every 40 seconds for exactly the same pragmatic reason.

[00:22:20]Sports coaches know full well that a fresh, well-rested player is always far more effective [music] than a bone-tired veteran at the very end of his strength.

[00:22:29]The only major difference is that the Romans did this not on smooth, safe ice, but in slippery pools of blood under a hail of arrows. Carrying out such an incredibly complex, large-scale regrouping in the thick of a primitive slaughter required an almost unimaginable, extraordinary level of coordination among the men. A single wrong move, a single second's hesitation during the shift, and the enemy would instantly, like water, break through the weakened ranks of the legion. It was precisely for this reason that Roman soldiers trained painstakingly [music] in drill every single day, honing all their coordinated movements to the point of muscle memory. This cunning shift in battle lines occurred with such flawless coordination that the vast Roman legion resembled a single living rhythmically breathing organism. During a standard 3-hour bloody battle, a single rank and file legionary could easily find himself in the very front row several times in a row. He would advance to the dangerous front lines, fight fiercely for his 15 minutes, kill or severely wound the enemy, and then retreat in an orderly fashion to the safety of the rear.

[00:23:41]There, he could calmly drink some cool water, catch his breath, check his equipment [music] straps, and mentally prepare for the next bloody sorting. It was in fact the perfect ancient form of extremely highintensity interval training except that the main stake was invariably your own life. Today people voluntarily pay huge sums of money to trendy fitness trainers for similar workouts while Roman conscripts received them absolutely free and on a daily basis. Thanks to this ingenious rotation, the Roman army could engage in intense close combat absolutely non-stop for many long hours on end. While enemy armies consisted of proud individualists thirsting for personal military glory, the Romans were a dull, faceless killing machine. Brave Celtic chieftains very often challenged Roman commanders to fair one-on-one jewels right before the start of the main battle. They sincerely considered this the height of masculine bravery [music] and an excellent way to quickly decide the outcome of the entire battle without too many mass casualties.

[00:24:47]But the pragmatic Romans simply and arrogantly ignored these ridiculous [music] challenges, preferring to coldbloodedly and emotionlessly grind down the entire enemy army. For them, a terrible war was not a beautiful heroic epic, but hard, dirty work that had to be carried out as efficiently and safely as possible. Of course, even with such an incredibly ideal defense system, casualties in the very front line were always statistically inevitable and sometimes horrific. If a legionnaire was seriously wounded and fell to the ground with a cry, his comrades never stopped to administer first aid. The iron formation had to remain tightly closed at absolutely any cost. Otherwise, a breach would inevitably lead to the death of the entire legion of many thousands. The soldier behind him would simply step silently over his moaning fallen comrade and take his dangerous place facing the enraged barbarians. The unfortunate wounded lay right at the feet of their actively fighting comrades, trying to cover themselves with shield fragments so they wouldn't simply be trampled to death by heavy sandals. It sounds incredibly cynical and cruel by modern standards. But it was an ironclad, blood tested rule that guaranteed the collective survival of the overwhelming majority. Behind the broad backs of the actively fighting soldiers always stood fearsome centurions, incredibly stern officers with a long vine in their strong hands.

[00:26:15]They used this flexible wooden vine not for beauty or status, but for brutal corporal punishment of their subordinates [music] right on the spot.

[00:26:23]If a young soldier in the front row suddenly showed a moment of cowardice or tried [music] to take a step back in panic, the centurion would mercilessly strike him on the back. The primal fear of their own brutal commanders was very often much stronger than the fear of the screaming, terrifying barbarians ahead.

[00:26:40]These scarred veterans had fought in dozens of bloody battles and knew exactly how to enforce discipline with an iron fist at the most critical moment of the battle. Their loud, abrupt commands shouted through the deafening roar of battle were the only reliable guide for ordinary soldiers in the absolute chaos of the carnage. Another incredibly important element of survival on the front lines was military music.

[00:27:05]More specifically, the loud blasts of massive brass trumpets. In the terrifying den [music] of battle, any human voice was instantly drowned out.

[00:27:14]So legions numbering in the thousands were commanded exclusively through wind instruments, cornets, and tubers. Every tactical command, a general advance, a planned change of formation, an organized retreat, or a defensive turtle formation had its own unique, easily recognizable sound pattern. Soldiers were trained for months to respond to these loud sounds at a deep level of unconditional muscle reflex, just like the famous dogs of physiologist Pavlov.

[00:27:43]Upon hearing a familiar signal, they mechanically executed a complex tactical maneuver without even thinking about the order and without expecting any verbal confirmation [music] from their commanders. This unique know-how allowed clever Roman generals to masterfully command a massive army in real time, as if enthusiastically playing a modern computer strategy game.

[00:28:05]When the endless, exhausting battle finally ended, the battlefield always presented a horrific, nauseating sight [music] of mountains of corpses, sticky blood, and twisted iron. But the hard work of a surviving legionary was far from over, for the victors had to consolidate their bloody tactical success. The soldiers would take out their daggers and begin methodically without any emotion to finish off the severely wounded enemies to completely rule out any unpleasant [music] surprises in the near future. Then they meticulously collected all valuable trophy weapons, stripped the surviving armor from the dead, and tightly bound the surviving barbarians to sell them into slavery. Only after all these procedures, utterly exhausted, covered from head to toe in mud and the blood of others, could they slowly return to their fortified camp. And even then, instead of the long awaited, well-deserved sleep, they very often had to spend hours repairing damaged armor or standing tedious night watch on the walls.

[00:29:08]If you were incredibly unlucky and did sustain [music] a serious wound on the front lines, your fate depended entirely on the Roman medics. Unlike the vast majority of other barbarian armies of antiquity, the legions had a superbly organized professional medical corps.

[00:29:23]Huge field hospitals made of tents known in the army by the Latin name Valitudinia were always quickly set up behind the battlefield. There, capserie, sturdy combat medics worked around the clock, swiftly pulling moaning wounded soldiers out of the meat grinder after the ranks had slowly [music] advanced.

[00:29:42]This was, in fact, the very first successful prototype in world history of the modern mobile military field hospitals we know from movies. The Roman state understood perfectly well [music] that training a new capable soldier from scratch was far more expensive than saving the life of an experienced proven veteran in time. [music] Ancient Roman medicine often strikes us as something ridiculous, barbaric, and utterly primitive. But this is a massive, baseless misconception. Roman military surgeons possessed superb sets of steel instruments that are strikingly similar to those used daily in modern hospitals.

[00:30:20]Their arsenal included sharp scalpels, handy forceps, surgical bone saws, and special ingenious tweezers for the careful removal of deeply embedded arrows. Doctors were masters at quickly stopping severe arterial bleeding using liatures, skillfully tying off torn blood vessels with silk thread. Many of these advanced medical technologies were completely forgotten by humanity after the fall of the empire and rediscovered by doctors only in the 19th century. An ordinary legionnaire had a much better chance of surviving a serious injury than an average soldier in enlightened medieval Europe a full thousand years later. The most surprising and unconventional remedy in Roman medicine was a combination, strange at first glance, of natural honey, strong vinegar, and the cheapest wine. Doctors used these three substances generously and [music] without hesitation to wash deep open wounds before tightly applying [music] clean linen bandages to them. To any modern person, this sounds more like a recipe for an exotic French salad dressing than a serious method for saving human lives. But modern science and microbiology fully confirm the absolute genius of this ancient empirically discovered medical protocol.

[00:31:38]Vinegar and sour wine are excellent natural antiseptics that reliably kill bacteria. While thick honey creates an airtight environment that perfectly prevents any infection. The Romans had no idea that microbes existed, but through an ancient process of trial and error, they found a simply perfect foolproof remedy against them.

[00:31:58]Anesthesia in those harsh times was, to put it mildly, incredibly far from the ideal and comfort of modern advanced chemical pharmarmacology. Before major abdominal surgery or a necessary limb amputation, a wounded soldier was usually given a bitter [music] extract of opium poppy or poisonous henbane to drink. If there were no more valuable pain relieving herbs in the camp, they would simply resort to a huge amount of ordinary undiluted [music] sour wine. But most often, the patient was simply given a sturdy wooden stick to bite down on, and several healthy comrades were asked to hold him down on the table with all their might. The pain from surgery without anesthesia was so excruciating that many soldiers died of severe pain shock right under the surgeon's knife. Given these grim prospects, the legionnaires fought on the front lines like true lions, just to avoid ending up on the operating table at the hands of their own diligent doctors. Even if a complex operation went incredibly well, the greatest invisible [music] threat was always a dreadful post-operative infection, the miraculous penicellin [music] would not be accidentally invented for another 2,000 years. So even the slightest bit of dirt in a wound almost always meant fatal gangrine. But the Romans approached the mundane matters of sanitation and hygiene with their characteristic military meticulousness, incredible rigor and [music] discipline.

[00:33:25]Doctors always boiled all their steel instruments before every new operation.

[00:33:30]Even though they had no real understanding of the true scientific nature of the sterilization process, hospitals were always built exclusively near clean flowing sources of fresh water, and blood stained bandages were regularly washed and thoroughly dried in the bright sun. Thanks to all these simple yet strict rules, the survival rate of the severely wounded in the Roman [music] army reached 70%. An incredible figure for the grim ancient world. For those unfortunate souls who did lose a limb or go blind in battle, the great state did not always guarantee a comfortable pension. The life of a helpless invalid in the cruel ancient world was incredibly hard, and many of them were forced to beg for pitiful arms on the dirty streets of Rome. However, for those lucky veterans who successfully served their full 25 years without serious injury, very substantial state bonuses were provided. [music] They were guaranteed an excellent plot of fertile land in the conquered provinces and a very substantial cash payment in hard currency upon taking their well-deserved retirement. This was an incredibly powerful financial incentive to endure absolutely all the horrors of the front lines and never desert during the exhausting night marches in the rain. The soldiers understood perfectly well that they were literally investing their spilled blood in the future, the stable well-being of their large families and their children.

[00:34:57]In addition to visible physical wounds, ordinary legionnaires [music] inevitably suffer deep, severe psychological trauma from constantly witnessing mass killings. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short, is by no means a modern, trendy invention of the delicate era of the world wars of the 20th century. Ancient people suffered just as agonizingly from nightmares, chronic insomnia, and sudden outbursts of uncontrollable savage aggression following the horrors they experienced in war. In surviving Roman texts, one can easily find references to distinguished veterans who suddenly went mad or lunged at passers by with their fists for no apparent reason. But in the harsh ancient society which constantly glorified war and cruelty, such problems were usually simply ignored or publicly regarded as a shameful weakness.

[00:35:49]Gladiatorial fights and massive bloody spectacles in the coliseum served as a kind of public therapy that effectively normalized extreme violence in the minds of ordinary citizens. Sometimes the unbearable psychology of constant bloody combat led to surprising mass manifestations of sincere mysticism among the hardened soldiers.

[00:36:10]Legionnaires were extremely superstitious. They blindly believed in silly omens, cruel gods, and cheap protective amulets, far more than in their own sharpened swords. Each individual legion had its own sacred golden eagle, the Aquilla, which was taken absolutely seriously as the living divine embodiment of the spirit of the entire unit. To accidentally lose this eagle in battle was not merely a huge military disgrace. It was considered a genuine irreparable religious catastrophe for all the soldiers.

[00:36:43]Legionaires in the front ranks often forked with ten-fold fury and [music] utter contempt for death if they suddenly saw that their sacred standard was in danger of being captured. This blind faith [music] provided them with the psychological crutch they so desperately needed which actually helped them step into the bloody meat grinder without the slightest hesitation.

[00:37:03][music] Many soldiers secretly wore small bronze phallic amulets under their armor, which the Romans [music] officially called fascinus. To a modern, educated person, this may seem at least amusing and bizarre. But for the rugged Romans, it was a very serious magical protection against evil [music] spirits. They believed with absolute sincerity that such strange talismans reliably warded off the evil eye and provided excellent protection against accidental [music] fatal wounds in the thick of battle.

[00:37:36]When you're standing in the mud under a hail of flying sharp arrows, absolutely any form of psychological support, even the most absurd, proves incredibly helpful and soothing. The powerful placebo effect worked just as effectively 2,000 years ago as it does today in the best modern medical clinics. A soldier unwavering in his [music] belief in the god's personal magical protection panicked far less and acted in formation with greater composure, calculation, and efficiency.

[00:38:04]But in the end, in a purely pragmatic sense, survival on the front lines always came down to sheer luck and completely blind chance. You could be the most highly trained, strongest veteran with the best, most expensive [music] equipment in the entire Legion, but a stray barbarian spear would still quickly find its target. Ancient [music] brutal warfare was a massive bloody lottery where the tickets were always purchased solely with sweat, blood, and daily exhausting physical labor. And those few who were lucky enough to survive their long day on the front lines would sit by the campfire in the [music] evening as completely different aged men. They stared silently into the fire, slowly ate their portion of bland wheat [music] porridge, and quietly thanked the harsh god Mars for keeping them alive. And early tomorrow morning, a completely new, arduous march awaited them. A new fortified camp and quite possibly an entirely new encounter with death.

[00:39:05]Could you survive even a single day in the place of this ancient scarred legionnaire? If we are completely honest with ourselves, the real chances of a modern office worker in a Roman formation are rapidly approaching absolute zero. We've grown far too accustomed to the comforts of home, powerful air conditioners, plush armchairs, [music] and regular three meal a day meals delivered right to our doorsteps. Our frail bodies are simply not physiologically equipped to carry dozens of kg of iron for hours on end under the scorching, merciless Mediterranean sun. We would have broken down instantly at the very earlier stage [music] of training when an angry centurion first struck our hunched backs with a [music] vine. The Roman war machine would have simply ground us into dust and spat us out onto the sidelines of history without even noticing the loss of a single weak defective cog.

[00:39:59]Thank you so much for bravely completing this difficult historical march with me all the way to the victorious end. Ahead of us lie many more dark, [music] unexplored patches of history that reliably conceal striking, brutal, and truly ingenious facts about the past.

[00:40:16]The world of the past is brimming with forgotten survival technologies and complex systems [music] that modern, arrogant humans have long since cast out of their minds. We will certainly continue to unearth these dusty secrets.

[00:40:29]Strip them of silly myths and rigorously test them against the harsh standards of modern ruthless [music] science and logic. Always stay curious. Appreciate the comfort of your safe, soft armchair.

[00:40:41]And never forget to check all the facts before believing them. See you in our next deep dive into the harsh reality of those [music] distant times when only the craftiest and strongest survived on Earth.