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Sarcina as illustrated on Trajan's Column

Soldiers with marching packs on Trajan's Column

Reconstruction

Sarcina is a Latin word meaning a marching pack as carried by Roman legionaries, the heavy infantry of the Roman legions.

Most of a legionary's equipment other than his arms and armour would, in early times, have been consigned to a baggage train and borne by mules and carts.

However, following the reforms of the Roman general Gaius Marius, the soldiers were expected to carry much of their rations and equipment themselves. This was done to reduce the size of the baggage train and increase the mobility of the army by allowing the soldiers to move strategically (i.e. quickly) independently of the train. Such was the load of the soldiers that they became known as Marius' Mules.

The appearance of the marching pack is known from illustrations on Trajan's Column. Here it can be seen that a legionary's sarcina was carried on a pole called a furca and would have included:

Loculus – a satchel
Cloak bag
Cooking pot
Patera – mess tin
Netted object

However, this was certainly not the limit of the soldiers load. Time and again, Roman writers emphasise the importance of soldiers being self-sufficient and not tied to the baggage train.

The 2nd-century historian Appian of Alexandria records the actions of Scipio Aemilianus Africanus in late 3rd century BC. This was mainly with the objective of improving the morale of the soldiers, but it is also clear that the army is expected to be mobile:

He ordered all wagons and their superfluous contents to be sold, and all pack animals, except such as he designated, to remain. For cooking utensils it was permitted to have only a spit, a brass kettle, and one cup. Their food was limited to plain boiled and roasted meats. They were forbidden to have beds, and Scipio was the first one to sleep on straw. He forbade them to ride on mules when on the march; "for what can you expect in a war," said he, "from a man who is not able to walk?" Those who had servants to bathe and anoint them were ridiculed by Scipio, who said that only mules, having no hands, needed others to rub them.^[1]

The 1st-century historian Josephus, recorded the items carried in his own time:

besides a saw and a basket, a pick-axe and an axe, a thong of leather and a hook, with provisions for three days, so that a footman hath no great need of a mule to carry his burdens. The Wars Of The Jews Book 3, chapter 7.

The 4th century writer Vegetius advises that:

The legion is provided with iron hooks, called wolves, and iron scythes fixed to the ends of long poles; and with forks, spades, shovels, pickaxes, wheelbarrows and baskets for digging and transporting earth; together with hatchets, axes and saws for cutting wood. De Re Militari Book II: The Organization of the Legion.

Vegetius was not clear that the soldiers were required to carry these items personally, but we know that soldiers were required to carry entrenching tools (such as the dolabra) and turf cutters for the construction of a temporary camp at the end of each day's march. Probably a variety of tools and equipment was carried distributed among the members of a contubernium. They may also have carried baskets and one or more sudes (stakes).

There have been many attempts to reconstruct the sarcina and its component parts for historical reenactment.

Notes

^ Appian's History of Rome: The Spanish Wars

References

Connolly, Peter. Greece and Rome at war. Barnsley, S. Yorkshire: Frontline Books Books. ISBN 9781848326095.

External links

Image of pack donkey on a Greek wine cup circa 480 BC, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Sarcina of a re-enactor

English Journal

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Farronato G1, Giannini L2, Galbiati G3, Stabilini SA4, Sarcina M5, Maspero C6.
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A Rare Case of Sarcina ventriculi of the Stomach in an Asymptomatic Patient.

Haroon Al Rasheed MR1, Kim GJ2, Senseng C2.
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Sarcina ventriculi is a gram-positive coccus that grows in a tetrad arrangement in the stomach. In the past 35 years, less than 20 cases have been reported in the literature, and it has been associated with life-threatening complications such as emphysematous gastritis and perforation. Treatment of
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Sarcina: the eyes see what the mind knows.

Chougule A1, Bal A2.
Human pathology.Hum Pathol.2015 Oct 3. pii: S0046-8177(15)00368-8. doi: 10.1016/j.humpath.2015.07.028. [Epub ahead of print]
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Japanese Journal

Variation in Chemical Composition and Antibacterial Activities of Essential Oils from Two Species of Houttuynia THUNB

Lu Hongmei,Wu Xianjin,Liang Yizeng [他],ZHANG Jian
Chemical & pharmaceutical bulletin 54(7), 936-940, 2006-07-01
… species for their antibacterial properties against microorganisms, Staphylococcus aureus and Sarcina ureae. … ml/ml) and Sarcina ureae (MIC=0.0625×10^<-3> …
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Transformation of Oleic Acid and Its Esters by Sarcina lutea(Microbiology & Fermentation Industry)

BLANK Wolfgang,TAKAYANAGI Hiroko,KIDO Toshiko,MEUSSDOERFEER Franz,ESAKI Nobuyoshi,SODA Kenji
Agricultural and Biological Chemistry 55(10), 2651-2652, 1991-10-23
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細菌及び酵母に対するアスコルビン酸の殺菌作用

村田晃,矢野信子
ビタミン 64(12), 709-713, 1990-12-25
… On the other hand, it excerted no effect on Bacillus cereus, Corynebacterium glutamicus, Lactobacillus casei, Micrococcus flavus and Sarcina lutea. …
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