Over the years, the armies of ancient Rome invaded and conquered most of Europe. For a long time, other civilizations feared them due to their massive and well-trained legions of soldiers. Some people may have heard of their combat exploits elsewhere. Often, research focuses only on the strategies and technology employed by Rome in battle, but what about the soldiers themselves? People generally think of the Roman army as a well-oiled machine that acted with precision and consistency, but many mutinies have been documented within the Roman army over time. What kind of training did they undergo after being drafted into the Roman army? Was their training both physical and mental in an attempt to prevent such mutinies from occurring? What kind of people were drafted into the army? What was life like for soldiers in ancient Rome? Under what conditions were they forced to mutiny? More importantly, how do these things affect the world today? During the early Roman Republic, all male citizens were required to perform military duties at some point in their lives. Their service normally began during their youth. Citizens who failed to report for conscription were considered traitors and were usually sold into slavery, as they were not true patriots. In the Roman Republic, training normally took place throughout the child's life, as they grew, but training took the form of sports and education instead of workouts rigorous. The lack of formal training in warfare was made up for by the army's mix of young recruits and veterans. The reason they did not have a strict training regiment was that the armies of the early Roman Republic...... middle of paper...... used terms of endearment such as "contubernales", which means tent in English (MacMullen 443). As contubernales, they shared the same food, marched to their posts together, and fought side by side. This term applies not only to the men with whom you share a barracks, but also to the entire group to which a person has been assigned for duty. Works CitedLendon, JE Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity. Binghamton: Yale University Press, 2005. web. .MacMullen, Ramsay. “The Legion as a Society”. Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 33.4 (1984): 440-56. JSTOR. Internet. March 08, 2014.Stout, SE. “Training soldiers for the Roman Legion. » Le Journal Classique 16.7 (1921): 423-31. JSTOR. Internet. March 8. 2014. .