Castrametation - Camp Indeed, Sir

Artistic recreation of a Roman castrum

CASTRAMETATION

Noun. Late 17th century.

[French castramétation, from Latin castra metari measure or mark out a camp.]

The designing or laying out of military camps.

Also:

castral adjective. rare. Of or pertaining to a camp. M16

castrensian adjective. Or or pertaining to a military camp. M17

castrum noun. A Roman encampment or fortress. M19

War films and military histories often skip over some of the more unpleasant, boring or mundane aspects of human conflict - disease for one thing: when was the last time you watched a war film where 3/4 of the soldiers were waylaid by dysentery? Logistics is another. Considering how ancient armies were unmechanised but still incredibly large and mobile (Alexander the Great, when crossing into Asia Minor, had approximately 40,000 soldiers to look after), it's surprising we don't hear more about castrametation - that vital art of designing and laying out one's military camp. Doing so has to take into account a multitude of factors - security, mobility, sanitation and organisation. Actually, it's obvious why war films don't dwell on this - it's about as dull as military life gets. Still, it is rather important, and those rambunctious Romans apparently had it down to a fine art, their castra (Latin for 'camps') following very specific and very efficient patterns.

Have you ever designed, worked on or otherwise experienced a military camp?

Do please pitch your tented comments into the box below.