Talk:Vallum

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Military history: Fortifications / Roman & Byzantine / Classical C‑class

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This article has been rated as C-class on the project's quality scale.

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
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	Fortifications task force
	Roman and Byzantine military history task force
	Classical warfare task force (c. 700 BC – c. 500 AD)

Palisade[edit]

The Characteristics section is copied verbatim from source, complete with the contradiction contained therein. It says the Romans used "young trees or arms of larger trees", and states later that "each soldier carried three or four of them when on a march". No wonder the legions moved slowly. There's confusion here of course. The Romans may well have used such large tree-branches in semi-permanent or circumvallate defences, but the soldiers carried stakes.

The introduction from the same source reads better:

VALLUM, a term applied either to the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. It is derived
from vallus (a stake), and properly means the palisade which ran along the outer edge of the top of the 
agger, but it very frequently includes the agger also. The vallum, in the latter sense, together with the fossa
or ditch which surrounded the camp outside of the vallum, formed a complete fortification.

That at least doesn't suggest that a palisade (which is a fence) was "usually made out of earth", and doesn't use the word "moat", which is a broad (not a deep) ditch. A moat is a ditch, but a ditch isn't necessarily a moat. By editing the quoted paragraph, the phrase "which surrounded the camp" appears without any previous mention of a camp. Rambler24 (talk) 18:32, 30 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]