# Did ancient Greek or Roman soldiers have canteens?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-ancient-greek-or-roman-soldiers-have-canteens/677384>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 29, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-ancient-greek-or-roman-soldiers-have-canteens/677384 "2013-12-29T01:36:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-ancient-greek-or-roman-soldiers-have-canteens/677384/1 "2013-12-29T01:36:47Z")

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I keep reading about how some battles were decided as a result of heat, dust and so on.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-ancient-greek-or-roman-soldiers-have-canteens/677384/2 "2013-12-29T03:28:07Z")

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Yes, they did.

The actual designs varied quite a bit (just saying ancient Greek and Roman covers a very wide geographical area and a very wide time range as well) but here’s a page on the typical gear an ancient Roman soldier would have carried, including a typical canteen.

> **[Lore and Saga. The Living History Service for Education. Roman soldiers...](http://www.lore-and-saga.co.uk/html/roman_soldiers_equipment.html)**
>
> Living history services and resources 
> 
> for schools, museums and heritage sites. Viking and Roman in school 
> 
> sessions and craft demonstrations. teachers notes and worksheets.