Eight volunteers, the equivalent of the minimum unit of the republican legion – the so called contubernium, took part in an archaeological experiment and a itinerant recreation during the days 2 weeks of august in 2015. They walked an average of 35 km daily with historical equipment under temperatures that some days even reached 40ºC. Very few days they walked less than 12 hours. To sum up, the participants in the Via Scipionis went through four regions, six provinces and nearly sixty towns until they arrived to their destination. Always it was intended to follow the outline of the ancient Via Augusta. This project was done thanks’ to the collaboration of the re-enactment groups Evocati Apri Scipioni and Ibercalafell who grant the equipment and the company La Subura SL, who initially covered the expenses.
The participants were characterized as Roman soldiers from the republican age (veles, hastatus, princeps and triarus) and also as auxiliary troops (one italic and one laietanian-Iberian). During the fifteen days that lasted the march many data referring to the physical attrition and the day to day of the Roman army was gathered.
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