Remember the number eight for the gate towers? Ok this was not the only place the Romans used towers. Each corner of the fort would also mount a tower. Whether the castra was rectangular or square there would be four corners. So now we see that there are four more towers making so far a total of twelve towers.

Here is a photo of the corner tower. In this case it has two storeys. Inside this tower are auxilia singers. Like the wallls the tower has wicker walls. Sometimes they may have had embrachures or not. In this case not. An embrachure is an openning that was cut into the wall. The men could shoot and then go left or right to gain cover behind the higher wall section.

The towers gave a clear view of not only the surrounding area outside the camp but also the entire inside. Behind this corner of the castra can be seen the headquaters area. Here the commander or legatus of the legion would make his home. Other staff would also be housed here. In this case we can see smaller tented areas where cover from the elements could be found during officers' call. There were many officers and NCO's (non-commissioned offiecers called centurions-leaders of centuries,maniples and cohorts). Most legates relied on a war council of centurions and higher grade officers. This could not always be done inside his praetorium tent. So he would use simple covered awnings like these. Shown to the top left of the tower.