British Museum: Life in the Roman Army

[guy]

(Roman scutum)

 

(Armor from the Arminius revolt)

(Pair of children's shoes)

(Official gifts)

A new exhibit at the British Museum. (Thanks Dr Tom for bringing this to my attention.)

 

Quote

 

"From family life on the fort to the brutality of the battlefield, experience Rome's war machine through the people who knew it best – the soldiers who served in it.

Few men are born brave; many become so from care and force of discipline."

Vegetius, Fourth-century Roman writer

The Roman empire spanned more than a million square miles and owed its existence to its military might. By promising citizenship to those without it, the Roman army – the West's first modern, professional fighting force – also became an engine for creating citizens, offering a better life for soldiers who survived their service.

Expansive yet deeply personal, this exhibition transports you across the empire, as well as through the life and service of a real Roman soldier, Claudius Terentianus, from enlistment and campaigns to enforcing occupation then finally, in Terentianus' case, retirement. Objects include letters written on papyri by soldiers from Roman Egypt and the Vindolanda tablets – some of the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain. The tablets, from the fort near Hadrian's wall, reveal first-hand what daily life was like for soldiers and the women, children and enslaved people who accompanied them.

Roman military history perhaps stretches as far back at the sixth century BC but it wasn't until the first emperor, Augustus (63 BC – AD 14), that soldiering became a career choice. While the rewards of army life were enticing – those in the legions could earn a substantial pension and those entering the auxiliary troops could attain citizenship for themselves and their families – the perils were real. Soldiers were viewed with fear and hostility by civilians – not helped by their casual abuses and extra roles as executioners and enforcers of occupation – and they could meet grim ends off, as well as on, the battlefield. Finds in Britain include the remains of two soldiers probably murdered and clandestinely buried in Canterbury, suggesting local resistance.

What did life in the Roman army look like from a soldier's perspective? What did their families make of life in the fort? How did the newly-conquered react? Legion explores life in settled military communities from Scotland to the Red Sea through the people who lived it.

 

 

https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/legion-life-roman-army

Edited March 22 by guy

[guidoLaMoto]

How wonderful it is that we have those Vindolanda tablets to give us insight into the life of common folk. That's a great site you've given us. Thanks for posting.

I have it on good authority that Hadrian didn't really have anything against the Scotts. He ordered the wall to be built just to keep those @#$% bag pipes out of The Empire.

[caesar novus]

Roman marines and maritime aspects of that special exhibit:

 

[guy]

Here are some pictures of the exhibit from Maridvnvm (from cointalk.com and forumancientcoins.com). The descriptions are from the pictures.

 

Britain, British Museum, Exhibition 2024 - Legion: life in the Roman Army - crocodile armour

Some Roman soldiers participated in local religions – Terentianus was keen to report his piety. Crocodile-worship was common in Egypt. This crocodile scalp could be a ritual headdress, or a local adaptation of the fierce lion and bear hoods worn by Roman standard bearers. The tough leather of the crocodile skin resembles the texture of scale body armour, and leather protection might have sufficed for some soldiers. Alternatively, it was perhaps worn under metal armour for cushioning, adding flexible hip and shoulder protection. Made of Crocodile leather Probably found in Manfalut, Egypt Dating to A.D. 200–400 Part of British Museum collection, 1846,0501.9

 

Britain, British Museum, Exhibition 2024 - Legion: life in the Roman Army - chainmail

This deceptively simple looking armour is a chainmail shirt, found in the barracks of a fort on Hadrian's Wall. It probably belonged to a soldier of the 5th cohort of Gauls, an auxiliary unit raised in the area including modern France. The individual rings are 7 mm wide and were fixed by riveting alternating rows, making it painstaking and expensive to produce. Made of Iron Found at Arbeia fort, Tyne and Wear, England Dating to A.D. 200–300 On loan from Arbeia, South Shields Roman Fort

 

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=-1262

 

Britain, British Museum, Exhibition 2024 - Legion: life in the Roman Army - bronze Draco

By the A.D.100s, a distinctive windsock-like standard especially suited to being wielded from the saddle had been adopted from Rome's Sarmatian foes – the draco. This bronze standard head originally had a tube of colourful materials attached. Carried by a draconarius, the material trailed behind the rider, blown by the breeze and emitting a whistling sound to suggest the fearsome beast's howl. Its pole was attached through two holes on the top and bottom of the head. Found in Niederbieber, Germany Dating to 190 A.D. –260 A.D.  On loan from GDKE – Direktion Landesarchäologie Außenstelle Koblenz https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastupby&cat=0&pid=187511&uid=618#top_display_media

 

Edited May 2 by guy

[caesar novus]

The story behind the images by Goldsworthy: