LEGION: LIFE IN THE ROMAN ARMY
Exhibiting at the British Museum from the 1st February 2024 - 23rd June 2024.
The British Museum is the world’s oldest national public museum and has approximately 50,000 items on permanent display. You really could spend the whole day here, just wandering the galleries and marvelling at the two million years of history that’s in front of you. But throughout the year they also hold a variety of temporary exhibitions, normally in their dedicated space, The Sainsbury’s Exhibition Gallery, that allow visitors to witness certain artefacts or unlock a new understanding that they wouldn't have been able to before.
When we saw this exhibition advertised late last year, we knew we had to visit. It’s possibly our most anticipated exhibition of the year so naturally within a week of its opening we found ourselves passing through the grand doors clutching our tickets for Legion : Life in the Roman Army. Open from the 1st February to the 23rd June 2024 this latest exhibition covers the experiences of the ordinary soldiers who made up the bulk of the Roman Legion. The Legionnaires and the Auxiliaries.
It’s possibly our most anticipated exhibition of the year so naturally within a week of its opening we found ourselves passing through the grand doors clutching our tickets
Here in Roman Britain we held a significant portion of the Roman Military with 10% of the entire Roman Army permanently stationed here. There were high stakes rewards available for those that survived the 25 years of service but was it worth the reward? And what kind of life was to be expected in the largest fighting force of the ancient world? Hopefully as we enter the exhibition gallery all of our questions are about to be answered.
Immediately we find ourselves face to face with the Bronze head of Emperor Augustus, the creator of the career soldier and Emperor responsible for creating Rome’s permanent and professional Army. It’s the beginning of a story, one that is about to be played out to us across the exhibition rooms, taking us step by step through every aspect of a Roman soldier’s life from enlistment to retirement. But it isn’t just any generic Roman soldier that we find ourselves getting acquainted with, nor is it a high class General, one of the Roman elites. It’s actually the very real stories of two young Egyptian men who join the Roman Army from two different perspectives, Terentianus, a Roman Citizen, as a Legionnaire (eventually) and Apion, a non Roman Citizen, as an Auxiliary.
Their personal letters have miraculously survived for nearly two millennia in the dry conditions of Egypt, revealing an incredible insight into their lives as Roman soldiers, exactly how they describe them to their families back home. These first hand accounts make the incredible array of artefacts contained within this gallery suddenly come alive, bursting with the story of Terentianus and Apion and transporting ourselves back to the Roman Empire, experiencing life as a recruit.
It feels deeply personal as if we are peeling back the layers right down to the souls of the soldiers themselves.
The Roman Army was the most successful army in the history of the world and surrounded by the plethora of artefacts on display, many on loan from museums far and wide and several from private collections that are here on very rare public display, it’s hard to escape the might and power that lies before us. However this exhibition is more delicate than just Rome’s military power. In a room surrounded by Roman Helmets, Swords, Daggers and the only known Legionary shield in existence a new light is thrown in as we hear about how Terentianus initially struggled with military life and writes home to his family begging to be sent a battle sword as the Roman soldiers were expected to supply their own equipment themselves. Suddenly we are looking closer and learning of how equipment would often be passed down through families, one of the helmets has been altered over time to reflect the most current type with the owner's name scratched into the inside. It feels deeply personal as if we are peeling back the layers right down to the souls of the soldiers themselves.
Of course there are some artefacts that stop us dead in our tracks, have us joining the crowd pressed up against the glass to get closer to these incredible objects. There’s a delicate Roman Arm Purse that was found buried in the foundation of a Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall, it contains 27 silver denarii, over a month's pay for a legionary soldier and likely left as a ritual offering made to the gods before a dangerous stint building Roman Britain’s North Western Frontier. There’s the Crosby Garrett Helmet, an elaborate face mask worn by Roman Cavalrymen for spectacular displays that is one of the finest and most complete examples ever found and has even been described as ‘one of the most significant archaeological finds in Britain’. And then in one of the final rooms where we experience ‘Fort Life’ there is a dice tumbler tower, an artefact that was designed to be used in games of chance to produce a completely trustworthy throw of the dice and leave the ‘chance’ in the hands of the gods. An artefact the likes of which we have never seen before.
Walking through the galleries there’s even a little something for the children too as for the first time yet the British Museum have teamed up with Horrible Histories to intersperse a variety of interactive exhibits that are fully integrated into the fabric of the exhibition to allow the audience (not just the children!) to interact and engage that little bit more with the information that has been presented to them. Rattus or Claudius Terrattus as he is also known pops up now and then to add a kid aimed fact and titbit to the exhibits ensuring that every member of the audience enjoys their experience. Although we must just mention briefly that the exhibition does also contain some human remains, in particular a Roman soldier who perished helping the citizens of Herculaneum. A poignant but also sensitive exhibit, which is well signposted and prewarned throughout the exhibition.
This emotional journey experiencing the difficulties and the wonders faced by the soldiers comes to it’s conclusion in the final gallery space dedicated to retirement. A stage that only 50% of the soldiers made it to. The final case holds the two prizes that they would have fought so hard to reach. For the legionnaires, 10 years worth of pay, that was more than enough to buy land or live comfortably, and for the Auxiliaries a bronze diploma that certified their new status of Roman citizenship for themselves and for their families, a new start in life. The grand finale to this incredible narrative that is intertwined with the very real lives of Apion and Terentianus and some of the most breath taking Roman artefacts we have ever witnessed. From start to finish it might be one of the British Museum’s best exhibitions yet. If you haven’t already got your tickets then book them right now for this isn’t one to be missed!
