"Life in the Roman Army, Part One – British Museum" Topic

A few weeks ago I travelled up to London, and the British Museum to see their latest exhibition, bringing together the best of their collection and those of others, of Roman exhibits that tell the story of life in the Roman Army from the Imperial era through to the collapse.

Spoiler Alert: If you intend to visit this stunning exhibition, you might want to ignore my post about it, which I take a bit of a ‘deep dive' into the exhibition together with links to others I have visited over the last decade or so in a two part post; however if you are not planning to go before the exhibition closes in June you might enjoy the read.

If you would like to know more then just follow the link to JJ's

link

JJ

Very good report.

Many thanks, JJ.

Wow, that's some great information! Thanks for posting, cheers!

Thanks for your comments chaps.
This turned out to be, as I expected, one of those exhibitions that will remain long in the memory and I have a feeling I will be referencing some of my pictures for future posts, with quite a bit still to cover in part two.

Cheers
JJ

Carajon,

Have to agree. I have visited twice, and am now contemplating a third visit. So many items one will likely never have the opportunity to see again in the UK . The Dura Europos shield for one!

"Originally some areas were tinned, creating a silvery contrast to the yellowish bronze, and as seen below, cavalry helmets had short neck guards, to prevent neck injury in the event of a fall from the saddle."

I was surprised to read this BM caption. I was under the impression that the neck guard with its distinctive roundels was to deflect vertical sword cuts. Or am I mistaken?

How would it protect from the impact of a fall?

Hi Mollinary,
Yes indeed and ‘the shield' will be the star of part two.

42flanker – Hi,
I can't say I found the museum's comment that controversial, reading it as I did as simply a statement to describe the look of the helmet in its pristine condition, rather than a specific comment on its protective qualities, which I agree are inherent in its design.

The reference to the more diminutive neck guard, compared to that of the infantry model, being preferable for avoiding neck injuries in a fall, is a proposition I have seen in other authoritative texts, rather supposing that a hard fall with a large protruding neck guard taking the brunt of the contact with the ground has a significant possibility of inflicting severe neck injuries and even dislocation than not, which does not strike me as improbable.

I hope that helps

JJ