Re-visiting the National Roman Legion Museum - with thoughts about socks, buttons, hair pins, home insurance and revenge.

Re-visiting the National Roman Legion Museum - with thoughts about socks, buttons, hair pins, home insurance and revenge. 

 National Roman Legion Museum was handed over to the care of National Museum Wales in 1930 because the Monmouthshire Antiquarian Association could no longer maintain the upkeep on the building but the MAA have retained a close relationship. Recently we have seen the Museum pass through difficult times. It was closed last year for work to be carried out on the roof and then had to close in March for the national lockdown due to Covid 19. Recently due to a local lockdown it has closed again. I have visited twice since the reopening and have visited countless times in my life but I am always amazed by what I see.  This time I looked more closely at some of the exhibits and have recorded my thoughts and taken pictures. Interestingly the exhibits had to be removed for the roof to be mended and had to be put back exactly as they were, due to funding commitments, but they were cleaned and new lighting was installed which has made a great difference to exhibits I had looked at many times before. Also the way in which you have to move around the exhibits to ensure social distancing has also meant that you see something you had previously not given enough attention.        

Quintus the Centurion

 I am greeted by a centurion who was in charge of a century. I remember being amazed when I first studied the Romans that a century meant 80 men and not 100. He has been given the name 'Quintus, Centurion at the Caerleon fortress’ and I am informed he is my guide for all things Roman at Amgueddfa Lleng Rhufeinig Cymru the National Roman Legion Museum.  There are many names of Legio II Augusta's centurions to be found in The Roman Inscriptions of Britain  especially listed on the building stones, known as centurial stones, which identified the century by using the name of the centurion in charge. Every centurion would have worn everything shown in this example but I imagine all of this would have been needed when they were on parade. Why the feathers I wondered? The purpose of these plumes or crests was probably for decoration or unit identification and indicate rank. Evidence from monuments indicate they were not worn during combat.                                                              

Valerius Martialis the Legionary Soldier                         

Here we have a Roman legionary soldier called Valerius Martialis. The excellent label informs us of his iron metal helmet which had  flexible segments attached with hinges and leather. This flexibility and the protection of the most vulnerable parts on the body illustrates their many aspects of technical advancement which enabled them to create such a large Empire. I have often thought about their feet and bare legs in Britain, but they wore leather trousers and hobnailed sandals and I have always wondered about the lack of socks. I understand there is some evidence to show that they did have some sock-type garment for the feet. He also has a sword, dagger and javelin. Unfortunately you can only see the back of his shield but look at the virtual tour at the bottom of this page to see more.                                

There is also a model of a signifer who was a standard bearer of the Roman legion. He carried a signum (standard) for a cohort or century. Each century had a signifer. A vexillarius was one of the signiferi in a Roman legion. His duty was to carry the vexillum, a military standard displaying the name and emblem of the legion. This can be seen on the wall at the back of the gallery. As you can see the signifer wore an animal skin on their helmet which in this instance is a bear I believe.

The Second Augustan Legion at Caerleon

The 2nd Augustan Legion came to Caerleon via Kingsholm near Gloucester. It had moved to Usk in 57 AD. (See blog post below 'Kingsholm Vexillation Fortress and the Silures') In 60 AD they helped put down the Boudican Revolt and by 75 AD were established at Caerleon. Follow this link to fined out more about the Legion.

I paused in front of this diagram which shows the formation of the whole legion in about 100 AD. There were about 4-6 thousand men and and there were auxiliaries as well. I thought that if all the soldiers were in the camp it must have been very crowded but then I remembered the new excavations undertaken by Peter Guest when at Cardiff University which discovered a complex of large monumental buildings outside the fortress between the River Usk and the amphitheatre, dubbed the The Lost City of the Legion. Also the legion was not always at full complement in the fortress. Sometime around 100 AD, the Romans began to enclose and drain the Levels, probably to create year-round grazing for cattle and cavalry horses on the lush, wet grasslands by the Severn. Roman military engineers built embankments along the shoreline, linking areas of higher ground, and created a network of ditches to drain the land. At this time, the sea wall was probably a series of low embankments protecting sections of the Levels, rather than a continuous single structure (sea levels at this time were about 1.5m lower than today). It was common practice for Roman soldiers to record their building efforts by inscribing a stone, called a centurial stone, which would be placed next to or incorporated into whatever they were constructing. The Goldcliff Stone is thought to date from the late 2nd or early 3rd century. Follow link to the Living Levels information on the Gold Cliff Stone where you can also see the video 'A Journey Through Time, AD 110.' In 122 AD sections of the Legion were constructing Hadrian's Wall as can seen from this link. In 139-42 AD sections of the  Legion were used to construct the Antonine Wall. (See the link to a distance slab.) 

Useful Items

Brooches and Buttons with Loops

I was always fascinated as to why the Romans did not have buttons and in the first section there are numerous brooches of different types. However the design of men and women’s dress in Roman Britain required that garments were fastened with brooches. The brooch was made out of a single piece of metal, like a safety-pin, and was in use in pre-Roman Britain during the Iron Age. More than 70 such brooches were excavated at Bagendon, the Iron Age capital outside Cirencester. However at a recent talk given by Dr Mark Lewis the Curator at the National Roman Legion Museum Wales, I heard about Button and Loop Fasteners I always thought that the technological skills of the Romans meant that they should have had buttons and this link shows that the Portable Antiquities Scheme is proving that to be correct. 

Hair Pins

I was once asked about Roman pins by a lecturer. She asked me if they could be regarded as a feminine item. Being aware of gender discussions re archaeological artefacts I was interested to see a pin with a female head in the collection. However, the lecturer was right as one cannot make gender assumptions about the artefacts one finds. (See also the gem stones below.)

A Writing Tablet

This is part of a wooden writing- tablet. When I was a child I thought the Roman only chiseled messages on stone, but since then writing tablets have been found in many sites, especially Vindolanda where the wood was preserved in the wet soil. They have improved our knowledge of everyday life in Roman Britain. The tablets document the correspondence of Roman soldiers and officers, their spouses and other family members staying at Vindolanda, and non military people such as merchants, slaves, etc.  See link.

Note this Caerleon writing tablet was found in the wet conditions of the well of an officer's house and refers to guards sent to collect pay.

Wealth

Gem Stones

This collection of gem stones were found in the Roman Baths and were lost by their wearers. Given they were legionaries the gender aspect comes into mind again. Apparently in the early first and second centuries men wore rings and they were often worn on all ten fingers. These rings were typically worn in front of the knuckle, rather than behind it as rings are worn today. Gem stones have also been found at Bath in the Roman drain that carries water from the Roman sacred spring to the River Avon. See link

Coin Hoards

In September 1998  a hoard of 3,778 Roman coins were discovered at Rogiet. More recently the Llanvaches coin hoard was found in June 2006 probably buried around 160 AD. There were 599 denarii hidden in a locally made cooking pot. Possibly retired legionary soldiers at Caerwent needed somewhere safe to protect their wealth. See also People's Collection Wales. The hoard is displayed at the rear of the museum.

Religion 

The Romans had numerous gods and goddesses as well as conflating their identity with local Iron Age gods in the areas they occupied. (See previous blog post 'The Caerwent Iron Age Head').

Column dedicated to Mithras. 

This indicated that there must have been a Mithraeum temple somewhere in Caerleon but it has not been discovered as yet. To see more about the worship of Mithras click here.

          

Antefixa are placed at the eaves hiding the ends of the joint tiles of the roof. They usually have ornaments on them which often have protective evil averting emblems. The first has dolphins which symbolised prosperity and a rossette. The second has cupid riding two dolphins and the third has an antefixa with a Gorgon Head with celestial symbols aimed to deflect evil. Having just had some roof tiles replaced I could see the advantage of antefixa. A kind of insurance policy. The Romans believed that Genii were attendant spirits of a person or place. Consequently they also had statues in their houses and at the bottom of the picture is a Genius Togatus the personal guardian spirit of the head of the household. 

Curse Tablets 

Here you can see a leaden curse which was a way of invoking the aid of  the goddess Nemesis against the the thief who had stolen  a cloak and boots. This was found in the amphitheatre but many such tablets were found at Bath in the shrine dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva. Click and scroll down.

      

A Pipe Cremation 

The Roman Pipe-burial was discovered in 1927 in Caerleon at Ultra Pontem. It allowed libations to be made to the  departed after cremation or inhumation. It contained a man of about 35 years of age. It must have been a practical comforting way to remember the departed. This pipe burial consists of a lead canister inside a tiles cist with a lead pipe leading to the ground surface.  9See the first post in this blog 'The Tombstone of Tadia Vallaunius' for more information on Roman burials.) The Romans buried their dead outside their town and fortresses and this pipe burial was found at the foot of the hillside to the south-east. 

This is on high up on the wall on the left as you leave the museum. I can't remember having noticed it in the past but with the new lighting it is very visible and reveals a dog and part of the head of a lion. It could be a hunting scene and the lion suggests it is not Britain. However, dogs were pitted against lions in the amphitheatres and lions were captured for this purpose. They were also often found on funerary monuments and this may have been part of a coffin. to see the Corbridge Lion.  

For a virtual view of the Museum Gallery go to https://www.pan3sixty.co.uk/virtual-tours/national-roman-legion-museum/virtual-tour.html