The Roman Legion Exhibition (Ciprian Dobra, Romania, ITP 2019)
Written by Ciprian Dobra, Alba Ilulia Municipality Counselor and Cultural Objective Curator, Principia Museum (Romania, ITP 2019, Senior Fellow 2023)
THE ROMAN LEGION EXHIBITION… a dream experience of a museum worker who was born 2000 years too late
The year 2023 gave me the opportunity to be the ITP Senior Fellow for a great cohort and to collaborate with the admirable team from the British Museum. Ever since 2019 I felt really connected to this Museum of the world for the world but in my mind it is a museum that introduced me to the world, became a home away from home and increased my knowledge, broadened my mind and my circle of friends and professionals. I was honoured to be chosen as Senior Fellow and later to be part of the ITP Advisory Board and, for the time being, I thought that my relation with the British Museum and the ITP team and graduates will be strictly an online thing like occasional meetings and collaboration. But I was so wrong! And I am happy that I was.
During my Senior Fellow mandate I had the pleasure to learn about the incoming Roman Legion exhibition that was to be opened for public on February 1st, 2024. The gentleman who curated the exhibition, Mr. Richard Abdy, was kind enough to offer me about an hour of his time to tell me what the exhibition will be about, what the arrangement of the space will look like and what artifacts they intended to bring for the exhibition. Seeing some other temporary exhibitions in the previous visits, like the Islamic World and Manga in 2019, China’s Hidden Century and Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece in 2023, my expectations were somehow not great after the discussion because the artifacts would have been some that I have seen in UK during my time there. Also the arrangement of the space seemed too simple for an exhibition like this. But I really liked the fact that it will follow the course of life of two real Roman soldiers, Claudius Terentianus and Apion, and I took that in consideration if I am able to make an exhibition dedicated to a Roman Legion in Principia Museum. It is also something that is very relatable to the visitors of the exhibition. One can feel more if they actually have a relatable character as a subject.
Early in winter Claire Messenger offered me the possibility to attend the grand opening and I really wanted to do that because some of the greatest Roman Army specialist announced their presence and it would have been such a great thing for a mere Romanian museum worker, otherwise passionate to the bone about the subject, to be there. But family duties prevented me from attending and I thought I will miss the opportunity to be there. But thank God for Claire who renewed the offer, and the opportunity arose again, at the end of May, just a few days before the exhibition would close its doors forever.
AND IT WENT BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS!!!
Since the opening, I noticed that the exhibition is advertised very ‘aggressively’ and although commercial images appeared every day in my internet pages, I still had my reserves taking in consideration the talk I had last year. Then people that I know, reenactors like me, started visiting the exhibition and posting pictures and envy appeared and a sense of despair that I will not be able to see it. The photos revealed the borrowing of the most amazing artifacts a reenactor, Roman Army specialist or a passionate museum worker would only dream to see. I do not know how many people know about the Dura-Europos finds, or the Kalkriese segmentata armour, or the Corbridge hoard, or the Carlisle hinge, or the Pompeii soldier. But for me, these things are actual holy relics that were reserved only to a very limited number of people and, being spread around the world, maybe never accessible.
And the pilgrimage began!
After a coffee with Claire and George, a moment that I cherish, if not more than any exhibition, at least on the same level, I entered the exhibition which did not impress me with the very familiar Trajan’s Column scene. It is a rather common thing when it comes to Roman Army themed exhibitions.
First thing that struck me was the space: open and perfectly lit to observe every detail on the inscriptions, either in stone or bronze, every stitch hole in the leather artifacts, every scale or chainmail ring on the ancient armours, but at the same time dimmed enough to offer the experience of a world without electricity. The great part of the stands are made from wood, very close to the simple military furniture that could have been found in the Roman forts everywhere in the Empire. The simple contours of the standards arrangement in what looks like the Aedes (standards’ room) of the Principia (headquarters building) in any fort brings you more into the atmosphere. And the games spread all over the exhibition for the children of every age (myself included) make the surroundings merrier.
They got the most representatives stellae when it comes to representing the details of the Roman gear. One can notice the quality of the carving, the calligraphy of the inscription, even the text. I did notice that as well, but then I noticed the way they buckled their belts, hanged the gladius and the pugio, the way they folded the tunic and wear the paenula (cloak), the design of the weapons, standards or objects that used to be the subject of their activity. Being an armourer myself, and taking my measurements and details from pictures and descriptions, being in front of the actual monuments of Quintus Petilius Secundus, Marcus Favonius Facilis, Aurelius Nepos, Titus Flavius Bassus, Pintaius Pedilici, or Marcus Caelius is like a football fan would meet Messi or Ronaldo and observing all the details of their person in such a once in a lifetime encounter. Useless to say I took pictures. Tons of pictures of details that could not be seen in the official and popular ones.
I knew that the Dura-Europos shield was in the exhibition. But I did not expect the feelings. There was a queue to see it from close range. I stood in line amazed of the fact that people actually knew about this – the only Roman shield ever preserved. When I saw it I literally had tears in my eyes. After noticing every detail, much to the annoyance of the other visitors waiting in line, I thought this will be the ultimate experience, but the next step brought me to the Pompeii marine soldier. They actually brought the skeleton of the soldier!!!! I knew about its gear being part of the exhibition, but the skeleton itself? I could see the real Roman soldier, dead in the line of duty. One cannot grasp the rarity and significance of the discovery. The Romans were buried after cremation. And now this man is in front of my eyes. I felt like saluting him. And I did it in my mind. Or else the people around me would think I was crazy.
The next amazing things were the cavalry helmets. Whenever I see them I am thinking only: HOW? How in the world is it possible for someone with the technology of the time to make such fine details that tell a story? I had the same dropped jaw in front of the ewer in the Islamic exhibition, the one with bird heads that were hammered in, as the radiography showed. HOW? And my respect for the Romans, for the artisans of the time grew even more.
There is a catalogue describing every object in this exhibition, so it is not the place to describe everything. I just want to underline that the mistakes I make when I am making scales for the armours are also visible on the Dura Europos horse armour: holes that should not exist in the grand design of the thing, which show adaptations during the manufacture, the drilling method with a mandrel (a punching tool) and some of the resulted holes that were never filed down because they were not used, the way they were put together on that leather support. Amazing, and so relatable to my work.
Dacia, nowadays Romania, is also represented there by a very expressive marble statue of a Dacian prisoner and an amazingly detailed marble highrelief presenting Dacian trophies. Both brought from the city: ROME. I felt so proud because I could personally relate to an artifact and because these ancestors of mine, the Dacians, although defeated and captive, were represented by the victors in some extremely artistic and expressive statues. Something they never did for other barbarians. And to be represented in a British Museum is WOW!
The segmentata armour from Corbridge was another artifact that I admired closely and for a long period of time. For those who read this is also a very unique artifact: historians knew about the use of the segmentata, they tried various graphic or physical reconstructions but nobody got the right thing until this Roman armourer’s chest containing parts of several complete armours was discovered in Corbridge (I envy the UK for such amazing discoveries that brought light upon these extraordinary details of the Roman equipment). They discovered a complete segmented armour of a later design in Newstead but it did not have hinges and they thought it was a hingeless type and then they found that piece of the same design in Carlisle with a hinge and now we know how they looked like and how they were applied. And to top everything, the exhibition has the Kalkriese segmented armour. Found sometime in 2021 in Germany, somewhere in the area of the Teutoburg forest where, under Augustus, Quinctilius Varus lost the 17th, 18th and 19th Legions to the Germanic tribes. By discovering this, more light was shed on the evolution of the Roman gear, a segmentata design never discovered before, although the historians had suspected its existence. I followed this discovery very close because there are already reconstructions and there are also a lot of discussions over the particular details. And to see it with my own eyes was also a dream come true. I will have my own reconstruction of it.
Another thing that struck my attention about this exhibition was the work of the people who advertised it. I can say that from the very opening, there was not one article or piece of news, no matter the subject, that I looked for on the internet without a piece of advertising for this exhibition. Not everybody managed to see it but I am sure that everybody in the whole world with internet access knew about this exhibition. Hats off to the marketing department! On my way back from London I looked for a solution to unclog my ears after the flight. And in the most subject related article I found, the article being in Romanian, there were 12 pop-ups about this exhibition. I recorded my screen while scrolling just to document this and I forgot what I was looking for in the first time.
However, because the human being is never satisfied, I have to underline two things that I did not find really accurate. I do not say that I did not like them, but I think they were a little incomplete. To begin with, the fact that, in the first part of the exhibition, the label writers kept insisting on the fact that the access into a Roman legion would only be possible with interventions, connections and sometimes bribes. Of course, it is an assumption based on the documents related to the character of Terentianus but it was not always the case for such a generalized affirmation. And secondly, the reconstruction of the Bar Hill fort, the 3 minutes and a half short film was a little inaccurate due to the fact that the fortress was too much of a muddy place. No actual roads, which are always present in any fort, no sewage systems for the buildings. The first rain would have made that fort an inoperable place. And the scattered barrels and grain sacks all over the place was a very unusual thing for any very organized Roman military unit. Other than that, I cannot say anything wrong about this exhibition. It would be my first recommendation to any British Museum visitor and for any tourist that steps on the British soil. One comes to England, with any business whatsoever, this exhibition should be a must in any schedule.
Once again I am grateful for the opportunities that lead to this event, being part of the ITP and everything that resulted from it: the Senior Fellow legacy project and the Advisory Board membership. The British Museum became the museum of my soul, the ITP team became my friends, or, better said, more like family and I will always be grateful and in their debt for as long as I will live.