Tullie House Museum - Roman Cavalry Exhibit

The Tullie House museum and Art Gallery was originally opened in 1893 and contained a technical and art school as well as a library. It has expanded over the decades and houses many items of antiquity and art.

The street view, with the Carlisle castle to the North beyond it.

The entrance to the museum

The Roman cavalry exhibit is a temporary one showcasing the use and importance of horses in the Roman empire. Here is a model diorama of a typical ala milliaria or alae of cavalry, 800 to 1000 soldiers, of the 1st century CE. They had a range of 80km and arranged in 24 groups. There were only ever seven of these large cavalry units in the empire, one in Stanwix (Carlisle) and the others in Aalen (Germany), lower Danube, Syria, and North Africa.

A closeup of the excellent work at 25mm scale. This display is on loan from Mules of Marius.

A harness fitting worn on the breast or shoulder of the horse.

Horse mask for protection. This mask would have been lined for comfort.

A diploma but not for graduating from a school. It is the original iteration of the word. In Roman times it was an official army discharge certificate, in metal. This one was presented to Longinus, son of Sestius, an archer on Hadrian's wall. If a soldier completed 25 years of service they would receive funds, land, and citizenship (if they were not a citizen already).

A face mask and two helmets. The bottom one is an amazon type mask, from about 150-250 CE. The left one is an Ostrov helmet similar to those used by Romanian cavalry. The remaining one is a Butzbach type helmet.

Closeup of the Ostrov helmet.

Decorated greaves with eagles, representing Jupiter, and the heroes Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter and brothers to Helen of Troy. From around 150-250 CE.

This is a Kalkreise type mask and one of the earliest used by Roman cavalry in the early part of the first century.

This is the Crosby Garrett helmet, which was done in a Trojan style, from the late 2nd to early 3rd century. This is the only Roman cavalry helmet found that has this style.

A shield boss sculpted to look like Dionysus. Shield bosses would be on the front of the shield and opposite the hand on the back of the shield. It is one of only three complete Roman bosses yet found.

A lion mask shield boss.