GollyGeeGosh: Roman Military Museum (Cavoran/Magna)

Tuesday 12 September 2017

Roman Military Museum (Cavoran/Magna)

The Roman Military Museum is built near the Roman fort of Carvoran or Magna and predated Hadrian's wall. The foundations are buried and was a small fort.

They have several life size mockups of the different types of Roman soldiers but not as many as listed here.

Legion soldier Quintus Sollonius's cloak brooch, depicting the god of war, Mars. The god is flanked with Dacian shields and may have been a gift for special service during Trajan's Dacian wars, in Romania, early in the 2nd century. Quintus was with the century of Cupitus of the second legion Augusta.

A man portable scorpio, used for sniping at valuable targets.

Soldiers only ate twice a day, breakfast (prandium) and dinner (cena). Per day they received 1.5kg of grain (wheat or barley). This grain would be ground and the flour made into hard biscuits called bucellatum which would keep for a long time. These would be crumbled up in water and other ingredients added to make a stew when on the move or on its own as a last resort. They also would have received rations of meat, cheese, salt, and sour wine.

At Hadrian's wall, from the tablets at Vindolanda and seeds found, soldiers ate pork, fish, oysters, apples, olives, beans, chicken, beetroot, lentils, garlic, honey, radishes, and local beer. Exotic goods from throughout the Roman empire could be obtained in markets, for a price.

Here is a board indicating, by colour, the Legion fortresses, forts, civitas capitals (capitals of native tribal areas), colonia (colonies), ports, important towns, Roman roads, walls, and native tribal areas. It reminds you that the Roman empire was in Britain to stay or at least stay until the started to fall apart. Here is an excellent site for all things Roman Britain if you want to know more.