London, the exhibition on the Roman Empire lights up the British Museum

LONDON. LONDON

Rarely has an exhibition in England received five out of five stars and rare compliments from all the major newspapers. But, as often happens in the heart of the former British Empire, here they are crazy about the Roman Empire. The Telegraph he says: «One of the most powerful exhibitions in the history of the British Museum». The Times: «The enthusiasm is irresistible». The Guardian: «Rome for everyone». L’Evening Standard: «A breathtaking review».

After all, theRoman Empire it is one of the chapters of history most loved by the Anglo-Saxons, just think of the Gladiator with Russell Crowe, the essays of the great historian Mary Beard up to the videos on TikTok.

There is a prestigious precedent: in 2013 the British Museum – currently the third museum in the world for visitors with over 4 million per year – organized an exhibition on Pompeii. It was a resounding success, like Robert Harris’ novel of the same name. So much so that the number of admissions jumped by 20 percent compared to the average of that period and a documentary was even produced about the event: Pompeii Live from the British Museum.

History repeats itself. The British review Legion: Life in the Roman Army it will be open to visitors until June 23rd. The Times he writes: «After visiting this exhibition, it feels like I have spent 25 years fighting for the Empire». Because there are the armor of soldiers and many “unknown soldiers”, shields, javelins, helmets and swords, “monsters and messiahs”, prostitutes and lovers of the Roman castra, letters on papyrus from the soldiers of Egypt, up to the “relics” of victories and terrible defeats. Like the one in Kalkriese, in Lower Saxony, where Germanic tribes devastated the legions led by Publius Quintilius Varus in 9 AD «Be careful, there are also human remains», that is, two legionaries killed and buried in Canterbury, «but we treat them with care and respect”, warns the museum. And then the intact skeleton of a Roman soldier overwhelmed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD

«The Romans lived to be remembered», notes the Telegraph. And so this exhibition remembers them like this: for example, there is the only legionary shield in the world still perfectly preserved and painted like a wonderful fresco from Pompeii, “with the same blood red as the walls of the villas”. There is the artillery of Hadrian’s Wall, built by the Romans to defend themselves from the terrible Pici and other irreducible “barbarians” of present-day Scotland: the “storm” throwing machine, but also templates that the legionaries used for training and that the Telegraph journalist initially mistakes it for “a Celtic statue”.

Because at the front the Romans generally also enjoyed abundance and sometimes comfort. Like heated bathrooms, wooden-soled slippers, games and a bronze dice tower. Then there were also prostitutes, but not only that. Claudia Severa, for example, invites her sister to a birthday party, as we read in the writings, among the oldest in the United Kingdom, found on the Vindolanda Tablets: a fort of British auxiliary troops built near Hadrian’s Wall on orders by Gneo Giulio Agricola.

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The Roman army dates back to the sixth century BC, but it was with the emperor Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD) that being a soldier became a career choice. Because the legionaries also received a substantial pension and foreigners who joined the auxiliary troops could obtain citizenship for them and their family. For this reason, the exhibition tries to enter the head, aspirations and fears of an ordinary Roman soldier, from Scotland to the Red Sea, from family life at the fort to the brutality of the battlefield. In short, Rome’s war machine told by those who knew it best: the soldiers.

«Ordinary but extraordinary lives», comments the Guardian, «exemplified in the exhibition by the traces of two Egyptian soldiers, Terentianus and Apion». Through his writings, we reconstruct the life and deeds of Claudio Terenziano, from his enlistment to the occupation campaigns, from his initial rejection in 110 AD to his retirement. The Roman writer Publius Vegetius Renatus noted: «Few men are born courageous. But many become so thanks to training and the strength of discipline.” But the show is not triumphalist, concludes the Telegraph, «and yet it is a triumph. One of the most powerful exhibitions at the British in memory.”