Life in Roman Army Explored in New British Museum Exhibition

A new exhibition looking at the lives of Roman soldiers opens at the British Museum in London this week. (AFP)
A new exhibition looking at the lives of Roman soldiers opens at the British Museum in London this week. (AFP)
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Life in Roman Army Explored in New British Museum Exhibition

A new exhibition looking at the lives of Roman soldiers opens at the British Museum in London this week. (AFP)
A new exhibition looking at the lives of Roman soldiers opens at the British Museum in London this week. (AFP)

From cavalry helmets to panels of goatskin used for military tents, a new exhibition looking at the lives of Roman soldiers opens at the British Museum in London this week.

"Legion: life in the Roman army" features more than 200 objects on display, many of which once belonged to recruits or their families.

Among the highlights are what the museum says is the world's only intact semi-cylindrical legionary shield from Roman times and the most complete classic Roman segmental armor, unearthed in 2018 from the battlefield at Kalkriese in Germany.

“This is an exhibition about the Roman army but it's told from the perspective of the ordinary Roman soldiers," Carolina Rangel de Lima, project curator for the exhibition, told Reuters at a press preview on Tuesday.

"The spine of the narrative is the story of this actual soldier, Claudius Terentianus, whose ... fragments of his letters home survive and tell us about particularly the beginning of his enlistment and his story."

The exhibition opens to the public on Thursday and runs until June 23, 2024.



Egypt Recovers 3 Ancient Artifacts Found in the Netherlands

This picture shows a partial view of Cairo on August 25, 2024. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
This picture shows a partial view of Cairo on August 25, 2024. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
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Egypt Recovers 3 Ancient Artifacts Found in the Netherlands

This picture shows a partial view of Cairo on August 25, 2024. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
This picture shows a partial view of Cairo on August 25, 2024. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Egypt recovered three ancient artifacts that were smuggled out of the country and found in the Netherlands, where two of the items were for sale in an antiques shop, Egyptian officials said Tuesday.
The items retrieved include a mummified head from the Hellenistic period, a ceramic funerary figurine dating to Egypt’s New Kingdom era (664-332 B.C.), and part of a wooden tomb bearing an inscription of the goddess Isis from 663-504 B.C., the Egyptian embassy in The Hague said in a statement. The head was found in good condition, showing remnants of teeth and hair, The Associated Press reported.
Dutch police and the cultural heritage inspection unit retrieved the figurines and parts of the tomb after determining that they were smuggled out of Egypt. A Dutch individual handed over the mummified head, which he had inherited from a family member, to local authorities.
The three artifacts are believed to have been stolen and smuggled after they were discovered through illegal excavation, according to Egyptian authorities. No details were provided about when those items were believed to have been unearthed and smuggled.
Repatriation from the Netherlands is part of Egypt’s wider push to stop trafficking of stolen antiquities. More than 30,000 artifacts have been recovered since 2014.
Last year, an ancient wooden sarcophagus that was featured at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences was returned to Egypt after US authorities determined it was smuggled years ago.