Swords and sandals, school history and The Association of Roman Archaeology

I have always been fascinated by Roman history and in particular the first 300 years of the Empire. Now the period of the Republic is interesting enough and even the first murky few hundred years under the kings but I can’t be doing with the decline and fall bit.

It is what a girl friend once dismissed as “sword and sandal” history which is a bit unfair. True Sword-and-Sandal, is a genre of largely Italian-made Historical or Biblical Epics that dominated the Italian film industry from 1957 to 1965, and in them there are plenty of togas, swords and semi naked classical statues but this is dismiss the years of the early empire.

I guess for me it goes back to those wonderful history books of R J Unstead and also my first history teacher in the secondary modern I went to in 1961. He brought the subject to life with the less serious side of Roman life and wonderful models he borrowed from a friend. I owe him not only for that but also for showing me how the subject should be taught, and so twelve years later when I began teaching it was with models I had made and stories which were as much designed to catch the imagination as impart factual knowledge.

Not that I specialized in the Romans. When I was studying at degree level you needed a Latin qualification for ancient history which Samuel Pepys County Secondary Modern School for Boys did not offer. On the other hand it did have Mr Pain whose love of the Romans led him to ignore the fact that he had also to teach us Geography and spent the entire year on Caesar, Augustus and Boudicca, relenting only in the final weeks before the summer exams to throw a few geography lessons our way.

So apart from my years teaching the subject in a secondary school Roman history is something that I have followed rather than actively pursued. And in this I have been more than rewarded by being a member of the Association for Roman Archaeology. Its magazine The Bulletin of Roman Archaeology is a wonderful source of information on the Roman world and the latest thinking, theories and finds.

Along with the book reviews in the latest edition are articles on a new Roman villa at Coberley, further excavations on a bath house in Wessex and the reconstruction of legionary temples at Corbridge behind the Wall.

What I like about the articles is that they can be read by the non specialist but are designed with footnotes, references and a reading list to allow the lazy to dig deeper. What’s more the annual subscription is just £25 and comes with “a free membership pack, free entrance to over 40 sites, the annual full colour illustrated bulletins and a guide to the Roman villa of Littlecote” http://www.associationromanarchaeology.org

So there you have it. From boyhood fascination of all things Roman to an ongoing journey through the empire and beyond. I’ll keep you posted on whether after ten years membership I am offered a discount for this post.
Picture; from A Valley Grows Up by Edward Osmond, Oxford University Press 1953