Educational Visit: Segedunum

To consolidate our learning about the Romans and their impact on Britain, we visited Segedunum in Wallsend.  We toured the site of the fort with the help of a guide and learned what each of the parts of the fort (marked out by sand and surrounded by stones on the ground were for). Part of the fort housed cavalry and these soldier slept three to a room, with the their three horses in the room next to them! The foot-soldiers, meanwhile, shared their room with seven others and four of them would have shared a bed at any one time! After looking around the fort, we got to see - and climb up - a replica of Hadrian's Wall which stands just behind the original, before returning to the museum and getting to dress up as different peoples from all across the Empire, looking at models of the fort, seeing replica Roman standards, and, of course, a replica of a Roman toilet...
 
After lunch we joined the Roman army as axillaries (to be a Roman legionary you had to already be a Roman citizen), saw the equipment and armour they wore and got to experience the drills they were expected to practise twice daily (this is in the second video, and we are turned to the left when our army instructor orders "ad scutum". This is because it means "to the shield" and the shield was always carried in the left hand), as well as the oath an auxiliary would need to swear.
 
Veni, vidi Segedunum!