It is a great journey to the times of the Roman Empire when it extended for more than four and a half million square kilometers and owed its existence to laws, infrastructures and also, or above all, to its military power. The Roman army and its legionaries are the protagonists of the major exhibition Legion life in the Roman army which opens in February 2024 at the British Museum. By promising citizenship to those without it, the Roman army also became an engine for citizen creation, providing a better life for soldiers who survived their service. This exhibition addresses the historical, social and finally personal level with the story of a real Roman soldier, Claudius Terenzianus, whose existence we can retrace: from enlistment and campaigns to occupation and finally retirement. While the perks of military life were attractive - members of the legions could earn a substantial pension and those who joined the auxiliary troops could gain citizenship for themselves and their families - the dangers were real and brutal both on and off the battlefield, as suggested by finds in Great Britain which include the remains of two soldiers probably murdered and buried clandestinely in Canterbury, perhaps killed by local resistance to the Roman invaders.
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