Legion: life in the Roman army

It’s a blockbuster show that is set to explore the daily lives of the men, women and children who worked within the Roman Empire. Protecting a superpower for over half a millennium, the imperial Roman army acted as a military, naval and police force to around a quarter of the Earth’s population. Legion will share the stories of real legionaries and will challenge some of the perceptions about what it meant to be a Roman soldier by showing the army was as much an engine of social change as a formidable war machine. Among the more than 200 objects going on display are the world’s only intact legionary shield — a British exclusive — and a suit of armour dug up only five years ago from the site of a battle in Germany.