Rare Roman armour video with Curator Dr Fraser Hunter
Rare Roman armour goes on permanent display at the National Museum of Scotland
An exceptionally rare piece of Roman armour which was recently reconstructed from dozens of fragments has gone on display in its entirety for the first time in Scotland.
Dating from the middle of the second century, the brass arm guard is the most intact example of its kind and one of only three known from the whole Roman Empire. The armour was discovered in over 100 pieces at the site of the Trimontium fort near Melrose in 1906. It is in remarkably good condition, with remnants of leather straps still attached to the metal.
An exceptionally rare piece of Roman armour which was recently reconstructed from dozens of fragments has gone on display in its entirety for the first time in Scotland.
Dating from the middle of the second century, the brass arm guard is the most intact example of its kind and one of only three known from the whole Roman Empire. The armour was discovered in over 100 pieces at the site of the Trimontium fort near Melrose in 1906. It is in remarkably good condition, with remnants of leather straps still attached to the metal.
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NewsTranscript
00:00This is an armguard worn by a Roman legionary soldier, found at the site of Newstead in
00:06the Scottish Borders.
00:08The armguard is a unique find from across the entire Roman Empire. It's the only complete
00:13brass armguard known from anywhere. It was found in 1906, when excavations were taking
00:19place at the site, led by James Curl, a local antiquary.
00:23The armguard really helps us understand life as a Roman soldier in Scotland, in two ways.
00:28One is that it shows these soldiers were heavily armoured. Not just the body armour and the
00:32shield and the helmet, but for some of them, for the infantry, also the armguard protecting
00:36your sword arm.
00:37But the second thing is about status. It may look green and corroded now, but at the time
00:43this gleamed like gold. This was a real status piece. Whoever could afford to buy or commission
00:49a piece like this was a high-ranking soldier, somebody important in the ranks of the army.
00:55This armguard is on display in the Early People Gallery of the National Museum of Scotland.