Life on the wall

Here Polus takes the opportunity in-between snow showers to take his brother Lucullus a cup of beef broth. It's a gift that is very welcome indeed for although the two brothers are used to snow in their southern Gaul......nothing could have prepared them for a life on Hadrian's wall in north Britannia. The thought that is keeping Lucullus going at the moment is the idea of the hot bath in the military bathhouse in three hours time, unfortunately for Polus, this is the time his shift starts but I'm sure Lucullus will return the favour.

This picture came about from idea to draw up legionaries in cold wheather clothing, there aren't many illustrations on this topic and I wondered what they would've looked like. I have given them thick local (Celtic) clothing under their armour and fingerless gloves to keep out the scottish winds, they have also got long trousers on as opposed to the breeches always depicted in books. I think people haven't really changed much reguarding comfort over the years and i think alot of this stuff would have been common sense, only a few years ago, the famous Vindolanda writing tablets revealed a man writting home asking for more underpants and socks to keep him warm. Also, when I get round to starting my campaign idea, I would like to follow the events of it through the eyes of these two and see how they get on, for abit of added imagination and story telling. My lasting memory of visiting Hadrian's wall was the noise and force of the air when I was standing on the wall, it was literally deafening, but it was a magical moment to be looking out through Roman eyes into the wastes of Pictland and the ends of the Roman empire.