Interesting exhibition at British Museum

[wuntbedruv]

I visited with my father at the beginning of April and found it an incredible exhibition. Although some may find the display of human remains in museums a controversial subject, for me the most poignant inclusion was the skeleton and personal possessions of the Herculaneum soldier - an incredible memorial to an ordinary individual whose name we do not even know. I was very moved by the whole thing, and shall not deny that it brought a tear or three to my eye. 

For those not in the know, Herculaneum was a Roman town destroyed by the famous eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, along with the better-known Pompeii and several other smaller settlements. The Herculaneum soldier, still clad in his gear, was probably directing evacuation efforts from the harbour when he (along with virtually everyone else in the vicinity, including around 300 civilians sheltering in some nearby boat-sheds) was killed by the pyroclastic flow. Both he and those civilians he was likely trying to evacuate by sea would only be found by archaeologists almost 2000 years later. I quote Jonathan Jones' review in The Guardian;

"The exhibition’s gripping reality is almost unbearable when you meet the skeleton of a Roman soldier who died in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. He seems to have been assisting in the evacuation from Herculaneum harbour, when the wave of hot mud killed him along with many civilians huddled nearby. His sword and dagger, perfectly preserved, were still in their sheaths. He died not in battle but helping others. He was a soldier of Rome – honour him."