Roman festival in Augusta Raurica

[Tejas]

I visited the annual Roman festival in Kaiseraugst, i.e. ancient Augusta Raurica. There were excellent reenactors from different countries, altogether about 100 Roman soldiers, plus gladiators who demonstrated full contact gladiatorial combat and much more. 

Picture 1 shows the officiers, including the Centurio Primus Pilus with white feathers. 

Picture 2 shows Roman troops in full armour

Picture 3 shows two Roman soldiers in marching or more casual gear.

Picture 4 shows the Legatus

Picture 5 shows gladiatorial combat

 

 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Very nice!  Thanks for bringing pictures to us! 

 

[hotwheelsearl]

Pretty neat how in America we do civil war reenactments, an event that was only about 160 years ago, while Europeans reenact things from 2,000 years ago.

[AETHER]

looks like a hell of alotta fun

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Pretty cool. Probably a bit of an expensive hobby, no?

You have to order replicas of either lorica segmentata (plate armor), lorica squamata (scale armor) or lorica hamata (chain mail shirt/hauberk). 

plus a pilum and gladius or spatha, the sword popular by the mid third century A.D.

Shield, etc. 

[Tejas]

Yes, I asked one the reenactors about the costs of their gear and he told me that he invested around 10'000 to 15'000 Swiss Francs, i.e. up to 18'000 USD. However, some of them make various elements of their equipment themselves. Some work together with (or are themselves) experimental archaeologists. 

[justus]

On 8/25/2024 at 11:21 AM, Tejas said:

I visited the annual Roman festival in Kaiseraugst, i.e. ancient Augusta Raurica. There were excellent reenactors from different countries, altogether about 100 Roman soldiers, plus gladiators who demonstrated full contact gladiatorial combat and much more. 

Picture 1 shows the officiers, including the Centurio Primus Pilus with white feathers. 

Picture 2 shows Roman troops in full armour

Picture 3 shows two Roman soldiers in marching or more casual gear.

Picture 4 shows the Legatus

Picture 5 shows gladiatorial combat

 

 

2000 years ago, one of the most important Roman bases in Germania was located in Haltern am See on the north bank of the River Lippe. This camp played an important role under the Roman general Varus in his attempt to conquer the area east of the Rhine as far as the Elbe.
Haltern was also the location of one of the three legions that were destroyed by the Germanic tribes under Arminius the Cheruscan in the Battle of Varus in 9 AD: Legio XIX. The Roman name of the camp was Aliso (Dio D 54,33,4).
During the annual “Roman Days”, the Legionary Force Museum also organizes demonstrations of combat operations by the legionary force of Legio XIX, Cohors I.

[LONGINUS]

Great post, @Tejas ! Thank you for your excellent and fascinating photographs.

The re-enactors in the images look like they’re having a lot of fun — I say that with relative certainty because I’ve done a lot of living history reenacting over the years, portraying soldiers from the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War.