More Than Costumes: Why Roman Living History Matters

Every time we set up at an event, sooner or later someone asks the same question, “why Romans?” Honestly, it’s a fair question considering we are setting up our camp in the United States of America where absolutely no evidence of Romans visiting the continent exists……..yet. (here’s to hoping)

After all, there are plenty of living history groups dedicated to the American Revolution, Civil War, WW2, and countless other periods of our history. Why spend our weekends researching, building, and portraying life in an empire that existed nearly two thousand years ago? For most of us, the answer starts with a simple love of history.

There’s something fascinating about standing where people once stood, handling the tools they used, wearing the equipment they carried and learning how they lived. Reading about history is important, but there is a world of difference between reading about a Roman soldier on the march and actually putting on sixty pounds of gear and marching those miles yourself to experience it. You come away with a much deeper appreciation for what those people experienced. That’s one of the things living history does best. It takes history off the page and makes it real.

When visitors come through our camp, they can see what Roman equipment actually looked like. They can handle a helmet or a sword instead of looking at a rusty hunk of iron behind a museum glass display. They can ask questions about military life, or learn about the daily routines of civilians living throughout the Empire. Instead of seeing history as a list of dates and names, they get a chance to connect with real people from the past.

That’s what is important. History isn’t really about famous battles, or emperors. Most people who lived in the Roman Empire weren’t generals or politicians. They were the every day soldier, merchant, farmer, craftsman, mothers, fathers, and children. They worried about the same things you do two thousand years later. How will I pay my bills, feed my family, put clothes on my back, finding a job and dealing with whatever challenges life thew at them. In many ways, they were not nearly as different from us as we might think.

American history is incredibly important, and rightfully receives the great deal of attention. But the story of America didn’t begin in 1776. Most of our families came here from somewhere else. Whether our ancestors came from Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Ireland or elsewhere in Europe, they came from societies that had been shaped by Rome in one way or another.

The influence of the Roman Empire is all around us, even if we don’t always notice it. Elements of our legal systems, our architecture, our languages, our military traditions, and even some of our ideas about government can trace their roots back to the Roman world. When we study Rome, we’re not just studying a distant civilization. We’re studying part of the foundation upon which much of the Western world was built.

For many of us, that makes Roman living history in America feel surprisingly personal. At the same time, our group isn’t just about history. It’s also about community. Our members come from different backgrounds, different walks of life. Some are experienced reenactors, some have never attended a living history event before joining. Some are interested in military history, while others are drawn to ancient crafts, cooking, research or civilian life. What brings us together is a shared interest in learning and a desire to share that knowledge with others. We don’t claim to be scholars, we’re lifelong students.

We spending our time researching sources, building equipment, improving our impressions, and constantly learn new things. Every event is an opportunity to learn something we didn’t know before and to share that knowledge with the public. That’s really what our mission comes down to. We are not trying to pretend we’re Romans. We’re trying to help people understand them.

If someone leaves our camp with a better understanding of the ancient world than they had when they arrived, we’ve done our job. If a few visitors walk away inspired to learn more about history, or maybe even join us in preserving it, then all the better.

It was meant to be experienced.

That’s why we do Roman Living history.

‍ ‍Legio XIIII, Protinus!