this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2025
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Illustrations of history

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This magazine is for sharing artwork of historical events, places, personages, etc. Scale models and the like also welcome!

Generally speaking, actual photos of a historical item should go to [email protected]

Photos of ruins should go to [email protected]

Photos of the past should go to [email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is enlightening, but I can’t help but look at the boy with the knife. “If I cut it off, will I still have to go? Will they make me? No chance this is worth the denari, the goths will leave me gasping and crawling like Antonius Montana. Gods, I can’t do it, I can’t fucking do it.”

[–] SirSamuel 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I was wondering about that dude a well.

Maybe he's practicing that finger stabby game Bishop does with Hudson in Aliens

[–] PugJesus 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Detailing woodwork, maybe, or carving a message into a whitewashed board? Roman legionaries doubled as specialists who would do many of the 'normal' work around camp/the fort, including specialist carpenters.

(they volunteered for that kind of position because it got them out of guard duty and standard labor details digging ditches)

[–] SirSamuel 4 points 1 week ago

I've got it! He's cutting the foam lining for a helmet :-D

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'd guess temperature is a much bigger problem with tents than rain.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

In the winter, but in summer in Italy that's no issue.

Then again, soldiers sometimes just froze to death if their generals were incompetent. So from that perspective, even if it's zero degrees and you have just a tent that is quite a luxury.

[–] PugJesus 11 points 1 week ago

Then again, soldiers sometimes just froze to death if their generals were incompetent. So from that perspective, even if it’s zero degrees and you have just a tent that is quite a luxury.

[18th and early 19th century AD troops sleeping in the rain without tents on the march intensifies]

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Stuffing people or large animals into a small space is a great way to generate and conserve heat. The people or the animals or both are the heaters.

[–] PugJesus 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"Centurion, sir, now that I'm a legionary of the armies of Rome, stationed in far Brittania, what will I spend most of my time doing?"

"Generating heat."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Just stay away from Claudius of Ravenna's feet, he has a foot fungus .... and Aemilianus of Tarsus, he has lice ... you'll be taking the bed of Marius of Aquileia, he was killed yesterday while fetching water.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

if you're hot-bunking, you can house 24 men in that structure.

3 shifts, only 8 sleeping at a time.

of course, this is rome we're talking about... maybe we had some fellas cuddling up.

[–] PugJesus 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Interestingly enough, some suggest that Roman contubernia had 10 men in them (8 legionaries, 2 assistants), and that tents and barracks having 8 sleeping spaces is because 2 men would be rotated on night-time guard duty.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

wow that's cool! I was actually just joking but it's cool that there was something like that going on!