Yesterday, I attended a lecture at Tulane University about Roman army re-enacting by Dr. Jonathan Zarecki. Focused on the lorica segmentata that visually marked soldiers as Roman, his talk detailed how his experience as a re-enactor gave him insight into the daily life of ancient soldiers. When I raised my hand to ask a question, I introduced myself as an instructor who teaches a class called Roman Technology in Baton Rouge, LA. He interrupted my question to ask if we "were the ones who built the Roman road." LOL In addition, three more people approached me at the lecture reception to ask about the Roman Road Project. We're famous, y'all!!
On Monday of this past week, we showed up on the FRONT PAGE of the Baton Rouge Advocate! Huzzah!!!
Here's a link to a PDF version of the article as it appears in this picture.
Back to the excellent lecture...Dr. Zarecki went into great detail about the Roman army cuirass - the body armor worn by nearly every Roman soldier (pictured here on Trajan's Column in Rome).
He stated that most re-enactors don't make their own because metalworking is difficult and expensive. As I looked at pictures of it with its segmented pieces, I realized that it could easily be made with cardboard in the style of Raphael Urbain's Epic Cardboard Props. (If you haven't heard of Raphael, I urge you to run over to his YouTube Channel to check out his masks and other props.) It's hard to believe they are made of cardboard!
After my own experience making a Demogorgon mask out of cardboard this past Halloween, I think this armor would be pretty simple. New Roman Technology challenge loading...the students will LOVE this!!
Me wearing the Demogorgon mask I made from cardboard. (Stranger Things: Season 1)
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