Year 4 have had a fantastic day! We arrived in Chester ready to become Roman soldiers. We began our day setting off from a port in Rome to travel by boat to Deva (Roman Chester). We had to row all the way there which was extremely tiring! When we had arrived in Deva we were greeted by a Centurion who allowed us to enter the Roman fortress Deva.
Once we were in the fortress, we were shown different parts of Roman life in Deva. We looked at the armour that Roman Soldiers wear, the food they eat (including dormice in honey) and how they looked after their health.
Did you know they used animal poo to help broken bones?
After our tour around the fortress we travelled forward in time to the present day. We watched an interesting video about the archaeologists that had found various artefacts right where we were stood. We had a look at the archaeological dig site and saw some of the artefacts they had found.
In the afternoon we met a Roman Soldier who was going to train us to be in the Roman Army. We marched through the streets of Chester to the training area for soldiers. We practised using our scutums (shields) and forming the Tortuga (an army formation). We went from the training area to the amphitheatre.
We learned about the gladiator fights that were fought within the amphitheatre. We were then lucky enough to see a 'real' Gladiator fight with two unusual looking Gladiators (Miss Moss and Miss Clegg)! Miss Moss came off worse and had to beg for mercy by holding two fingers in the air and shouting "mitte". Year 4 refused her plea and decided to have her head cut off. Luckily (although Year 4 may not agree) the Roman soldier only pretended!
