What you can see in the photo is the reconstruction of a military sandal from Roman times. It comes from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection, whose researchers analysed a recent find in Bavaria. It is a leather sole dating back at least 2,000 years and characterised by a very significant detail and it still showed some metal parts of the nailing. This has made it possible to make new assumptions about the lifestyle not only of Roman soldiers, but also of the population of the places where they established their settlements.
A 2,000-year-old sandal
“Researchers”, reads livescience.com, “unearthed the military-style footwear while conducting excavation work in a civilian settlement”. This is “on the outskirts of a Roman military fort near Oberstimm, a town in Bavaria. The settlement would have been occupied between 60 and 130 AD”, comment BLfD.
The spiked sole
Subjected to X-ray, the find revealed that it was a caliga (boot, ed.). In other words, as Wikipedia explains, “a military shoe made with a heavy sole. Caligae were worn by soldiers of the Roman legions during the Republican and Imperial periods of the Urbe. They were worn by all ranks of the legions down to the centurion”. More similar “to marching boots, caligae were constructed with a leather sole and laces tied in the middle of the foot and on the top of the ankle. Iron nails were hammered into the sole, which served three purposes. First: to strengthen the caliga. Second: to give the soldier greater traction. Third: to allow the soldier to use the caliga as an offensive tool”.
Military style for common use
Analysis of the find has revealed “some well-preserved nails” inside the sole. This suggests “that the practices, lifestyles and clothing that the ancient Romans brought with them to Bavaria were adopted by the local population”, concludes Amira Adaileh, BLfD consultant.
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