Roman historical fiction author, Ben Kane, visited Hazlegrove

We were pushed forward by the grim face of our officers, cane in their hand. We knew that our fate was in the hands of the Gods, especially Mars, the God of War. Directly in front of us was the enemy, barbarians all of the them. They searched our faces for fear, but we showed none. Into the battle we stormed, our fate unknown…

This was the scene, which our visiting guest speaker, Ben Kane, painted for us during his talk on the Roman army and army life. Ben is an historical fiction writer whose books are based on the Roman period, covering anything from the Punic Wars to the Spartacus slave rebellion and it was great to hear him bring the period to life. He came dressed as a Roman solider and he even brought his collection of Roman objects along too. After the talk, the children were able to examine these in greater detail, especially the shield and the chain mail armour! Ben’s lecture covered many areas including what it was like to fight in the Roman army, daily life for the soldier and even many of the weapons which were used by them during battle. A fascinating afternoon was had by all with many of the children now inspired to go off and find out more!
Mr Capozzoli.

Amelia: "I really enjoyed the talk by Ben Kane, especially learning about the similarities and differences between the Roman world and the modern world today. I found Ben Kane so enthusiastic about the Romans and I now want to go and find out more!"

Charlief: "It was great hearing Ben, he was so enthusiastic as well as funny! I loved finding out more about battle tactics as well as seeing what the swords and army equipment looked like."

Click here to see the photographs in our Flickr album