Dr Simon Elliott

So if we run through a little bit further before we go back, if you look at the classic Caesarian legionary, he's got a Gallic helmet.

The clue's in the name.

He's got Lorica Hamata Chainmail.

That's from the Gauls.

He's got a Gladius Hispaniensis.

That's from the Spaniards.

He's got Pilum Javelins.

They're from the Spaniards.

He's got a Scutum Shield.

That's from the Samnites.

Everything's nicked.

But the Romans were very good at nicking ideas and technology, especially if they lost.

If they lose, they almost always come back and they're better.

Absolutely, yeah.

Let's run through to 323 BC when Alexander the Great dies in Babylon.

So the great things happening in the world...

building up to the real rise of the Roman Republic, which actually takes place probably as you get into the third and second centuries, the great things happening in the East.

So you're having the Greco-Persian Wars, you're having the Peloponnesian War, which involves Sicily.

You're having the various campaigns of the Greek states against the Persians.

Later, you're getting the rise of Macedon.