🌳 57 BC | Roman Legionaries in Belgic Territory What you’re seeing: A column of Roman soldiers moving through forest during Caesar’s campaign against the Belgae in northern Gaul. The men wear lorica hamata (chainmail) under woolen cloaks and carry curved rectangular shields (scuta). This is a Roman column at its most vulnerable: single file through hostile territory. Why are they in a forest? The Nervii, a Belgic tribe Caesar considered among the fiercest in Gaul, built their entire battle strategy around forests. They grew living fortifications by bending young trees and weaving brambles between them until the hedgerows were impossible to see through or push past (De Bello Gallico, II.17). When the Romans arrived at the River Sabis (Sambre), the Nervii attacked from these concealed positions while the legions were still making camp. Caesar writes: “The time was so short, the temper of the enemy so ready for conflict, that there was no space not only to fit badges in their places, b...