A new exhibition at Hertfordshire’s Verulamium Museum explores Roman conceptions of health and disability and how it compares to today’s perceptions.
‘Mapping an Uneven Path’ reflects what livelihood and employment was like for the citizens and subjects of the Roman Empire - across the shores of the Mediterranean to the hills of Verulamium on which modern day St Albans is built.
The exhibition seeks to uncover what good health and healthcare meant to our ancient ancestors, how they understood their bodies and minds, and what the cultural perceptions and experiences of conditions that we recognise as disabilities today.
‘Mapping an Uneven Path’ is guest curated by Kyle Lewis Jordan (pictured above), a disabled archaeologist and curator who specialises in the study of disability and antiquity.
“We can be almost certain that there were lots of people with lived experience of disablement in Roman times due to higher rate of accidents, warfare, and such like- people were more likely to have been disabled,” said Kyle.
As part of the exhibition, Kyle worked with a group of co-producers from the St Albans community who explore the Roman journey through the lens of varied lived experiences.
The group investigated objects from daily life within the museum’s collections to find connections with their own lives as disabled people today. Their historical stories of disability are shared as short films, object interpretations and audio narratives throughout the exhibition.
Visitors are taken on an interactive and accessible journey through the museum encountering objects from the collection including rare examples of medical tools, a Roman coin featuring an Empress nursing two infants, and a Collyrium stamp which would have been used for treating eye infections.
Alongside the exhibition Verulamium Museum has created new accessibility options including tactile maps and images of objects, braille guides, ear defenders, easy read guides, large print guides and audio descriptive guides as well as fictional narratives of Roman characters brought to life by co-producers' lived experiences and voiced by volunteers.
“My hope is that visitors will reflect on what health and disability means not just in the ancient past, but our own lives today,” added Kyle.
“The life paths we travel are long, winding and at times challenging, but their well-worn steps are an impression of what makes us all human.”
‘Mapping an Uneven Path’ runs until February 23. For museum opening times visit
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