[Sharon]

Occured 256 BC.

This is a Sasanian-Persian soldier, probably a ranking officer (his upper body was protected by iron mail armour and he carried a sword with a pommel of jade, a semi-precious stone that can be tracked to Chinese Turkestan). He died a gruesome death in a claustrophobic tunnel below the walls of Dura-Europos in a fire that he may have intentionally set. His men were mining under Tower 19 (not far from the Palmyra Gate) when a Roman countermine broke through and enemy soldiers entered the tunnel.

What happened next is hotly contested.

In fact, it almost caused a diplomatic incident when Dr Simon James of the University of Leicester presented a new theory to an American archaeological congress in 2009. He argued that the soldier was a victim of 'friendly fire' as a poison gas attack against the Romans backfired on him.

[kayo brizzle]

Interesting.

[Sharon]

He looks like he's waving, "Hi!"

[MikeMelbourne]

Originally Posted by Sharon. ↗

He looks like he's waving, "Hi!"

He probably looked *fabulous* in his iron mail armour with his pommel of jade.

[Faline]

Cool pic

[wolfie]

From this one pic I can't tell if he died from poison gas, Romans hacking on his ass, or struck by fucking lighting. How did this almost cause and International incident.

This boys need to get a real job for a while.

[Airbornemama]

[Pelle]

Is that a...scrotum coat?