How did Roman soldiers receive orders during battle?
One answer was the cornu, a large curved military horn used to relay commands to troops.
At Vindolanda in northern Britain, archaeologists discovered a rare copper-alloy mouthpiece belonging to one of these instruments. The piece dates to around AD 120–128, providing a direct archaeological connection to the communication system used by Roman soldiers on the frontier.
A tiny mouthpiece.
A massive instrument.
And a sound that once helped organize a Roman army.
