Following the end of the hugely popular Channel 4 television series 'Big Roman Dig', next month sees the return of the York Roman Festival.

The events and activities are to take place over the weekending the 5 - 7th August, and will include:

Displays & marches around the City by Roman military re-enactors

Children's creative activities Battle Drills and Chariot Racing

Gladiators

Living History Camp with Crafts people

Romans versus Germanic Barbarians battles

Musicians and dancers, talks and poetry

Roman Market

Spirit of the Lost Legion ghost event

The York Roman Festival is a celebration of York's Roman history and brings to York historical re-enactment groups from all over Europe.

If it wasn't for the Romans there would be no York and, for the organisers of this event, the York Roman Festival is a way to remind residents and visitors to the City and commemorate the historically important significance of this.

The founder of the Festival, Keith Mulhearn said, "York's Roman history ought to better understood and appreciated. With the superb help of our sponsors, the York Roman Festival's event will do this better than ever before".

Last year the Festival entertained and educated thousands of residents and their children along with thousands of visitors to the city.

This year, in the centre of the City the organisers are constructing a Circus Maximus, where audiences can see Roman soldiers, Gladiators, dancers and musicians, and where children can take part in learning about life in the Roman Army.

In the Museum Gardens there will be a Living History Camp where people will see how the Romans lived, listen to their stories, watch them demonstrate their skills, real life Roman cooking, medical kits and displays by Legio XIV of Roman weapons, equipment and tactics. There will also be an opportunity to handle real Roman artefacts from the vast collection available to view inside the adjacent Yorkshire Museum

People can meet the Romans of Legio VII and see how they integrate with Germanic Barbarians watch them demonstrate their crafts and skills in and around Coppergate.

Adults and especially children can find about Roman bathing habits in the Roman Bathhouse Museum; or visit a Roman Market and Legionary Canteen in Parliament Street. Where they can sample the best Roman food and drink in the open air.

There's even a Roman dig. A fantastic opportunity to take a tour of a live archaeological excavation with York Archaeological Trust.

Sunday 24th July - 10.00 am - York Railway Station

Members of Legio IX Hispana (The Ninth Legion) re-enactment society, dressed as Roman soldiers, will be at York Railway Station to board a GNER train to travel to destinations they can 'invade' (to publicise the Festival).

Sunday 31st July- 10.00 am - York Railway Station / Leeds / Newcastle

Members of Legio IX Hispana (The Ninth Legion) re-enactment society, dressed as Roman soldiers, will be at York Railway Station to board a GNER train to Leeds and Newcastle, to 'invade' (to publicise the Festival).

Leeds City Centre 11.30 am

Newcastle City Centre 3.00pm

Monday - Thursday 1st - 4th August - At Castle Howard - Nr Malton

Soldiers from Legio IX will be running Roman Art & Activities (12.00 - 15.00)

(Kids battle training and shield painting, Weapons and armour demonstration, Myths and Monsters tour)

Friday 5th August - St Sampson's Square - York - 10 am - 4.00 pm

A chance for children to find out what life was like for Romans: with games, a talk, displays and the chance to handle real Roman artefacts from York Museums Trust. Experts from York Archaeological Trust will be displaying finds from the recent Roman burial site at Driffield Terrace.

What Roman 'Poo' can tell us about the Roman Way of Life

It is incredible how much archaeologists can learn about everyday life in the past from studies of ancient 'poo'. In certain conditions human waste is preserved over time- although it does not look or smell the same way! York Archaeological Trust Education Officer, Dr Andrew 'Bone' Jones will be speaking about Roman poo and what is can tell us about the Roman way of life in York.

Children's Battle Drill

Saturday & Sunday 6th & 7th August

Circus Maximus - St Sampsons Square

See Roman soldiers along with dancers musicians and Gladiators from the outer reaches of the Roman Empire

Living History Camp - Museum Gardens

See how the Romans lived listen to their stories and watch them demonstrate their skills. See Roman cooking, medical kits, displays by Legio XIV of Roman weapons, equipment and tactics. Handle real Roman artefacts from the vast collection available to view inside the adjacent Yorkshire Museum

Coppergate Colonia - Coppergate Centre

Meet the Romans of Legio VII and Germanic Barbarians - watch them demonstrate their crafts and skills

Roman Market & Legionary Canteen - Parliament Street

Catch the latest themed market to come to York & sample the best Roman food and drink in the open air

Roman Dig - Behind York Art Gallery

Fantastic opportunity to take a tour of a live archaeological excavation with York Archaeological Trust.

Historical Notes

The Roman remains of the military baths of Roman Eboracum in St Sampson's Square the Multangular Tower in the Museum Gardens and Aldwark Tower, near Monk Bar, are significant evidence of York's historic urban heritage.

Together with the extensive collection of roman artefacts in the Yorkshire Museum, these sites serve to represent what was a major fortress and subsequently one of the most important Roman cities in Britain - one which for a period at the end of the 3rd century was the capital of the Roman Empire complete with an Imperial Palace.

It was from York that the famous IX Legion disappeared, where Emperors Septimius Severus and Constantius Chlorus died and where, on the 25th July 306, Constantine The Great, the first Christian Emperor was proclaimed.

York's Roman history and heritage is fantastic and the collections of Roman objects from the city are superb.

Updated: 09:26 Thursday, July 21, 2005