Twin Towers

Eventually the students found the mosaic that June and I had dreamed about. We were almost frantic with impatience as they took a fortnight to carefully expose and record it.

June and I told the unbelieving professor that the part showing the Gates to Avernus were removable. It took another two days before he accepted that was true. There was a large crowd, as many as could fit into the room, as that section was very carefully lifted. Underneath was a slab with an attached stone ring. That too was removed and a video camera was lowered. It showed that the room was almost full of cloth wrapped bundles with a heap directly under the hatch where more items had been lowered once the hatch was the only access.

To our frustration it was another two days before the first archaeologist went down into the room and started to record everything before the first bundle was extricated. To Gerald's delight, that bundle was unwrapped to show a casket full of silver Roman coins -- enough and much more than necessary to pay for the repair to the towers. He and Mark made satisfactory love to us sisters that night to celebrate. Eventually, as landowner, Gerald was given the value of those coins -- about fifteen thousand pounds. But that bundle was only the first of many.

Over the next two weeks the heap that had been lowered through the hatch was found to contain many more coins which were eventually sold for over one million pounds. Gerald used to money to build a visitor centre and museum which we needed for the rest of the finds. Wrapped in cloth and covered in thick grease we found the complete equipment for the two cohorts, their arms, armour and even horse harnesses. None of the items were spectacularly ornamented. They were standard military issue, not dress items for show, but marvellous survivals, unique in Britain.

In the museum we dressed a couple of dummies in modern replicas of the equipment which were displayed in protective cabinets.

But what surprised us most was a bundle at the bottom of the heap that had been lowered through the hatch. It was tightly wrapped with a metal label: "To the memory of Julia and Augusta". Inside were the bloodstained clothes the twins had been wearing when they were killed, and two unused presentation swords. On the swords was another label: "We buried them in their best clothes and the swords they had used with them. These swords are centurions' swords, to honour them".

We were able to make modern copies of the dresses and ornaments that Julia and Augusta had been wearing together with modern copies of the centurions' swords. We erected dummies to show them as they had been and in front we had replicas of the actual swords they were buried with. We could have used original Roman army issue swords from the equipment found in the cellar but felt it better to keep the originals in controlled conditions. Behind them we stood a reproduction of Ennius as he appeared on the twins' tombstone. From the twins bloodstained clothes we worked out that they must have been tall for their time, and Ennius must have been almost a giant at over six feet tall.

After the dummies of Julia and Augusta had been erected we decided that for the next reconstruction June and I should match them as far as we could. Dressing as them was easy. Fighting as them? The Roman reenactors decided we needed lessons because the twins had been expert with swords. They must have been to kill four raiders.

Another dream of them and Ennius gave us the idea. The three soldiers with them had stood in front of the open doorway through which only two raiders could come at once. As the two came through they were tackled by the three soldiers but Julia and Augusta stood either side of the door and stabbed the raiders in the sides. After they had killed four, the next raiders came through with one large man in front, and the next two facing Julia and Augusta. That is when they were killed, but not before the ladder had been hauled up, making the top of the towers safe for Ennius and the remainder of the garrison. Shortly after the twins were killed, the other three soldiers were overwhelmed by about twenty raiders. The raider's chieftain stopped to put golden brackets on Julia and Augusta to honour their bravery before all the raiders withdrew before Roman reinforcements arrived. As we know, Ennius erected their tombstone and added the inscription in the room where they died.

What Ennius had stored for safekeeping, and the story of Julia and Augusta made our Twin Towers a tourist attraction. Even the village sign was changed to show the three as they appeared on the twins' tombstone.

But as far as I was concerned, Mark's re-enactment of Ennius in bed was the most satisfactory outcome. June felt the same about Gerald's performance too. We were happy twins...