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8 ancient Roman shoes of 'exceptional size' discovered at Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall
(www.livescience.com)
Why these feet were nearly a foot long!
this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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Archaeology
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It's not that big? My shoes are one EU size larger, and just small enough that I don't have to order specialty shoes. That starts at 47 and above. 46 are usually made for most models
Possibly very big at the time. Over the course of the last century we have grown a lot and the average height is much higher because we're eating much more. I suppose feet size have also increased.
OK, 11.8 inches, that is 29.972cm or 45.41 Paris Stiches, i.e. European size 45. That's big, yes, but is it really that extraordinary?
Given that overall size and shoe size are roughly correlated, maybe they just had a kind of "elite group" of large warriers to intimidate the Picts? Or maybe one large guy, high enough in the ranks to be able to afford more than a single pair of Caligae?
11.8 inches. Damn, thatβs almost a foot!
How is this a big (heh) deal? I wear an 8.5 shoe and my feet are 10". If I measured my boots, they would be close enough to having 12" soles.
Nutrition was harder to come by and people were generally shorter, these are notable for being very large shoes for the time period.
That's a great point. Was there an elite royal guard situation around that time they bred and fed well?
RSOESes? I don't think they exist.
I wonder if they were some form of "outerwear" that you would wear over your normal footwear in the cold.
Biggus Dickus?
What are you all laughing about?? Stop it at once!!!
This must be just a setup to a historic big dick joke.
https://www.livescience.com/roman-penis-graffiti-stone-uk
Ancestors of Maximinus Thrax?
Biggus Footus?
You know what they say about Romans with big feet....
Big shoes
To Romans, roads were but narrow foot trails.
Giants were real, there is NO POSSIBLE OTHER EXPLANATION!!!1!
fucking /s bc internet
The article says they are basketball player sized.
Maybe they were sending really big soldiers to the front. This is near the peak of the Roman empire, which spanned multiple continents and had over 100 million people.
Romans were (justifiably) terrified of Picts and Caledonians who were tall, strong, and very barbaric in appearance. It makes sense that they'd send their beefcakes up there to sort of even out the odds.
Or, if you wanted to be more inquisitive rather than sarcastic, you might consider the origins of the word.