Metal fittings on the Vindolanda shoes: Footwear and evidence for podiatric knowledge in the Roman world

Abstract

The site of Vindolanda near Hadrian’s Wall in England holds an assemblage of over four thousand Roman shoes dating from the first to third centuries ad. This material gives a unique view of ancient footwear because of the large size of the assemblage and its long timespan covering over two centuries. One of the interesting characteristics of this collection is the number of shoes that show evidence for some knowledge of podiatry. Shoes have metal fittings on the heels that appear to deter the wearer from pressing strongly on one side of the foot, and less formalised prescriptions appear in the form of clusters of iron studs in areas such as the heels and toes of shoe soles. A few examples also have small flat copper plates on the insole of the shoe, making contact with the wearer’s foot, suggesting there is some healing property to these items as well, rather than having a decorative function. These non-decorative metal attachments on all parts of shoes will be discussed in this chapter in order to better understand the knowledge of individual gait and podiatry in the footwear of the Romans.