Abstract

The soldier is always mobile. From Gilgameshonwards, the warrior lifestyle has been associated with the vagaries of a mobile occupation and the self-discovery this offers. The Odysseyis synonymous with the travails of the travelling soldier, and the traveller in general. Our university is sited on the course of the Roman Wall in England, which acted not only as a barrier to the northern tribes of Britain, but also as a defendable route along which Rome’s soldiers could travel with speed between Britain’s east and west coasts. The accounts of soldiers from Julius Caesar’s The Conquest of Gaul(1963) to T. E. Lawrence’s The Seven Pillars of Wisdom(2004) to Ed Macy’s Apache(2008) testify to the centrality of mobilities in the execution of soldiers’ military duties and their experiences of war.