The Toy Collectors: Cork man's astonishing collection of Roman equipment

However, Martin is humble when asked about the scale of his collection.

“Let’s just say I have enough to put an infantry together,” he laughs.

It comes almost 25 years after the original Gladiator — starring Russell Crowe — hit our screens in 2000. The blockbuster, which captured the spectacle of the gladiatorial battles, inspired a collecting frenzy for Martin which has lasted decades. 

In 2005 Martin, together with some friends, set up a Roman re-enactment group. Their work also focused on the research and reproduction of Roman artefacts. Today, Martin is chairperson of Legion Ireland, The Roman Military Society of Ireland.

The Cork man, who works in the pharmaceutical industry, surrounds himself with the period in what has become something of a bold lifestyle choice.

“It depends who you ask,” he laughed. “If you ask me, it’s taking up no space. My wife on the other hand will tell you it’s ridiculous. 

"I have everything from helmets to Roman artillery. There are tunics and boots.

“The collection features lots of arms and armour. I also have a collection of Roman medical equipment and military communications received. These are all replicas. 

"I believe originals should be kept in museums. It’s bad enough when museums start robbing these things but when people start putting them in their own private collections it only drives up the demand for night hawkers. 

"This is the name given to people who raid archaeological sites. As far as I’m concerned, they should be used as a resource for private research.

“The only exception I would make with this is Roman coins because there are just so many of them. If it was a rare find I would certainly hand it over to a museum.”

He took the Irish Examiner through his fascinating Roman medical kit.

“The kit I have is based on actual finds, many of which came out of Pompeii. What you have is a lot of probes — things for sticking in your body and pulling wounds apart and examining wounds and bones etc.

“The Romans didn’t use stitching that we know of. Instead they used silver staples. They would have stapled you closed rather than stitched you.

“Then there is the trepanning kit which is where a hole is drilled in the skull. If the brain swells it builds up fluid. In order to relieve that fluid you physically have to open the skull and release that pressure. This was applied in the event of a depressed skull fracture but they are still used by some cults today.

“There were scalpels that look very similar to the ones we use now. Bone saws were used for the amputation of limbs and artery clamps for clamping your artery.”

The 59-year-old, who lives with his wife Tina and son Alex, described his favourite tool in the kit.

“It’s actually a relatively benign looking thing. There is a little rod with it and a needle on the end. It doesn’t look like much until you realise it’s for sticking into your eye and for basically pushing your eye lens — a curved structure in the eye that sits behind the iris — out of the way. This was used for the treatment of cataracts.

“From a medical point of view, the Romans were every bit as advanced as they were during Napoleonic wars. As a matter of fact you don’t really see this feature after the fall of the western empire in Rome in 476. We didn’t really see medical practices emerging in the west again after that until the late 1790s.

“The technology had been lost for centuries and centuries. Meanwhile, the Eastern Roman empire went on till 1453. They were quite sophisticated so they probably continued to practice a high level of medical competency but certainly in the West you didn’t see it emerging until 2,000 years later.”

Martin enjoys educating himself about Roman healthcare.

“In terms of medicines, they weren’t particularly sophisticated but it did exist.

“What was once found is a bottle came from the bark of a willow tree. The willow tree is what we use for the extraction of salicylic acid which means there is evidence that the Romans used aspirin.”

Martin’s artillery sparks a lot of curiosity from visitors to his home.

“The artillery either shoots bolts, which are long arrows or short arrows, or they throw stones. The biggest one — a ballista, which is an ancient missile launcher, weighs 760kg. It’s a big, big machine that’s about seven foot or 12 by 15 foot in total. Then I have three smaller machines and they would all have a catapult. There is nobody else with a collection like that.”

Safety has always been paramount for Martin.

“I chose to get a firearms license at one stage but two years ago gardaí told me there was basically no point anymore. ‘Roman catapult’ didn’t appear on their computer. Things may eventually change and we might have to get a license for these weapons in the future. Our firearm licensing is even more conservative than the UK’s so it wouldn’t surprise me.”

The history buff attempts to give a taste of Roman life through reenactment events.

“The Roman world was a very hard place to live but the army offered certain benefits that didn’t exist in civilian life. They provided two meals a day in most cases and a basic level of healthcare.

“You also got a basic level of burial on death and a basic pension. The army provided structure and surety at a time when Rome had a population of over a million people. Less than 1,000 of those people had enough money to know what they were going to eat the following day.”

The pastime does not come cheap, as Martin explains.

“It’s a very costly hobby because everything is metal and everything is expensive. It’s got to be handmade by somebody. These are not like World War II re-enactment pieces where you can get a reproduction gun for €70 or €80. You won’t get a Roman reproduction sword for anything shy of €500.”

Martin described the female attention he and his reenactment group attract while sporting Roman attire.

“We’ve had a lot of older ladies putting their hands up their tunics. The ones who do it are 70-plus. It’s very cheeky but they seem to think it’s funny. A lot of people think that if you’re dressed up as a Roman you are fair game.”

Martin has on occasion even adopted the Roman diet.

“For Roman soldiers the food was very basic. You had to like porridge because most of what you’re given is grain. You could make bread or you could make porridge. A lot of people just did not have cooking facilities.

“We do a lot of Roman cooking demonstrations. Unfortunately, the public don’t get to taste it because the organisers don’t want them to be poisoned!”