Roman soldiers marched through York this weekend - on a strictly peaceful mission.

They were there to entertain and inform as the Eboracum Roman Festival returned following its pandemic absence.

Re-enactors dressed as Roman soldiers marched through the city centre and set up encampment in the Museum Gardens.

As well as a wide variety of Roman themed entertainments outdoors, authors who specialise in writing about the period were indoors in the Yorkshire Museum to talk about their work and their knowledge of all matters Roman and hold book signing sessions.

The two-day event began with the traditional legionaries' march through the area where the Ninth Legion built the military fort that was the foundation of Eboracum and which later became York.

Having arrived in the Gardens, they created a Roman Living History camp where they showed visitors how the Romans lived, answered questions about their lifestyle and Romans in general and ran activities.

These included setting up a Kids Army so children could try their hand using Roman weapons of sword and shield, and demonstrating Roman crafts.

Families with children and older groups of people flocked to the scene in the sunshine to immerse themselves in history.

Outside, the festival was more child-orientated. Inside was more appealing to adults.

Non-fiction authors included Edwin Pace, an armour and career intelligence officer who writes about the period including the end of Roman Britain and the formation of England and Wales and Paul Chrystal, editor of York’s Historian, the journal of the Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society.

The majority of the authors at the festival write fiction.

Lawyer Clive Ashman uses his professional expertise to write historical crime novels, including one featuring a genuine Roman court case.

Ruth Downie writes the Ruso Medicus series of comical history mystery books about an army doctor in Britannia. Alex Gough, author of books about spies and assassins, and specialises in the Roman underworld.

Simon Turney, is the author of the bestselling Marius Mules thriller series, the Legion XX!! Books in Roman Egypt. He also wrote the Wolves of Odin series about Viking.

Alison Morton writes alternative history in her Roma Nova series, focusing on women, and has her own Roman herb garden.

This year, the festival co-incided with a new exhibition at Yorkshire Museum about the Ryedale Hoard.

This is a collection of Roman artefacts including an 1,800 year old bust of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

The 13cm bust is part of a collection of bronze objects found by metal detectorists James Spark and Mark Didlick in a field near Ampleforth in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, in May 2020.

It was originally sold at auction,but later bought by the Museum thanks to donations from American donor Richard Beleson and others.