Romans military image references

[Lion.Kanzen]

Samno Attic

[Lion.Kanzen]

[Lion.Kanzen]

Cingulum, a kind of belt, but isn't strict a  thing I mean, is the name to belt

@wackyserious

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

[Loki1950]

It is possible that since this only appears on consuls that it a mark of consular rank after all they were elected.

Enjoy the Choice

[Lion.Kanzen]

Lorica Musculata (breastplate)
In Rome’s very early history men wore fitted bronze plate armor in the Greek hoplite style. These were well decorated with animal, mythological and chest muscle designs. No Roman examples have been found in excavations, but sculpture shows them being used by officers and emperors well into the 1st century AD. The rectangular strips dangling at the sleeves and waist in this illustration are called pteruges. Made of layered linen (or perhaps leather), they added protection to the upper arms and thighs, while conserving metal. They were probably attached to a cloth arming doublet worn under the armor.

http://www.redrampant.com/2009/
See: J.L. Sebesta, L. Bonfante, "Costume as Geographic Indicator: Barbarians and Prisoners on Cuirassed Statue Breastplates" in The World of Roman Costume. Masidon WI. University of Wisconsin Press, 2001.

 

Edited November 11, 2017 by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

Balteus
Called balteus early in the empire and then cingulum militare in later times. The mark of a soldier, belts were not meant for civilian use! When worn over chainmail, the belt helped to take some of the weight off the soldier's shoulders. In the first half of the 1st century AD it was common to wear two belts in the army: one to hold the sword and one to hold the dagger. Foot soldiers wore their sword on their right, officers on their left. In the Later Empire, this distinction fell away. The belts were rather narrow and were decorated with metal plates all the way around. The decoration of each bronze plate could be quite ornate. They featured embossed or engraved designs, sometimes plated with tin, and in rare cases coated with silver foil. The engraving sometimes had blue-black niello inlay.

During the 1st and 2nd centuries AD the belt supported several vertical strips of metal-studded leather, forming a groin guard. However, judging by the meek protection offered a few dangling pieces of leather and the ornate decoration, it may be that this apron's more important purpose was to portray a man's social status as a soldier.

[Lion.Kanzen]

Roman Weapons

 

The Romans were quick to improve upon ideas from other cultures. Early Etruscan arms were based on those of the Greeks. When the early Romans came in contact with the the Gauls, they took their idea for a large oval shield. When they Spanish Celts, they took their idea for a sword and so on.

Pilum: The pila (plural form) were quite unique in design. These javelins were designed to warp after impact, so they would drag down an enemy's shield, sometimes pinning two of them together. The average pilun was 1.8 meters long. It had a barbed iron shaft connected to the wooden pole in a weighted socket. A lead ball weight was added to further increase the throwing distance in the late half of the 2nd century AD. Pilum were used until the late empire.

Hasta: The hasta was the Roman trusting spear. It was carried by the units called triarii in Republic times. Marius military reforms made the pilum the standard spear carried by all legionaries.

Gladius: The Romans patterened their short swords after those of the Spanish Celts. The historian, Polybius, says they were introduced into the army during the second Punic War. This sword was intended as a thrusting weapon. This was the best way to use a sword in tight formation. Using the sword in a slashing motion would cause the soldier to open his side to attack. The gladius was replaced by the traditional long swords of the barbarians in the late empire. The below image is of the Pompeii type.

Archaeologists have catagorized these swords into three main types. The oldest, "Mainz" pattern had a blade 20 - 22 in. long, about 2.5 - 3in. wide. The edges curved inward at mid length of the blade. This was the blade carried by the soldiers of Caesar's time up till Tiberius. The later "Fulham" and the "Pompeii" types had edges which were parallel. The Fulham pattern was jus as long as the "Mainz." The blade started slightly wider at the hilt, sloping sharply to a 2 in. width for the rest of the length to the tip. The "Pompeii" had a shorter blade length, 18 - 22 in., was typically 2in. wide, and had completely parallel edges.

See photo of a Fulham sword on the British Museum website.

 

Spatha: The was the sword used by the cavalry. The blade was much longer than the galdius and was used for slashing. The large numbers of barbarians serving in the legions used the spatha in the late empire. It was ideal because the spatha did not require the same skill and training needed to properly wield a gladius.

Pugio: The legionaries carried a dagger starting in the 2nd or 1st centuries BC. During the rein of Augustus the gladius was carried on one belt and the pugio hung on another. By the 2nd century AD daggers were no longer issued.

Lancea: This repalced the pilum as the primary weapon of the 3rd century AD on. It was a thrusting spear.

 

Veruta: This was the throwing javelin of the late empire.

Plumbatae or Mattiobarbuli: These were hand-thrown lead weighted darts carried by the infantry. They were rather expensive to produce, but they allowed the infantry to effectively double as missile troops

Monday, July 6, 2009

Roman Helmets

 

The armor of Rome felt a strong influence from its neighbors. Early Roman armies displayed helmets similar to those of Greece and Gaul. After Caesar conquered Gaul in the 50s BC, the Roman government employed the very skilled iron smiths of that country to produce the legions' first iron helmets. Consequently, Gallic style became prominant in this Roman equipment. In the later Empire armor was influenced by the Persians and Sarmatians.

It should be noted that the names for these helmets are not Roman in origin. Archaeologists named them based on their appearance or where they were first unearthed. In his 1975 book, The Armour of Imperial Rome, H. Russell-Robinson formulated a typology for Roman helmets, which is the standard for helmet discussions to this day. This book is out of print and difficult to find. Fortunately, a synopsis is available on RomanArmy.com

I illustrate a few of Robinson’s types bellow.

Montefortino Helmet

4th century BC to the 50s AD. The Romans copied this style of helmet from the Gauls and Celt-Iberians. The legions of Julius Caesar’s time would have worn helmets like this. There is an attachment at the top for a horsehair or feather plume. It is named for the find site, the Necropolis at Montefortino, in northern Italy. Typically bronze, the helmets of centurions were often plated in tin.

Coolus C

Late Augustan to Tiberian period. This type of helmet was very well made. The horizontal ridge along the brow was put in place to prevent sword blows from hitting the main headpiece. It is named afrer the Coolus region of the Marne River valley in present-day France where the first examples were found.

 

Coolus E

Late Augustan to Tiberian period. Unlike the Coolus C, this helmet was mounted with side tubes for plumes and a top spike for holding a horse hair crest. This crest would be held in a small metal box, rather than the Republican era method of gathering all the hair at one point like a paintbrush. As more advanced forms of helmet were developed the Coolus was continued to be used by auxiliaries.

Imperial Gallic H
1st century AD. The embossed eyebrow pattern at the front of the shull cap displays a Gallic influence, resulting in the name of this family of helmets. The drawing shows a Gallic H, which featured a more sloping neck gaurd then found in previous Gallic types.

 

 

Imperial Italic G
3rd century AD. The term "Italic" applies to a whole family of Roman helmets all sharing a similar style. They were used at the same time as the Gallic types. A notable difference is the fact that the Gallic embossed eyebrows are missing.

 

 

Spangenhelm
3rd century AD. (this term, Spangenhelm, is best applied to helmets from the Middle Ages.) Believed to have originally been developed by the Sarmatians, this helmet was relatively easy to produce. It was made of between four and six curved iron plates shaped into a bowl and riveted together by bands or Spangen. Adopted by the Romans in the 3rd century AD, it continued to be used by European armies well into the 7th century.

Ridge Helm
4th century AD. This helmet appeared with the end of the production of the Gallic style helmets. It consisted of two curved plates connected by a central ridge. To this cheek pieces, neck guard, and sometimes nose piece were added. Produced in a variety of styles, they were manufactured in huge quantities for infantry and cavalry. By this time the Empire found it more cost effective to reduce the armor of the legions. A helmet and a shield would, on most ocassions, be the only armor a Roman soldier would receive. The style may be from a Persian influence.

[Lion.Kanzen]

[Lion.Kanzen]

[Lion.Kanzen]

Indeed @Loki1950 is a officer costume

Quote

La figura lleva una coraza musculada metálica con su banda de oficial. Le cruza hacia su izquierda la correa que sostiene lo que yo creo que es una spatha por su longitud (mayor que el gladius de la infantería), y el casco que sostiene su mano izquierda, con cubrenucas y protector de mejillas, lleva el penacho que lo distingue de un infante normal

He said the kind of band/strip.. in the muscle armor.

https://figurasapincel.com/2014/12/

 

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

Punic war consul.

 

The battle of Trasimene Lake. consul Flaminius

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Flaminius_Nepos

The autor says the consul uses white Pturges

 

Edited November 11, 2017 by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

Officer clothing 

Start with

Spoiler

Los lazos rituales: Llaman mucho la atención los famosos lazos rituales que llevaban los oficiales superiores anudados de una forma curiosa en la coraza. Se asociaba a rituales de protección. No se conoce el color exacto, pero se supone que debía ser el mismo que el de la capa. Así , los tribunos lo llevarían blanco y los legados, de color escarlata. Es posible que el general lo llevase de color púrpura.

The ritual ties: The famous ritual ties worn by the superior officers knotted in a curious way in the breastplate attract much attention. It was associated with protection rituals. The exact color is not known, but it is supposed to be the same as the color of the layer. Thus, the tribunes would wear white and legatus, scarlet. It is possible that the general was wearing purple.

 

This ask your question @wackyserious at all.

 

Very extended compilation of roman clothes military and civil.

http://saturnales-rev.blogspot.com/2008/09/indumentaria-de-los-personajes.html

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

[Lion.Kanzen]

[Lion.Kanzen]

http://www.legionten.org/Workshops/LegatesWorkshop/

 

The helmet is decorated with a griffin in the front of the crest. This was done before in a smaller size but I went ahead and took it up a few notches with this new larger more detailed design which really grabs your attention when compared to the first one. It is closer to the original in size and a lot more majestic looking. The armor decorations come from the early Imperial period.

The tunic is white wool and--while most Roman thought today is that pteruges were either linen or leather--I used neither one here as there is no proof that leather or linen was always used.

I used red woolen felt about 1/8 thick as it was a common material of the time and known to have been used by the Romans.

If you glue a couple of these together, it is just as strong as any linen pteruges and one can actually shape or form woolen felt into shapes unlike linen.

The Roman military use of felt for other than helmet padding should not be overlooked. Several Roman soldier hats have been found made of felt and Julius Caesar himself mentions that his soldiers made felt tunics for protection along with other materials during the battle of Dyrrhachium in 48 BC with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. So, felt is a legitimate material to use for pteruges if one desires.

It's military use reaches from the ancient up to the modern times. Napoleonic officers hats were woolen felt which can be made pretty hard as I have owned a couple in my collection.

The problem is, they used mercury in the process. That was about as good an idea as using lead in Roman makeup.

few years later I decided the Griffin was not an essential part of the helmet and removed it and did away with the tail as well. Instead of cast brass, it is now plated in gold. The first ones you had to handle with latex gloves to keep them from tarnishing. Gold never tarnishes. A few months ago I took 180% turn and then decided to make it even nicer with a larger more detailed and more accurate Griffin and fuller crest with a fuller tail.   The sword I gave this officer is an eagle headed spatha which makes more since to me as an officer would have been on horse back and he needed the extra reach to protect himself as well as his horse. The shield is of the Praetorian or Republican style and is not the new Deepeeka one. The shield boss has a strengthening rib down it's center. The greaves here are gold plated. Many ancient military items have been found that are silver and gold plated or gold gilded according Dr. Ernst Künzl, curator of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum. Not all were officers or Kings either as several items have been found that would have belonged to every day soldiers. Julius Caesar implored his men to put their money into their equipment. That may be why you find silver work on so much Roman military stuff. I have seen some cingulums where the belt parts are actually solid silver as well as gladius and pugio parts. I own a Roman pugio with inlaid silver on the handle that is so fine and so perfect, it is work of art unto itself. Each line of silver is unbelievably straight with the width of a writing pen line. I will do a study on it someday. The shield I have done was actually made a couple of years ago and is more Praetorian looking then the new Deepeeka Republican ones. The shield boss has a reinforcing rib down the middle of it with in effect doubles it's strength. The wings on the shield are done in high relief instead of being painted on. Dan Peterson as well as myself believe this was done. How they did it or what materials were used are not known. We know that chainmail was painted onto many grave stelae which was done many times by just drilling holes when sculpted. Why would they paint on chainmail but then go to the trouble of carving out in high relief marble all the detailed feathered work and lighting bolts on the same grave stelae? Brass has been suggested for these but I also think these parts could have been cast in molds. Wood pulp, plus glue and other fibrous materials could have been cast in a molds, making it a mass production item. Oh well, the only evidence to support this is thousands of sculptures in Rome and on the frontiers but in this same sentence I can also say not one rectangular scutum or shield have even been found for the entire first century AD and entire second century AD and we all base those we use now entirely on sculpture. Even 95% of the brass shield rims that have been found are for oval shields. The only true rectangular shield was found at Dura Europus and that was third century and in a time they were out of use. The thickness of that shield also leads to the fact, that it was most likely used for parade only and not for battle. Ah, isn't this just great. The more we know, the less we know for sure. . . .

[Lion.Kanzen]

Caesarian  helmets (Julius Caesar, Octavian, Mark Anthony)

[Lion.Kanzen]

Quote

Caesar's soldiers would most likely initially have been equipped with cheap Montifortino type 'C' helmets and possibly a few attic helmets which might have worked their way over from eastern theatres of war (particularly amongst soldiers from legions lent to Caesar by Pompey, which had previously served in Asia Minor and which may have been supplied with equipment by local workshops in the east), when he first started campaigning in Gaul. It is very likely that he would have turned workshops operating in conquered or allied parts of Gaul over to producing equipment for new recruits and to replace damaged equipment, as was the normal practice in other theatres of war. This is probably how large numbers of Gallic type helmets would have started to make their way into Roman armies. It seems likely that some workshops produced Coolus type helmets and some in another parts of Gaul produced the Port type helmets which appear to be ancestral to the Imperial Gallic series of helmets. It is also almost certain that helmets, armour and weapons would have been salvaged from the dead on battlefields and issued out for re-use by Roman soldiers in need of equipment, which would also have helped the spread of Gallic styles of equipment into Roman armies.

We would therefore expect to find that by the end of eight years of Gallic campaigning, Caesars soldiers would probably still have been wearing predominantly Montifortino helmets but alongside these there would also be quite large numbers of Port, Agen and Coolus type 'B' and possibly 'C' helmets. Although Pompey's legions had been returned to him by senatorial decree by this time, there might still have been a few Attic type helmets in use by Caesar's remaining troops as well.

 

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

 

Quote

The irony of ironies is that, as long as it took to develop the modern combat helmet, the Romans appear to have used something very similar as one of their first helmets! This Caesarian Brass Coolus Helmet is one of the earliest of Roman designs. This helmet consists of a round, half-spherical shaped dome that is worn over the head, providing a metallic layer that is perfect for defending a warrior from strikes and attacks. The helmet is one solid piece of fine brass metal, and it features a spiral-styled edge, as well as a slight extension in the back, to help guide blows away from the neck. Extending down from the sides are dual-ring accents, which add a little touch of added decoration to the helmet, while also creating a link to attach a harness to, to help keep the helm in place. It is very much an original coolus helm, but with a twist - the polished finish makes this Caesarian Brass Coolus Helm a fantastic piece for any Roman enthusiast to wear when they want to create a more impressive look, like that of a general or even a Caesar, setting foot onto a battlefield

[Lion.Kanzen]

https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/thread-18990.html

[Lion.Kanzen]

Roman helmet called "Coolus" of the cesarian era (around half of the 1st century BCE). This helmet is characterized by a simple hemispherical cap without sommital button or decoration fastening system. The neck cover is unusually marked. This helmet is entirely in brass. It comes with an inner protection offered

Edited November 28, 2017 by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

Look that, beautiful helmet (Italo Attic Thracian)

[Lion.Kanzen]

Imperial To Julian Claudia to Severian dynasty

Edited January 13, 2018 by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

The lorica musculata, the central(abs) don't like realistic... but is an artistic representation.

The Taurus/Bull is from Julii family the sacred beast of Venus.

Edited January 13, 2018 by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

Romans === (Western  Late Empire)====