05-23-2004, 06:36 PM
Hello I am new here. My interest is the film industies accurate depiction of Ancient Roman army.<br>
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I first became interested in ancient Roman History from watching the 1953 movie, "The Robe" and the Sequel "Demetrius and the Gladiators." I taught myself as much as possible from books of Roman history including the writings of Tacitus and Suetonius. However the little details of Roman life were not addressed there.<br>
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Here are my observations of what was accurate and not accurate about "The Robe" The Praetorian Guard under Emperor Caligula (Gaius Germanicus) was commanded by the Praefect Cassius Chaera in history as in real life. He led the assassination of Caligula in the movie as in history. The details of the assassination were not correct..Caligula was killed in the tunnel leading to the Imperial arena, not in the Emperors box and Cassius Chaera personally struck one of the blows..unlike the movie.<br>
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The details of the Praetorian Guard were accurate in that the field uniform was exactly like the rest of the legions. They carried the pilum,gladus, a long Curved Rectangular Shield or scutum with lightning bolts decoration. They wore the military cingulim belt with groin protector, white tunics with a red stripe, over this the lorica segmentata, (steel plate armour) and the Long Red Military Cloak, I have heard this called by various names including the "abolla". However the Gladus they used had a large hilt similar to the long swords of the middle ages, the gladus had no hilt. Plus the length and shape of the blade was wrong it was too short and had a straight blade coming to a point. They did not use neck scarves to protect from the armor, this first showed up in "Gladiator" Also the helmets were wrong, they did not have<br>
salade types with their rearward protruding neck guard. Each praetorian private or "miles" had a crest on his helmet. Now I understand but for the officers crests were worn only on parade as a dress uniform. Considering they were guarding the palace that seemed to be appropriate. The only thing wrong was that like our US secret service guardian the president they wore civilian clothes, that is a toga with the sword concealed. This was because under Roman law, uniformed soldiers were not allowed inside the city gates for fear of military coups. So this was window dressing for the Roman public so as not to offend their sensibilities. It seems to me that the ungainly Toga would surely have hampered the praetorians if they had to take quick action to protect the Emperor.<br>
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The depiction of the Tribune Marcellus Gallio was accurate as an appoinment of a military tribune of the son of a Senator was a common practice as a training ground for his future career.<br>
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Caligula was accurately protrayed as dressing as a General officer wearing a breastplate and dagger with purple gold embrodered cloak. He was afraid of assassination so the armor was a protection. He also had various outlandish colored clothes, violating the convention of the time of the emperor wearing merely a white toga with purple stripe like a senator, or a purple cloak but I am not certain when the purple cloak came into use. I noted that according to their rank the palace court wore Togas for the senators and tunic for the lesser ranks which were not specified. They all seemed to have varioius colored headbands which I have hear indicted the profession that the wearing practiced, is this correct?<br>
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Now the movie "Spartacus" showed army guards in the Lybian mines wearin trousers. When were trousers used in the legions? Would it have been in cold climates like the desert in winter and in Germania during winter? Was there any rule or special units that dressed in trousers instead of the white tunic? Oh, I have read on the net the the legion used RED tunics but I have always heard in the first century the tunics were white.<br>
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<br>
<br>
I have been in Rome and seen Trajans' and Marcus Aurelius columns showing the various dress of the legions and some in Germany were shown wearing trousers.<br>
<br>
Ok I am looking forward to some clarification and discussion on these issues. <p></p><i></i>
<br>
I first became interested in ancient Roman History from watching the 1953 movie, "The Robe" and the Sequel "Demetrius and the Gladiators." I taught myself as much as possible from books of Roman history including the writings of Tacitus and Suetonius. However the little details of Roman life were not addressed there.<br>
<br>
Here are my observations of what was accurate and not accurate about "The Robe" The Praetorian Guard under Emperor Caligula (Gaius Germanicus) was commanded by the Praefect Cassius Chaera in history as in real life. He led the assassination of Caligula in the movie as in history. The details of the assassination were not correct..Caligula was killed in the tunnel leading to the Imperial arena, not in the Emperors box and Cassius Chaera personally struck one of the blows..unlike the movie.<br>
<br>
The details of the Praetorian Guard were accurate in that the field uniform was exactly like the rest of the legions. They carried the pilum,gladus, a long Curved Rectangular Shield or scutum with lightning bolts decoration. They wore the military cingulim belt with groin protector, white tunics with a red stripe, over this the lorica segmentata, (steel plate armour) and the Long Red Military Cloak, I have heard this called by various names including the "abolla". However the Gladus they used had a large hilt similar to the long swords of the middle ages, the gladus had no hilt. Plus the length and shape of the blade was wrong it was too short and had a straight blade coming to a point. They did not use neck scarves to protect from the armor, this first showed up in "Gladiator" Also the helmets were wrong, they did not have<br>
salade types with their rearward protruding neck guard. Each praetorian private or "miles" had a crest on his helmet. Now I understand but for the officers crests were worn only on parade as a dress uniform. Considering they were guarding the palace that seemed to be appropriate. The only thing wrong was that like our US secret service guardian the president they wore civilian clothes, that is a toga with the sword concealed. This was because under Roman law, uniformed soldiers were not allowed inside the city gates for fear of military coups. So this was window dressing for the Roman public so as not to offend their sensibilities. It seems to me that the ungainly Toga would surely have hampered the praetorians if they had to take quick action to protect the Emperor.<br>
<br>
The depiction of the Tribune Marcellus Gallio was accurate as an appoinment of a military tribune of the son of a Senator was a common practice as a training ground for his future career.<br>
<br>
Caligula was accurately protrayed as dressing as a General officer wearing a breastplate and dagger with purple gold embrodered cloak. He was afraid of assassination so the armor was a protection. He also had various outlandish colored clothes, violating the convention of the time of the emperor wearing merely a white toga with purple stripe like a senator, or a purple cloak but I am not certain when the purple cloak came into use. I noted that according to their rank the palace court wore Togas for the senators and tunic for the lesser ranks which were not specified. They all seemed to have varioius colored headbands which I have hear indicted the profession that the wearing practiced, is this correct?<br>
<br>
Now the movie "Spartacus" showed army guards in the Lybian mines wearin trousers. When were trousers used in the legions? Would it have been in cold climates like the desert in winter and in Germania during winter? Was there any rule or special units that dressed in trousers instead of the white tunic? Oh, I have read on the net the the legion used RED tunics but I have always heard in the first century the tunics were white.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
I have been in Rome and seen Trajans' and Marcus Aurelius columns showing the various dress of the legions and some in Germany were shown wearing trousers.<br>
<br>
Ok I am looking forward to some clarification and discussion on these issues. <p></p><i></i>