Portrait of a 3rd century fleet officer?

[Carlton Bach]

I just came across this bit in the 'Ornamenta Ecclesiae' exhibition catalogue on, of all thiungs, Romanesque Art. At the Bibliotheca Apostolica (Inv No 345 (788)), a glass bowl is kept that shows one 'Dedalus', armed, dressed in military clothing, and surrounded by men engaged in woodworking. Peter Noelke identifies him as a shipyard magister or fleet preaefectus, which would make the men around him fleet soldiers (fabri navales).

I'll post pictures just as soon as my camera comes alive again. Meanwhile, his publication is in Forschungen und Berichte zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Baden-Württemberg, Akten des 13. internationalen Limes-Kongresses 1983. The short description I stumbled over in is A. Legner (ed): Ornamenta Ecclesiae: Kuinst und Künstler der Romanik, Köln 1985, pp. 10-12. Only a b/w picture there, though.

Meanwhile, those of you knowledgeable in these matters - is there anything to this assumption? Have you already checked it out? Apparently, other people consider him a civilian.

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Volker,
I've never noticed him before. Thanks for the tip. Very interesting, but I have gotten very wary of identifying troops from what they're doing. Those identifications very often rest on what we expect a certain troop type to do. It leads to incorrect interpretations.