07-13-2016, 04:06 PM
(07-12-2016, 08:41 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote:(07-12-2016, 06:00 PM)Longovicium Wrote: I am still grappling with my frustration.
"I'm not surprised. It sounds very weird, and for 20 quid very disappointing!
One of the reviews mentions that Colour Plate B ('Guard Units') shows a 'guardsman of Germani Corporis Custodes', together with an 'officer of Classis Germanica'. Is the first figure intended to date from the Principiate? And what's the 'guard' relevance of the second one?
What's the original source of the Rava illustrations, do you know, if some of them are years old?"
The figure of the guardsman of the Germani Corporis Custodes is from 400AD. A description on page 39-40 states that the unit was reformed in the 3rd century and 'continued to protect emperors until the fall of the Empire in the west.' In terms of his relation to a naval officer of the Rhine flotilla, I am at a loss. One is a supposed elite guardsman, the other a naval commander on the frontier. Make of that what you will!
Rava's illustrations go back a long way - to 2002. I get the feeling that the author has simply 'hovered' up any Rava illustration regardless of quality and stuck them in the book. The main plates seem new but - I am sorry to say - suspiciously echo various Osprey illustrations. It is disingenuous of one reviewer (who smacks of being a sock-puppet, by the way) to write that they are similar because the source material used was the same! I didn't realise such accurate and detailed source illustrations and images survived . . .
Francis Hagan
The Barcarii
The Barcarii
