Roman shield emblem database

[Marcus Mummius]

Salvete,

Does such a database exist? I'm looking for as much 1st and 2nd century AD shield designs as possible. I'm most interested in shield designs on legionary scuta.

There is a wide variety of these designs depicted in roman art, have they ever been put together? I do not want to start a discussion on wheter or not the designs pictured in Roman art were actual designs used by the army or not, I just want to collect as much pictures of shield emblems as possible

Valete,

[Magnus]

Not that I know of, but that would be cool!

[Praefectusclassis]

Easy enough to establish on RA.com, but I'm not going to be the one to collect all the data. In other words: I'd be happy to set it up, if someone then plays editor.

[Tarbicus]

A very good reference is The Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome, by Phil Barker. Pages of diagrams of then known shield emblems from sculpture. Black and white line drawings, but colour would have no basis.

[Magnus]

Is that book still in print?

[Tarbicus]

Is that book still in print?

I've no idea to be honest, I've had my copy for at least ten years now.

I just looked at Amazon and it's not available, so perhaps listing it there as a wanted book might turn up something.

[Tarbicus]

Hang on, good old Ebay:

Ebay Buy It Now

[egfroth]

There's a good website with all the shield designs from the Notitia Dignitatum at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/luke/ueda-sarson ... terns.html

[Peroni]

There's some similar stuff here...
Click the Legion and auxiliary shield links under "Equipment"

http://www.redrampant.com/

[Robert Vermaat]

There's some similar stuff here...
Click the Legion and auxiliary shield links under "Equipment"
http://www.redrampant.com/

Although several names of the Late Roman shield designs are wrongly spelled. :?

[claudia crisis]

Another reference for discussion on shield shapes & designs - in context of Trajans column particularly:

Rossi, L. 1971 Trajan’s Column and the Dacian Wars, trans JMC Toynbee, Cornell University Press, New York

Hilary

[Peroni]

Thanks Hilary,

It is Lino Rossi's work that is featured on the http://www.redrampant.com/
auxiliary shield page.

[Tiberius Geracius]

If I am not mistaken we dont really know which emblem goes to which legion correct? I know Hollywood uses the same cone and lightning bolt emblem, and thats what most people associate with. My group is in the process of repainting our shields and I know we dont know if our Legion ever had a specific emblem.

[Matt Lukes]

If I am not mistaken we dont really know which emblem goes to which legion correct?

Correct. I think there are only one or two that are known from tombstones- LEGXIIII being the most often seen of those. One tombstone of a centurio from LEGVIII also shows his scutum, but the detail is minimal. Anyone know of any others?

The thing is that with just single examples, even these aren't certain- they're just the best we have.

[Andrew Brozyna]

Actually, these past couple years I've been trying to pull together just such a book. I'm a graphic designer, so the subject has been a special interest of mine. I only work on it in my spare time, so it will be quite a while before it's completed. If you're after a emblem from a specific 1st century AD monument, let me know. I've made line dawings of most of them.