03-27-2019, 03:54 AM
Acquired for the material concerning Byzantines, but the rest of the articles are just as interesting...
Review of the publication on De Re Militari...
Raffaele D’Amato's A Sixth or Early Seventh Century Ad Iconography of Roman Military Equipment in Egypt: The Deir Abou Hennis Frescoes in A Military History of the Mediterranean Sea: Aspects of War, Diplomacy, and Military Elites.
Dr. D'Amato provides a reconstruction of Late Roman/Byzantine soldiers, at least in Egypt, by comparing the deteriorated church frescoes of the Massacre of the Innocents, with surviving contemporary art, textiles and arms and armor - plenty of color and black and white photos.
Two helmets are covered: The pseudo-Attic and what I had assumed is a spangenhelm variant from the Balkans, photo on page 122, but in fact is a conical ridge helmet, with cheek pieces and part of a nose guard, similar to what's worn by one of the figures in the fresco, according to the author.
Machete like single edged short swords wielded by the soldiers are referred to as scramasaxs aka semi-spathae - aren't these supposed to be double-edged weapons? Page 134 has a photo of these blades recovered from the Ballana graves. D'Amato mentions the possibility of the Western scramasax being derived from prototypes manufactured in East Roman fabricae.
[attachment=14926][attachment=14929][attachment=14928][attachment=14930][attachment=14932][attachment=14935][attachment=14933][attachment=14934]
Review of the publication on De Re Militari...
Raffaele D’Amato's A Sixth or Early Seventh Century Ad Iconography of Roman Military Equipment in Egypt: The Deir Abou Hennis Frescoes in A Military History of the Mediterranean Sea: Aspects of War, Diplomacy, and Military Elites.
Dr. D'Amato provides a reconstruction of Late Roman/Byzantine soldiers, at least in Egypt, by comparing the deteriorated church frescoes of the Massacre of the Innocents, with surviving contemporary art, textiles and arms and armor - plenty of color and black and white photos.
Two helmets are covered: The pseudo-Attic and what I had assumed is a spangenhelm variant from the Balkans, photo on page 122, but in fact is a conical ridge helmet, with cheek pieces and part of a nose guard, similar to what's worn by one of the figures in the fresco, according to the author.
Machete like single edged short swords wielded by the soldiers are referred to as scramasaxs aka semi-spathae - aren't these supposed to be double-edged weapons? Page 134 has a photo of these blades recovered from the Ballana graves. D'Amato mentions the possibility of the Western scramasax being derived from prototypes manufactured in East Roman fabricae.
[attachment=14926][attachment=14929][attachment=14928][attachment=14930][attachment=14932][attachment=14935][attachment=14933][attachment=14934]