You say Cingulum, I say Balteus....
Ok, so which is it???
Last I heard "cingulum" isn't proper...but people still use it. So which one is correct???
What does each one mean? What is the proper usage for each one?
If I remember well, cingulum is a later term. Used in the Late Empire. After the militarisation of the IIIrd and IVth centuries CE, the word cingulum became asociated with public office whether military or non military. But actually, at that time everything was based on military organisation.
The expression "ponere/deponere cingulum" (put on or put off the cingulum), came to mean enter governement service --whether civilian or military-- or resign from it.
But you should check. It's just out of my dim memories..
My understanding is that the cingulum is the soldier's waist belt, and the balteus refers to the shoulder baldric which suspends the sword scabbard. :wink:
Okay, I dug out my "source", which is "Roman Military Equipment" by Mike Bishop and JCN Coulston, 1993.
On Page 96 in the section 'From Augustus to Hadrian', topic: belts, the authors remark that the term cingulum is hardly ever found before the third century (AD). They cite, according to Varro a cinctus was a belt worn by men and a cingulum was a belt worn by women. These terms presumably refer to civilian belts. Further they cite instances in papyri and literary sources where the terms balteus, baltei, baltea, etc., are used in specifically military contexts. From Tacitus, "Histories"-Soldiers handing over their belts to Vitellius so he can strip the silver from them to fund his claim to the imperial title (the word baltei is used). Also, the Greek word baltion is cited as used in a letter (papyrus document dated to AD 99).
I could go on from there. I agree with the earlier reply, which states that the term cingulum did come into regular use in the later Roman Empire to denote persons in the government, both civilian and military.
Marcus Quintius Clavus
aka: Quinton Johansen
It could pretty well be, then, that the real name of the military belt worn during the Republic and the Principate was "cinctus"...
A not very well known term used in ancient military texts was "in procinctu", as in "this unit was sent there in procinctu". According to some scholars the term meant "wearing the military belt" and, by extension, "under arms".
I think I found this in a monography by Y. le Bohec on the IIIrd Augusta at Lambesis.
Thanks Quintius.
What IS the name of the Baldric, if that is actually recorded/known?
Some of us Romans like to call the apron/straps that hang down in the front of the Balteus a "Danglium" - Thanks to Hibernicus from Leg. IX Hispana (I think he's the one I first heard coin the word) - I use the word all the time. Hehe.
Okay, I know it's strange to dredge this topic up after nearly 2 years, but I was just reading Caesar's Gallic War, the Loeb edition translated by Edwards, which also has the original Latin text, and I noticed that in the story about the centuriones Pullo and Vorenus (yes, our friends Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus from HBOs 'Rome' were real soldiers in Caesar's army, although Pullo was a centurio himself), the statement about how a Gaul's 'dart' pierced Pullo's shield and lodged in his belt and interfering with him drawing his sword, the Latin word used is 'balteo', so clearly balteus was a term used for a soldier's waist belt.
Just for those who are curious, the full statement is:
"Transfigitur scutum Pulloni et verutum in balteo defigitur. Avertit hic casus vaginam et gladium educere conanti dextram moratur manum, impeditumque hostes circumsistunt." translating to: "Pullo's shield was penetrated, and a dart was lodged in his belt. This accident threw his scabbard out of place, and delayed his right hand as he tried to draw his sword, and while he was in difficulty the enemy surrounded him."
Nice, thanks for finding that Matt!
Quote:Okay, I know it's strange to dredge this topic up after nearly 2 years, but I was just reading Caesar's Gallic War, the Loeb edition translated by Edwards, which also has the original Latin text, and I noticed that in the story about the centuriones Pullo and Vorenus (yes, our friends Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus from HBOs 'Rome' were real soldiers in Caesar's army, although Pullo was a centurio himself), the statement about how a Gaul's 'dart' pierced Pullo's shield and lodged in his belt and interfering with him drawing his sword, the Latin word used is 'balteo', so clearly balteus was a term used for a soldier's waist belt.
1st Century gravestone show centurions used baldrics long before the legionaries did (Facilis). They seam to have carried the sword in Greek fashion diagonally at the left hip. Imo this is an sign of officer status.
So whether waist belts were called
baltei of not, cannot be concluded from the above mentioned text..
But like I wrote this is from Caesar's Gallic War, which was mid-1st century BC Rob- the sword baldric came into use in the latter half of the 1st century AD, 100 years or more later, yes? Or do you know of a precisely-dated tombstone that I don't?
The only centurio in the Romanarmy.com Imagebase collection showing a baldric is that of Marcus Favonius Facilis, and it's only tentatively dated to the 1st century AD- and for all we know that's because of the baldric. There's only one other in the 'legionary officer' section showing a baldric, but it's fragmentary and has no text- the presence of a 'weighted' pilum, however, suggests a rather later date since I believe the earliest-known depiction of these is the Chancellaria Relief, which is from right at the beginning of the 2nd century AD. The centurio Quintus Sertorius Festus, of Claudian date, wears his sword on his waist belt, as does Minucius Lorarius, whose tombstone is dated to about 43AD.
We had used cingulum for years.. based on a known reference source, and after having learned that the term was not accurate for our time period have switched to balteus militare
danglium: the straps that hang or dangle from the balteus militare
dinglium the bits that hang at the end of the danglium
jinglium: dinglium that jingle
blinglium: a danglium of high value (usually hung from a blingulum militare)
Quote:We had used cingulum for years.. based on a known reference source, and after having learned that the term was not accurate for our time period have switched to balteus militare
danglium: the straps that hang or dangle from the balteus militare
dinglium the bits that hang at the end of the danglium
jinglium: dinglium that jingle
So... is Dangli
um one of the straps, and Dangli
a the plural ... or does the singular form of the word simply include all the straps on a single belt? :lol:
How imptant was the anglius of the Danglius? Was the small too used to readjust this angle called the tweakius? and also, was the audio of the jinglius used to differientiate between individual chorts in battle? You might also be interested to know of a second century innovation. To help resolve the problem of the belt being pulled up when withdrawing the Gladius, sometimes one of the dangilium was run between the legs and attached to the back of the belt. This modification, which proved popular amongst those who chose to wear the very short greek tunic, became known as the geestringeous.
This developed sometime later with the introduction of the very narrow danglius, into the wedgius thongius.