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+--- Thread: Roman Shield Symbol (/showthread.php?tid=23414)
Roman Shield Symbol - Renicus Ferrarius - 01-05-2014
Greetings,
I saw this shield in the biblical film, "King of Kings". The design on the shield looks more like something that someone in the prop department saw in a history book rather than something completely made up. Does anyone have any idea what this design might be?
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the picture quality- took it from the TV screen.
(edit: here's a link to the picture. Having trouble embedding it.)
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd143/Detroit_Panday/RomanShield_zpsa39c620b.png?t=1388885248
Roman Shield Symbol - Flavivs Aetivs - 01-05-2014
The design is like a loose hollywood interpretation of the sort of standard "Principate Legionnaire Shield Pattern" of the Lightning bolts and wings with the conch shells (or whatever the spiral things are).
Roman Shield Symbol - Robert - 01-05-2014
Shield shape would be totaly wrong for ANY Roman era, by the way .... Just saying :whistle: Thing makes me cringe, it is so bad. The props designer should be fed to the lions pronto ....
Roman Shield Symbol - ValentinianVictrix - 01-05-2014
Looks more like one of those Greek style peltast shields. Not Roman by any standard methinks!
Roman Shield Symbol - AMELIANVS - 01-05-2014
Quote:The props designer should be fed to the lions pronto ....
Robert for President(Emperor) :grin: !
Roman Shield Symbol - Michael Kerr - 01-05-2014
Some more screenshots from the same movie, pretty bad Roman costuming overall. Movie was produced by Samuel Bronston same bloke who did Fall of the Roman Empire, El Cid & 55 Days in Peking.
[attachment=8642]Screenshot1.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=8643]Screenshot2.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=8644]Screenshot3.jpg[/attachment]
Regards
MIchael Kerr
Roman Shield Symbol - Robert - 01-05-2014
Whahahahaha! Well, it was shot in 1961, so most people involved in making it are either dead or pensioned .....
Roman Shield Symbol - Renicus Ferrarius - 01-05-2014
True, the shape is nothing I've seen before in books on the Roman Army. I was curious about the symbols, however.
I'm a bit new to the study of the Roman army. I know, for example, that jagged lines are Jupiter's thunderbolts, and that wings are eagles' wings. This shield:
http://www.imperiumancientarmory.com/customscutum.jpg
has something cylindrical on the left and right side, projecting out horizontally from the center. I'm not sure what it is.
I believe these items in the center are conch shells, although I'm not sure what their purpose is (homage to Neptune?).
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/roman-scutum-shield-16776567.jpg
So, the symbols from the one in the film aren't anything at all, it looks like. :unsure:
Roman Shield Symbol - ANTONIVS MAGNVS - 01-05-2014
It's not a conch shell, it's a winged thunderbolt the symbol of Jupiter.
Here you can see a winged thunderbolt over an alter.
[attachment=8646]591721.jpg[/attachment]
and here you can see how Jupiter holds it:
[attachment=8647]682094.jpg[/attachment]
Roman Shield Symbol - Gunthamund Hasding - 01-06-2014
Quote:Whahahahaha! Well, it was shot in 1961, so most people involved in making it are either dead or pensioned .....well even in '61 there was the Trajan Column still in Rome, they just simply don#t care
I must admit the shields are pretty nice
Roman Shield Symbol - Timianus - 01-06-2014
Quote:Some more screenshots from the same movie, pretty bad Roman costuming overall. Movie was produced by Samuel Bronston same bloke who did Fall of the Roman Empire, El Cid & 55 Days in Peking.
[attachment=8642]Screenshot1.jpg[/attachment]
Apparently, the Romans valued their guts more than their hearts. Where did they get the template for that "armor"?
Roman Shield Symbol - Robert - 01-06-2014
IT'S A GIRDLE :woot: ! Ideal for any overweight re-enactor. Why didn't we think of this
...
Roman Shield Symbol - Urselius - 01-06-2014
Many pre-modern people considered that lightning marked the path of a physical object, the "thunderbolt." This is why both the bolt and the zig-zag arrow of lightning were shown on Roman shield motifs. In England folk tradition regarded polished stone axe heads from the Neolithic as being thunderbolts; when they were dug up from the ground they thought that it was where lightning had struck.
Roman Shield Symbol - Flavivs Aetivs - 01-06-2014
Quote:Many pre-modern people considered that lightning marked the path of a physical object, the "thunderbolt." This is why both the bolt and the zig-zag arrow of lightning were shown on Roman shield motifs. In England folk tradition regarded polished stone axe heads from the Neolithic as being thunderbolts; when they were dug up from the ground they thought that it was where lightning had struck.
That's interesting, I wonder if they thought thunderbolts and meteors were the same thing? After all both make a loud boom and lead a trail of fire through the sky.
Roman Shield Symbol - Michael Kerr - 01-06-2014
I know we are discussing shield designs from movie but I think that with this particular movie it may be a case of poor research & tight budgets as I read that they re-shot the entire crucifixion scene as target audience was horrified that Jesus had a hairy chest so Jeffrey Hunter had his chest shaved for 2nd shoot but audience saw nothing wrong with Jesus having blue eyes and fair hair. Also most of the money went into El CID with Charlton Heston who was huge at the time after the success of Ben Hur, which was being made at the same time at same Spanish studios. Bronston originally wanted Richard Burton to play Jesus but he had other commitments. While on casting Bronston wanted Kirk Douglas as the lead in Fall of the Roman Empire but he pulled out & then he wanted Charlton Heston who also knocked it back so he settled for Stephen Boyd who always played a better villain than lead. Sorry I digress. During the battle in Jerusalem you can see the bendy rubber spears of the Romans flapping in the breeze.
Regards
Michael Kerr