Roman Body Armour, Hilary & John Travis

[Bryan]

Does Travis' book on shields cover more than just the scutum?

[Jonathan Fletcher]

Appears to: Sections on everything from iron age finds to greek shields through to Dura shields. Main focus is on Imperial scutae.

[M.VAL.BRUTUS]

And to be fair, that Roman Body Armour book is a few years old now if I'm not mistaken. And if I remember correctly they weren't pointing about the should guard being positioned wrongly as new information, just a common error in many reconstructions, so it's not like they are trying to pass it off as ground breaking information. The reinterpretation they are citing is of the Kalkriese seg, through I'd have to go back and look at it again to remember what was so different about their reconstruction.

I have two of the books, Body Armour and Shields, I like and use both. And wouldn't mind picking up the third book. But you have to keep in mind, that their books aren't written as scholarly sources in my opinion, rather they strike me as an beginners guide to reconstruction and use of the gear. At least that how I read them.

[Crispvs]

I think the difference was that they decided to use the Chichester plate as the basis of the shoulder guard, reasoning that both the find site and the unusual style made it possible that it came from a Kalkriese type armour. They also used Corbridge type tie loops on the girdle plates of the one I saw. I asked Rob Travis about this a few years ago and if I recall correctly (and of course, I may not be) he said that as Mike Bishop's Lorica Segmentata 1 had not drawn any firm conclusion about the method of closure used on Kalkriese girdle plates and they were in any case unsure about how well so many straps and buckles would work, they decided to use a Corbridge style tie loop instead on their reconstruction, on the basis that if the two armours were, in part at least, compatible, then it would be reasonable to think that new Corbridge type girdle plates might have been teamed up with older Kalkriese chest, back and shoulder parts in the mid to late first century. I hope I am not doing Hilary and Rob a disservice by misrepresenting them here.

Crispvs

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

This thread has me now wanting to head home and look at my kalkriese Seg.
I know my corbridge b/c has the points outwards. It is only 10 years old, and most makers were still doing it this way at that time.
However, the kalkrise is a little younger.....
It was based on the latest finds at that time though. :unsure: