06-15-2007, 04:21 AM
Ah ha! Thanks for reminding me of Manning Imperial.
Add "pilos helmet from Manning Imperial" to the list of off the shelf possibilities. They also make a nice Phyrgian helm. Looking at their website they also offer the modified Corinthian type helmet and a Montifortino helmet.
As for armor...I think we nailed it down to: they definitely might have possibly worn any type of armor common to this period or even none at all. I'm inclined to agree the troops had no armor at first, but that the officers might have had armor. There is no evidence for anything specific - although there was something mentioned in a poem about scale armor...that could be some sort of composite type or a complete scale cuirass. Basically no matter what armor you wear someone will say you are spot on and some one else wil say you are dead wrong, because in the absence of proof it pretty much all comes down to opinion. The safest and most sure thing to wear would be Roman mail and just say it was a little something you picked up in Italy.
Ruben: I already threw out the idea about cheekpieces, but on the original coin I was looking at the hair is pretty much worn away. If I was clinging to the cheekpiece idea though I would point out that the hair could be an embossed design on the cheekpieces - there are two bits curving up, two curving down, and one going straight forward which makes for a nice symmetrical pattern. The peak of the helmet looks to be embossed. The point is moot though.
I mentioned the wear patterns were different because wear patterns interest me - how a thing is worn down is a hint as to how it was used and handled. You can't tell anything from it of course except that over 2000 years ago those two coins were used and handled differently - the wear on those coins are in a sense all that we have left of all the people who caused that wear. It's...interesting.
Add "pilos helmet from Manning Imperial" to the list of off the shelf possibilities. They also make a nice Phyrgian helm. Looking at their website they also offer the modified Corinthian type helmet and a Montifortino helmet.
As for armor...I think we nailed it down to: they definitely might have possibly worn any type of armor common to this period or even none at all. I'm inclined to agree the troops had no armor at first, but that the officers might have had armor. There is no evidence for anything specific - although there was something mentioned in a poem about scale armor...that could be some sort of composite type or a complete scale cuirass. Basically no matter what armor you wear someone will say you are spot on and some one else wil say you are dead wrong, because in the absence of proof it pretty much all comes down to opinion. The safest and most sure thing to wear would be Roman mail and just say it was a little something you picked up in Italy.
Ruben: I already threw out the idea about cheekpieces, but on the original coin I was looking at the hair is pretty much worn away. If I was clinging to the cheekpiece idea though I would point out that the hair could be an embossed design on the cheekpieces - there are two bits curving up, two curving down, and one going straight forward which makes for a nice symmetrical pattern. The peak of the helmet looks to be embossed. The point is moot though.
I mentioned the wear patterns were different because wear patterns interest me - how a thing is worn down is a hint as to how it was used and handled. You can't tell anything from it of course except that over 2000 years ago those two coins were used and handled differently - the wear on those coins are in a sense all that we have left of all the people who caused that wear. It's...interesting.
Dan Zeidler
Legio XX
Legio XX
