Late-Roman Scuta

[Lucius Aurelius Metellus]

It would seem to me that if a shield was held by a central handle and not arm straps, it would be extremely difficult to hold two spear shafts in the same hand at the same time. I'm not saying it is impossible, but if I had to wager, my bet would be that these ancient illustrations are pure artistic fantasy, based on classical Greek models. Just think how awkward it would be to hold something like that, unless those spear shafts were the size of pencils Now if arm straps were used, this would be quite easy, but how many examples do we have of Roman shields with arm straps? (that's not meant as a smart #$!! question, I'm asking it for real...) Most of the shields I am aware of have a central hand grip. <p>Lucius Aurelius Metellus, miles gregarius, Secunda Brittanica</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=luciusaureliusmetellus@romanarmytalk>Lucius Aurelius Metellus</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v384/Lucius68/Lucius.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 9/18/04 3:25 am<br></i>