Roman Cavalry Officer, Punic Wars?

[philsidnell]

The problem is that both shields appear side by side in use at the same time as well, so that we perhaps cannot easily qualify popanum shields as early and round "Celtic" shields as coming later.

But there is that passage from Polybios specifically stating that the Roman cavalry abandoned the smaller popanum type in favour of the Greek-style shield as soon as they realized these were superior. As I stated in the book, I imagine the two styles (and the various styles of armour) actually co-existed side by side in various combinations with any transition being slow.

Actually, during the Hellenistic period, it is abundantly evident from funerary stelai that greaves were normally worn by cavalrymen. Whether that reflects on Roman practice, however, is very unclear

That's interesting. Could you point me towards somewhere I can see some examples of these, preferably online?

Phil Sidnell