02-24-2009, 10:33 PM
Quote:I'll attempt to hunt this down, if anyone has a copy please share it. Any idea on the date, other than the Thureos? How big is big? as big as an aspis?
The style and proportions are very similar to the relief from the victory monument of Aemilius Paullus, so probably early 2nd c. BC. Big as in about the size of an aspis; were the man standing up straight, the shield would almost stretch from shoulder to knee. It also has a very small offset rim.
Quote:What is the Sekunda reference? I don't have access to many of his articles. Does he make them heavier or lighter?
The article is "The Sarissa," in Acta Universitatis Lodziensis, Folia Archaeologica 23: 2001, 13–41. Sekunda doesn't work with reconstructions, so I don't know necessarily how the weight would change, but if I remember correctly, Markle worked with a reconstruction made of cornel wood. Sekunda goes through some ancient sources about the availability of woods and early modern sources about construction of pikes to convincingly argue that the sarissa, especially examples that were particularly long, would most likely have been made of ash, which is lighter, stronger for its length, and grows very straight and without knots. He records that during the First World War, ash trees were used in the production of British aircraft which provided pieces of timber 32 feet in length with a straight and even grain throughout the whole length and without any defects! So, presumably it would have been much lighter, but he also addresses the head, sleeve, and butt from Vergina which are so often identified as sarissa parts, and presents many reasons why they probably did not belong to a sarissa. Overall, a very important article to read relating to any discussion of the sarissa.
Ruben
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
