Oi... New, and Where to Start?

[Matthew Amt]

Well more questions for you then.

- Lorica Hamata
- Coolus style helmet
- Oval style Scutum
- Mainz style Gladius

If so, is this a good example of the Scutum:

Link

There's SO many different variants to the same style (which is a different variant of another... and so on) that one could get confused. So I want to make the best choice I can. There's mention of an "Augustus" style curved shield... is that during the Augustus reign, or in honor of it afterwards?

I'm not sure it's possible to span 140 years with one set of gear. To me, the main sticking point would be the shield. The oval is fine up through Caesar, I'd say, but I'm not sure I'd want to drag it much past Actium. Just gut feelings! (And possible Praetorian use notwithstanding.) The "Augustan" shield is the one with straight top and bottom and curved sides, so called because it is solidly dated to his reign (e.g., Arch of Orange), but it still shows up on Trajan's Column. And it MIGHT date back as early as Caesar, or even before, but we just don't have much to base that on! And of course there's the problem of what emblem to put on it--those were clearly evolving a lot between 50 BC and 50 AD. An undecorated oval shield might be perfectly correct for 50 BC but is probably wrong for 9 AD, for example. And the variations on eagle wings and lightning bolts popular in the early Empire probably are not correct for Caesar's day.

So I'd say if you went with Coolus, hamata, "Augustan" shield, and Mainz gladius, you'd be good from around 40 BC to 50 or 60 AD, not a bad span. Use a belt with plain rectangular plates and no apron, nicely simple and generic. Then you can add an oval scutum to edge back into 50 or 60 BC, though a Montefortino helmet would be better the earlier you go. And a gladius hispaniensis. To go beyond 60 AD, get a Pompeii sword and a Gallic or Italic helmet. Face it, eventually you'll have 2 or 3 complete sets of gear! Which is the goal, of course.

Next question is metal vs. wood. When was one or the other used if ever?

No question at all: ALWAYS wood. Romans stopped using metal shields about the time of Romulus. The boss is another matter--a Republican oval shield can have an all-wooden spine boss. But even some of those had iron bosses, and brass or iron is standard on anything from the late Repulic onwards. Many choices for what the wood is faced, with, though: rawhide, leather, linen, or felt.

...If I started my own "gig" I'd need to pick a Legio....Do any of these stand out as a decent choice? Unfortunately there's just not enough information on the net about any of them (or any specific legion for that matter).

One excellent book is Lawrence Keppie's "The Making of the Roman Army". For starters, it covers the transition period between Caesar and Claudius that so many basic works just kind of skip over. And in the back it has a list of legions and their known histories. That should help a lot. But keep in mind that amost nothing in a basic set of reenactor's gear is legion-specific. Even shield emblems are mostly just picked from Trajan's Column or other artwork, and we don't really know what legion they are supposed to represent (if any!). So if you are working solo, you can call yourself III Augusta one day and X Fretensis the next, if you like, or just call yourself a typical Roman legionary! One thing to keep in mind is that if you are really bent on, say, Legio VII Claudia from Upper Moesia, you will spend most of your time explaining where that is. But folks are much more likely to be at least vaguely familiar with Britain, Germany, or even Syria.

Have fun!

Matthew