08-26-2009, 10:55 AM
As an experiment I tried adding a similar strap to an Auxiliary shield some time ago after seeing the one on Trajan's Column. There seemed to be no obvious advantage to it in a combat situation, in fact, by having to use the shield with your arm bent 90 degrees at the elbow was generally more awkward - however, it did come in handy when holding the shield when carrying it about or marching with it. When carried normally, just using the centre grip, Auxiliary shields, unlike legionary ones, don't seem to hang naturally straight up and down, but rather swing in towards your leg at the bottom - however, using the strap did cure this problem and made it much more easy to carry in the hand for any distance. Could it have been that the guy that carved the one on the column saw one that had been made or modified (officially or unofficially) for this purpose, but assumed that it was also carried this way in combat?
Oly Martin
