01-20-2004, 10:42 PM
Here's a quick, first-look impression I recently posted on my own unit's club board:<br>
<br>
Looks disappointing on first glance. I'll post a more detailed review later, but here are a few things I noticed off the bat. The art by Angus McBride is sub-par for him, looking a little rushed and sketchy. Either he or Ross Cowan, the author, has totally ignored the new work by MC Bishop on the Newstead and Alba Iulia cuirasses. The Newsteads they depict are of the old, Robinson variety with no hinges and the old leather tie closure system. They also ignore virtually everything in Graham Sumner's two books on military clothing (odd, since Osprey publishes them all!). The first plate is a reconstruction of the Croy Hill relief. The legionary on the left is wearing a strange, knee-length quilted subarmalis with no other armor-- dubious, to say the least. The guy in the middle (identified as a centurion) is wearing a mail shirt with a double-row of (white) pteruges. The guy on the right is wearing a Robinson-style Newstead, with a Italic G helmet slung on his chest; he has open-work belt plates (same pattern as ours), a medium-length cingulum and looks amazingly like, well, US (except for the white tunic). Unfortunately, all three guys wear regular old-fashioned caligae, very unlikely by the mid-second century date given. There are several depictions of soldiers in lorica segmentata (albeit the obsolete reconstruction); none are shown also wearing pteruges. I'd put more stake in this if the rest of the book was better. They do include a line drawing of a grave stele of a soldier ca. AD 212 wearing a lorica seg, the first I've seen showing a soldier in this form of armor. The wide baldric and scabbard-slide suspension is ubiquitous, except for one guy with a Pompeii-style sword and suspension. One plate shows a guy reconstructed from the Alba Iulia relief, wearing a Newstead-type lorica with a scale coiff and NO HELMET (again, ignoring Bishop, who interprets this relief as showing a new form of lorica seg with a scale upper section). The cover and showcase plate shows Praetorians battling Legio II Parthia in the civil war of AD 218; all soldiers are fighting ad expeditio-- sans armor! The aquila of Legio II is a LIVE EAGLE in a cage! Talk about bizarre....<br>
<br>
As I said, I'll post more once I've read the book through.<br>
<br>
T. Flavius Crispus<br>
Legio VI Victrix Pia Fidelis<br>
California, USA<br>
<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=flaviuscrispus@romanarmytalk>FlaviusCrispus</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/legiovi/vwp?.dir=/Flavius+photo&.src=gr&.dnm=flavhead2.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 1/22/04 12:34 am<br></i>
<br>
Looks disappointing on first glance. I'll post a more detailed review later, but here are a few things I noticed off the bat. The art by Angus McBride is sub-par for him, looking a little rushed and sketchy. Either he or Ross Cowan, the author, has totally ignored the new work by MC Bishop on the Newstead and Alba Iulia cuirasses. The Newsteads they depict are of the old, Robinson variety with no hinges and the old leather tie closure system. They also ignore virtually everything in Graham Sumner's two books on military clothing (odd, since Osprey publishes them all!). The first plate is a reconstruction of the Croy Hill relief. The legionary on the left is wearing a strange, knee-length quilted subarmalis with no other armor-- dubious, to say the least. The guy in the middle (identified as a centurion) is wearing a mail shirt with a double-row of (white) pteruges. The guy on the right is wearing a Robinson-style Newstead, with a Italic G helmet slung on his chest; he has open-work belt plates (same pattern as ours), a medium-length cingulum and looks amazingly like, well, US (except for the white tunic). Unfortunately, all three guys wear regular old-fashioned caligae, very unlikely by the mid-second century date given. There are several depictions of soldiers in lorica segmentata (albeit the obsolete reconstruction); none are shown also wearing pteruges. I'd put more stake in this if the rest of the book was better. They do include a line drawing of a grave stele of a soldier ca. AD 212 wearing a lorica seg, the first I've seen showing a soldier in this form of armor. The wide baldric and scabbard-slide suspension is ubiquitous, except for one guy with a Pompeii-style sword and suspension. One plate shows a guy reconstructed from the Alba Iulia relief, wearing a Newstead-type lorica with a scale coiff and NO HELMET (again, ignoring Bishop, who interprets this relief as showing a new form of lorica seg with a scale upper section). The cover and showcase plate shows Praetorians battling Legio II Parthia in the civil war of AD 218; all soldiers are fighting ad expeditio-- sans armor! The aquila of Legio II is a LIVE EAGLE in a cage! Talk about bizarre....<br>
<br>
As I said, I'll post more once I've read the book through.<br>
<br>
T. Flavius Crispus<br>
Legio VI Victrix Pia Fidelis<br>
California, USA<br>
<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=flaviuscrispus@romanarmytalk>FlaviusCrispus</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/legiovi/vwp?.dir=/Flavius+photo&.src=gr&.dnm=flavhead2.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 1/22/04 12:34 am<br></i>
T. Flavius Crispus / David S. Michaels
Centurio Pilus Prior,
Legio VI VPF
CA, USA
"Oderint dum probent."
Tiberius
Centurio Pilus Prior,
Legio VI VPF
CA, USA
"Oderint dum probent."
Tiberius
