12-20-2009, 04:07 PM
Oh no, of course I'm sure nobody took what you wrote the wrong way Adrian 
It's an all-too-true fact that sometimes people do intentionally ignore evidence if it doesn't fit with their ideas.
I think it's a pretty common theory that the 'lambda' elements could be reinforcement for the reverse frame corners, although I'm honestly not so sure; really the shield, as I wrote previously, is pretty strong in its own right when it's just layered 1.5mm (or so) plies and a linen facing. The strip frame on the back of the corner from Dura is really rather flimsy and if typical does make me wonder if it really is of much structural use- and if it needs obverse reinforcement to hold its corners in place, well... :| And the 'lambdas' only appear on a portion of the scuta in sculpture- if they were structural I would expect to see them more often or all the time. It seems to me that it's rather more likely they're just decorative, given that they appear on so many Roman things- the Vexillum, theres a Tunica from Palestine (IIRC), the Lobith gladius scabbard and even a belt plate in my collection has them punched in the corners, just to name a few (very diverse examples). They're always associated with corners, so that itself must have some significance and it's just for that reason they appear so on scuta- the reverse frame position seems to me to be just conincidental.
It's an all-too-true fact that sometimes people do intentionally ignore evidence if it doesn't fit with their ideas.I think it's a pretty common theory that the 'lambda' elements could be reinforcement for the reverse frame corners, although I'm honestly not so sure; really the shield, as I wrote previously, is pretty strong in its own right when it's just layered 1.5mm (or so) plies and a linen facing. The strip frame on the back of the corner from Dura is really rather flimsy and if typical does make me wonder if it really is of much structural use- and if it needs obverse reinforcement to hold its corners in place, well... :| And the 'lambdas' only appear on a portion of the scuta in sculpture- if they were structural I would expect to see them more often or all the time. It seems to me that it's rather more likely they're just decorative, given that they appear on so many Roman things- the Vexillum, theres a Tunica from Palestine (IIRC), the Lobith gladius scabbard and even a belt plate in my collection has them punched in the corners, just to name a few (very diverse examples). They're always associated with corners, so that itself must have some significance and it's just for that reason they appear so on scuta- the reverse frame position seems to me to be just conincidental.
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