02-15-2010, 10:27 PM
To be honest, I would have thought that an optio would look just like any other Roman soldier apart from his ring. Off the field he may have had the knobbed staff (we do not even know what this was called, as far as I know), if this existed at this time. Polybios says that centuriones had their helmets tinned or silvered to make them stand out but says nothing about distinctive equipment for any other ranks. Polybios was writing in the 130s BC of course so he may be of only limited use for a study of what Caesar and co's soldiers would have looked like. It is worth remembering that even the eagle was not established as the normal symbol for a legion until after Polybios's time.
For signifers, as I said, I think that animal skins would have been worn, as it seems like a fairly primitive practice, although which animals would be anyone's guess. Wolves are always a popular guess, but I am not sure if there is any secure evidence for the wearing of wolf pelts by Roman standard bearers. It makes sense to think that whatever animal was used it would be a fierce or strong animal. It also makes sense to think that standard bearers might have carried different shields of other soldiers in order to better manage their standards, although what form those shields might have taken again is guesswork. Standard bearers of the fourteenth legion in the mid first century AD (as much as a century or more later than what we are discussing) are shown on their stelae with curved oval shields which MAY be intended to look smaller than those of other soldiers, although we must be very careful about drawing any conclusions about the size things are depicted in funerary sculpture - see my article here: http://www.romanarmy.net/artsculpture.htm
Mail and scale armour were both in common use as far as we can tell, and I would have thought that either type would be appropriate for almost any rank. Early in the first century BC some soldiers may still have been wearing the pectoral plate described by Polybios as the normal armour of Roman soldiers in his own time. Any opinion I might have of what the regular Roman soldier looked like would be based on the evidence I have cited already.
Crispvs
For signifers, as I said, I think that animal skins would have been worn, as it seems like a fairly primitive practice, although which animals would be anyone's guess. Wolves are always a popular guess, but I am not sure if there is any secure evidence for the wearing of wolf pelts by Roman standard bearers. It makes sense to think that whatever animal was used it would be a fierce or strong animal. It also makes sense to think that standard bearers might have carried different shields of other soldiers in order to better manage their standards, although what form those shields might have taken again is guesswork. Standard bearers of the fourteenth legion in the mid first century AD (as much as a century or more later than what we are discussing) are shown on their stelae with curved oval shields which MAY be intended to look smaller than those of other soldiers, although we must be very careful about drawing any conclusions about the size things are depicted in funerary sculpture - see my article here: http://www.romanarmy.net/artsculpture.htm
Mail and scale armour were both in common use as far as we can tell, and I would have thought that either type would be appropriate for almost any rank. Early in the first century BC some soldiers may still have been wearing the pectoral plate described by Polybios as the normal armour of Roman soldiers in his own time. Any opinion I might have of what the regular Roman soldier looked like would be based on the evidence I have cited already.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
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