4th Century Gear

[jho]

I cannot understand why you claim that they are unarmoured, only the captured Goths and the baggage handlers plus civilians shown on the Column of Theodosius are not wearing armour.

You are misunderstanding me: I am not claiming that the soldiers on the surviving fragments are unarmored but that the Freshfields drawings of the Arcadius column show them unarmoured, see this fairly typical snippet:


[attachment=787]Null.jpg[/attachment]

Whether or not the Louvre drawings and the Freshfields album show the same column (as Kollwitz claims) is certainly disputable and to form a more informed opinion we would have to analyze both documents in detail. However, here are some parallels which I have detected upon a very short glance at both documents:


[attachment=788]A.jpg[/attachment]

Freshfields is on the left, Menestier on the right.

The difference in equipment is not really conclusive as both artists may have employed much liberty here. Compare Freshfields and the drawing by Melchior Lorichs here:


[attachment=789]B.jpg[/attachment]

Again, Freshfields appears to show unarmoured soldiers while Melchior Lorichs at least shows helmets. I apologize for the bad quality of all pictures.