09-20-2011, 02:14 AM
I don't know of any evidence for type 'B' sheaths as late as the end of the first century AD. There would certainly have been frame type sheaths in use in Trajan's time though, but what form they took is open to informed speculation.
Regarding helmets, I am not completely convinced by the argument. It is true that it is the Imperial Gallic type 'I' helmets which feature inscriptions (a couple of them at any rate) but a good case can be made for these helmets being used specifically by the two Adiutrix legions. For other inscribed helmets, as I don't have Robinson to hand at this exact moment, are there any inscribed copper-alloy helmets of Coolus type with inscriptions? I can think of a number of Montefortinos with ownership inscriptions but no inscribed Coolus helmets spring to mind. Not all Gauls were wearing Port or Agen helmets prior to the conquest of Gaul either. Most would not have had helmets at all but in any case, there were probably regional preferences for particular helmet types, according to where the centres of production were. Many Gauls would have been far more familiar with copper-alloy Coolus helmets than with iron Port or Agen types and I would find it hard to believe that Caesar would not have turned the workshops producing Agen and Port helmets over to supplying his own troops, meaning that there would have been a steady flow of iron helmets into legionary units from the time of Caesar onwards. It may be worth noting too that at least one iron Coolus type 'C' has been found as well, on the same site as a copper-alloy Coolus type 'C'.
On the matter of crests I don't thinks it is quite so simple either. Each type of helmet had its own style of crest fittings, but that in itself does not tell us what those crests looked like, past an understanding that crest blocks for Imperial Gallics were probably square in section. It is true that a number of Coolus type helmets have feather tubes, but by no means all of them do and the iron Imperial Gallic type 'F' from Becansion also has feather tubes, as, I believe, does the Ribchester cavalry helmet. There is also the Coolus type 'E' from Verulamium which has had its crest knob 'neutered' by having the point (with its slot and lateral hole) removed.
Moreover, the similarity of the crest fittings on all of the Imperial Gallic type 'I' helmets and their probable association with the Legiones I and II Adiutices, along with the stele of C. Castricius Victor, suggest cresting arrangements may well have been a matter of individual unit identity, rather than a citizen / non-citizen demarcation. Note also on that front Legio V Adaudae (the Larks) - supposedly due to their distinctive crests).
A minor point too on the Imperial Gallic type 'I' helmets is that they appear to have featured not a Coolus style knob but a taller 'anther' type crest mount.
On the matter of Tacitus' well known comment about legionaries, auxiliaries and praetorians all picking up helmets at random belonging to each other in the confusion of getting ready for an assault by Vespasian's soldiers, I have often wondered whether this might be in large part a rhetorical device which serves to underline the confusion.
Crispvs
Regarding helmets, I am not completely convinced by the argument. It is true that it is the Imperial Gallic type 'I' helmets which feature inscriptions (a couple of them at any rate) but a good case can be made for these helmets being used specifically by the two Adiutrix legions. For other inscribed helmets, as I don't have Robinson to hand at this exact moment, are there any inscribed copper-alloy helmets of Coolus type with inscriptions? I can think of a number of Montefortinos with ownership inscriptions but no inscribed Coolus helmets spring to mind. Not all Gauls were wearing Port or Agen helmets prior to the conquest of Gaul either. Most would not have had helmets at all but in any case, there were probably regional preferences for particular helmet types, according to where the centres of production were. Many Gauls would have been far more familiar with copper-alloy Coolus helmets than with iron Port or Agen types and I would find it hard to believe that Caesar would not have turned the workshops producing Agen and Port helmets over to supplying his own troops, meaning that there would have been a steady flow of iron helmets into legionary units from the time of Caesar onwards. It may be worth noting too that at least one iron Coolus type 'C' has been found as well, on the same site as a copper-alloy Coolus type 'C'.
On the matter of crests I don't thinks it is quite so simple either. Each type of helmet had its own style of crest fittings, but that in itself does not tell us what those crests looked like, past an understanding that crest blocks for Imperial Gallics were probably square in section. It is true that a number of Coolus type helmets have feather tubes, but by no means all of them do and the iron Imperial Gallic type 'F' from Becansion also has feather tubes, as, I believe, does the Ribchester cavalry helmet. There is also the Coolus type 'E' from Verulamium which has had its crest knob 'neutered' by having the point (with its slot and lateral hole) removed.
Moreover, the similarity of the crest fittings on all of the Imperial Gallic type 'I' helmets and their probable association with the Legiones I and II Adiutices, along with the stele of C. Castricius Victor, suggest cresting arrangements may well have been a matter of individual unit identity, rather than a citizen / non-citizen demarcation. Note also on that front Legio V Adaudae (the Larks) - supposedly due to their distinctive crests).
A minor point too on the Imperial Gallic type 'I' helmets is that they appear to have featured not a Coolus style knob but a taller 'anther' type crest mount.
On the matter of Tacitus' well known comment about legionaries, auxiliaries and praetorians all picking up helmets at random belonging to each other in the confusion of getting ready for an assault by Vespasian's soldiers, I have often wondered whether this might be in large part a rhetorical device which serves to underline the confusion.
Crispvs
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