Roman Army Heraldic Symbols

[Robert Vermaat]

The villa Maria catacomb:
[attachment=4842]villamaria.jpg[/attachment] [attachment=4843]villamaria2.jpg[/attachment]
Like other known shield designs, it confirms the basic elements of the shields shown in the Notitia Dignitatum, but this one is not found in there. The soldier is Flavius Maximianus from some Auxilia Palatina regiment.

On the other hand, the twinned facing animal heads design appears not only in the ND but in other late depictions: the arch of Constantine shows a shield with a standing figure of Victory in the top half and the twin facing heads of a rather detailed but unidentified creature (goat? dragon?) in the lower half. A similar design appears on a bronze figurine weight of a later emperor, possibly Constantine again: the twinned heads of an animal, with a Christian staurogram between them. Third-century brooches (I think) found in Britain show a pair of seahorse heads on a branching crescent shape, and these too might reflect the same imagery - perhaps it was originally a Germanic design?

If they are originally Germanic, they are not found there. The facing horses are exclusively British or so it seems, but facing dolphins, cats, dragons even are even more found in late Roman military buckles. They seem to be, combined with their use in shield designs, to be common in military art for some reason.

Later shields representing gods and heroes and animals appear quite different, but may have picked up aspects of older auxiliary patterns. These may then have developed through the fourth century into the simpler and more basic designs shown in the ND.

Indeed.