Unknown Centurio Graz museum

[Nathan Ross]

Is he wearing. Greaves?

Yes, tall bronze greaves, by the look of it. Graham Sumner reconstructs the cuirass of Facilis as 'quilted linen covered with a thin layer of vegetable tanned leather coloured white'

However, the Pompeii painting probably shows some mythological or classical scene, and both this figure and Facilis are mid 1st century at the latest.

Returning to our 'centurion' from Graz, meanwhile, I was trying to find some comparable funerary tondo or relief, and chanced upon the tombstone of Publius Gessius. Interesting - apparently late Republican, but the same positioning of the left hand on the sword, same bunched cloak on the shoulder:



Gessius also appears to be wearing the 'senior officer' sash around his midriff - but he also seems to have married his freedwoman, which might suggest he originally came from a lower class than the equestrian aristocracy. Perhaps a centurion risen in the Caesarian/Augustan army to higher rank?