Rectangle scutum in Caesarian times

[Crispvs]

Robinson's Armour of Imperial Rome is a very usefull work and I agree that it is something of a crime that there were only ever two print runs (I have always been told there was only one print run but about five years ago I was shown a photocopy of one which had been 'published' for Book Club Associates'), meaning that only between one and three thousand copies would ever have been printed. However, one of Robinson's stated intentions has come to pass. It did encourage museums and some collectors to publish items in their collections but not previously published, and in doing so went out of date very quickly as far as the catalogue of helmets and armour was concerned. The discovery and publishing of new material also meant that his very good but unexpectedly rigid typologies began to prove less than satisfactory in only a few short years. Personally I think that Robinson's clear cut typologies are superior to the rather clumsy system of calling all examples of a class of item by the name of the findspot of the first find (no matter how many other items were first found at that site), but I agree with Mike Bishop that it is time we came up with a new, more flexible and easily understood typology (perhaps similar to J.M.C. Toynbee's attempt to create a typology of Roman helmets in 1939 (J.M.C. Toynbee, A Roman decorated helmet from Worthing, JRS 29 [1939]) which everyone can agree on and which can comfortably incorporate new additions.
The out of date 'The Armour of Imperial Rome' was going to be replaced as a resource by the online 'Armamentaria', but as Mike Bishop will, I am sure, tell you, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne rather spoiled that idea and other projects have been consuming his attention in any case.

As far as I can remember (I am still at work and I don't have my copy of Robinson on hand to consult), the photograh of the sculpture from Lyon was included as an example of Imperial type helmets in sculpture. I do not remember anything being said about its actual context. The photograph of the Osuna relief was included to show mail and 'covered mail'. As I recall, the illustrations by Connolly were limited to the dust jacket illustration and the line drawings of the segmentata armour types.

Crispvs