Roman Military belt question

[Crispvs]

Nice find Tarbicus,

Be careful though with the Historia Augusta. The accounts of the lives of the emperors were all supposedly written for Diocletian or Constatine and then collected together later. This would mean that they were written several decades after the actuall events. However, scholars have often noted that the numerous inconsistencies displayed in the Historia Augusta suggest that they were written together as a single work perhaps a century after Constantine, which deliberately pretends to be a collection of individual lives of Roman emperors written at the time of the tetrarchy. It has been suggested that it was written quite quickly as a rival for the history that Magnus Maximus had published in retirement following his unsuccessful bid to become emperor, which I understand was selling well. If this is the case, many of the details contained in the various lives may (a) be details which belong to the time of the writing rather than the periods being written about or (b) deliberate embellishments to produce a 'racier', more interesting account to take advantage of the interest shown by people in obtaining a work of history.
In short, be very wary of the Scriptoria Historia Augusta. Some details may be true but many others may be total fabrications or anacronisms.
It can be very difficult to know which is which.
This does not mean, of course, that what you have found is false - in fact it may well be a very valuable piece of information, but the dross in which it lies compromises its worth somewhat as evidance, which may be very sad.

Crispvs