09-04-2006, 02:02 PM
Quote:I am looking to see if they conform to a stereotypical view (i.e. 1st century AD legionaries with red tunics and segmented armour, auxiliaries wearing green) or if there is any hint of ethnicity of the solider - i.e. no Black Romans anyone? Despite auxiliaries coming from Africa, Syria and Persia.It's interesting to note that, when Ronald Embleton was painting in the 1970s, he did try to give his Raeti Gaesati a "European" look (What the Soldiers Wore on Hadrian's Wall, 1976, p. 21). And his famous Hamian archer is recognisably "Middle Eastern" (ibid., p. 33). But the run-of-the-mill Romans are all generally represented as Englishmen.
By the way, the auxiliaries-in-green fashion (unless I'm wrong) derives from Peter Connolly's The Roman Army (1975, p. 54). Of course, legionaries had been wearing red for much longer!
