10-24-2006, 04:57 AM
:lol: Now, now- be nice.
Now I'm curious Eric- have you ever held an accurate reproduction pugio? I ask because until I did, it also seemed to me that the handles were oddly small, short, and narrow. Now that I have, I've found that it's actually not.
I've never seen any evidence or even a suggestion of it that there was any kind of wrapping around a pugio's handle and honestly can't see why it might be considered to have been necessary or even advantageous. As it is, they seem just fine to me- not difficult or uncomfortable to hold. What's more, the central bulge actually adds to the grip and wrapping of the portions above and below the central 'bulge' would negatively affect this function. Then there's the fact that the exterior plates are sometimes decorated, and certainly specifically formed with a central, axial peak- I can't see doing that and then going and covering it up. That peak adds to the 'hand' friendly' shape and also increases the grip. Sure some individuals could have done it for whatever reason, but it's simply not valid to suggest it might have been a design feature.
As for using sculptural evidence, it's a matter of it being support for or supported by other forms of evidence. We have lots of real pugiones, and the sculptures appear to be the same, therefore it's reasonable to believe the ones depicted in sculptures are accurate and that the artifacts always were as we see them now. There's no physical evidence at all of leather segmentatae, or musculatae so it's not valid to consider sculptural depictions as necessarily accurate- they can be interesting, or even compelling, but that's it. Multiple, independent pieces of evidence is the key to demonstrating anything that could involve interpretation.
Now I'm curious Eric- have you ever held an accurate reproduction pugio? I ask because until I did, it also seemed to me that the handles were oddly small, short, and narrow. Now that I have, I've found that it's actually not.
I've never seen any evidence or even a suggestion of it that there was any kind of wrapping around a pugio's handle and honestly can't see why it might be considered to have been necessary or even advantageous. As it is, they seem just fine to me- not difficult or uncomfortable to hold. What's more, the central bulge actually adds to the grip and wrapping of the portions above and below the central 'bulge' would negatively affect this function. Then there's the fact that the exterior plates are sometimes decorated, and certainly specifically formed with a central, axial peak- I can't see doing that and then going and covering it up. That peak adds to the 'hand' friendly' shape and also increases the grip. Sure some individuals could have done it for whatever reason, but it's simply not valid to suggest it might have been a design feature.
As for using sculptural evidence, it's a matter of it being support for or supported by other forms of evidence. We have lots of real pugiones, and the sculptures appear to be the same, therefore it's reasonable to believe the ones depicted in sculptures are accurate and that the artifacts always were as we see them now. There's no physical evidence at all of leather segmentatae, or musculatae so it's not valid to consider sculptural depictions as necessarily accurate- they can be interesting, or even compelling, but that's it. Multiple, independent pieces of evidence is the key to demonstrating anything that could involve interpretation.
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