01-18-2008, 06:16 PM
Sorry to break into what has really become as very interesting thread, but I thought I would comment on the figure that Vergilius is planning to paint.
To my mind the helmet would give the figure a dating of the very late second or probably early third century (I am not keen on the practice of assigning entire centuries in place of more accurate dating). This probably makes the position of his sword a bit incongruous, as I believe there is good reason to think that by that point the sword was generally being worn on the left side. Added to that the sword appears to be a Pompeii type, which would by then be a museum piece which had been replaced by other sword types for eighty years or more. Similarly he is wearing an apron on the front of his belt in the manner of mid-first century AD soldiers. All in all then, I am afraid that this model is rather a mish-mash and would probably require a lot of conversion work to get it right prior to painting. Of course, if the head were to be changed for one which is wearing something along the lines of the Hebron helmet then that would probably be an easier conversion and would give a general dating of the end of the first quarter of the second century AD, although I am not sure what the evidence is for aprons by then.
Crispvs
To my mind the helmet would give the figure a dating of the very late second or probably early third century (I am not keen on the practice of assigning entire centuries in place of more accurate dating). This probably makes the position of his sword a bit incongruous, as I believe there is good reason to think that by that point the sword was generally being worn on the left side. Added to that the sword appears to be a Pompeii type, which would by then be a museum piece which had been replaced by other sword types for eighty years or more. Similarly he is wearing an apron on the front of his belt in the manner of mid-first century AD soldiers. All in all then, I am afraid that this model is rather a mish-mash and would probably require a lot of conversion work to get it right prior to painting. Of course, if the head were to be changed for one which is wearing something along the lines of the Hebron helmet then that would probably be an easier conversion and would give a general dating of the end of the first quarter of the second century AD, although I am not sure what the evidence is for aprons by then.
Crispvs
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