Just starting- C3rd Roman

[Crispvs]

"Having said that, and strictly out of interest, just how much genuine difference would there be between a legionary of AD43 and one of AD93?"

Well, it is impossible to be exact of course and we may well have to revise our understanding in the light of future discoveries, but there are differences that we can see on the present state of the evidence.

Both soldiers might, for example, be wearing lorica segmentata, but in the case of the earlier man it would almost certainly be of Kalkriese type, whereas the later man would be equipped with the Corbridge type, Kalkriese type fittings having disappeared from the archaeological record two or three decades before. The earlier soldier might be carrying a Mainz type gladius and scabbard. The is no firm evidence I know of for the Pompeii type that early, but the latest dated Mainz type sword and scabbard I know of (from Vindonissa) was deposited no later than AD71 as I understand it and fittings from the late first century AD are of Pompeii type. Caligae may well have been largely replaced by other types of boot by the late first century AD. The last evidence I know of for them comes from the Adamklissi metopes, but they appear to be absent from the archaeological record in Northern Britain, suggesting that they may have been dropping out of use in some places by the time the line was advanced north of Watling Street. The earlier soldier might well be wearing a belt with type 'A' or figural type 'B' fittings, but these are absent from Northern Britain and from the Flavian period onwards only type 'B' plates with concentric circles seem to carry on. These are joined and then replaced by plates with enamelled geometric patterns by the end of the century. The earlier man might be wearing an Imperial Gallic or Imperial Italic, Coolus or even a late Montifortino type helmet, whereas the later man would be very unlikely to be seen with either of the latter types and would probably be wearing either an Imperial Italic or Imperial Gallic helmet. Who knows what other changes may have taken place within that fifty year period.

Crispvs