Phalanx warfare: Closing of the ranks

[Paullus Scipio]

JaM wrote:
"sorry if oftopic, but how accurate would be this? book claims its based on sculpture from Volterra:"

This is hardly the place for this sort of query.....
The illustration is from AW magazine, Vol 1.4 Dec/Jan 2008 and purports to show a Roman 'Hastati' or 'Principe' from Cato's army in Spain, 195 BC. Even though there are no iconographical representations of Roman legionaries of this time ( the nearest being the Aemilius Paullus frieze of 167 BC aprox, or the late 1 C BC frieze which may be from the altar of 'Domitius') this imaginative depiction of D'Amato can be seen to be inaccurate. I have been to the Voltera museum a.k.a Guarnacci Etruscan musem, and it has a number of friezes from Etruscan sarcophagi, and the description is too vague to pinpoint which one is being referred to here. As far as is known, Romans ( nor Etruscans) did not wear a sub-armalis of any kind at this time or later in the Republican era. The 'sub-armalis' is most likely a mis-interpretation of creases in a tunic. The anatomical cuirass is typical of the second half of the fourth century, and as it says, comes from South Italy and there is no evidence that it was in use in the Roman army so far as I am aware. There is no evidence for this type of triple feather crest ( described by Polybius), and the evidence we have shows one central feather or horsecrest holder, and two side ones (See attached - definitely Roman! ) The Montefortino helmet was adapted from the Celts and widely worn in Etruscan north and Roman central Italy.

The whole 'reconstruction' is just a mish-mash of Etruscan and South Italian gear, with some fictional touches such as the crest, the product of D'Amato's imaginative interpretations ( for which he is notorious) and most likely inaccurate.......