Legionary Equipment During Reign of Marcus Aurelius

[brennivs - tony drake]

I would agree with Joe on the use of older pieces of kit, I dont believe any equipment had a shelf life and was regularly replaced with new. I would say war was probably the only time a new injection of kit would come into service and been made in a way that simplifies production and removes the time consuming details. This would be great if we could show a new style of armour ect could be linked to a campaign and its introduction. I myself portray a soldier 130 AD but my kit is of the time I joined the army with a odd piece up to date. For my helmet when I make it I will probably go for a older style pattern. Now as to the ring pommel sword I believe it started to come in to use last quarter 1st AD in the Bosphrus  area before spreading west into Germania. Although some pictures I have of ring pommels have Mainz/Fullum blades, but without find context   so if they are origonal it is either they came in at least mid 1st AD onwards or the blades were still in use in the 2nd AD    The rivet tang ring is the clever smith using his skill to fill in a fashion trend by being able to use any standard wood hilted sword and simply remove and rivet the ring on thus saving the need to make a new sword. The amount of theses sword finds shows they must have been very popular. This also led them to go a step further and inlay the rings and gaurds with wire, using the same pattern of foliage as used on iron scabbard slides in some cases. You should also consider still using a wood hilt as well, as bog finds show that they started to bling these up with metal grips and some cases stud work on the pommel/hand gaurd.
Regards Brennivs