07-16-2005, 04:01 AM
Avete Omnes,
I've seen two nice images of shields from Dura Europos in the Osprey book on late Roman infantry- both made of planks with no fabric or leather covering- and I'm wondering if anyone knows whether or not their construction is typical of shields of the period (mid- late 3rd century AD). And does anyone know what the stiffeners on the back look like? The artwork on the front of the book shows central vertical strips and a central horizontal one with two smaller horizontal ones above and below. I'm also curious if anyone knows how the stiffeners were attached to the planks- it seems to me that they'd have to actually be mechanically attached to provide any real strength, but there's nothing obvious on the fronts of the two I've seen.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Vale
Matt
I've seen two nice images of shields from Dura Europos in the Osprey book on late Roman infantry- both made of planks with no fabric or leather covering- and I'm wondering if anyone knows whether or not their construction is typical of shields of the period (mid- late 3rd century AD). And does anyone know what the stiffeners on the back look like? The artwork on the front of the book shows central vertical strips and a central horizontal one with two smaller horizontal ones above and below. I'm also curious if anyone knows how the stiffeners were attached to the planks- it seems to me that they'd have to actually be mechanically attached to provide any real strength, but there's nothing obvious on the fronts of the two I've seen.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Vale
Matt
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