Linen Corselet?

[Robert Vermaat]

Was it a one off? well the third century soldier appears to have more in common with Caracalla's phalanx than the earlier legionaries, longer spears and swords, lighter armour, oval shields. The late Roman infantryman like Robert depicts did not appear overnight, there was a period of transition, experimentation and development which took place from the time of Caracalla onwards.
Graham.

I agree, but there is clearly a difference between the phalangite as drawn by you and the phalangite-like infantry described by Arrian and Maurikios, which we believe to have been the more common Late Roman infantry. Roman infantry could and did operate sometimes as a phalanx after the introduction of manipel-based tactics, although we should keep in mind of course that this does not mean a classic Greek or Macedonian phalanx, but the front ranks operating as one.

Your reconstruction shows a small shield, a very long spear and fairly typical armour. That’s not what late Roman infantry looked like.

Like you said, this type of infantry did not appear overnight, and the available equipment for these soldiers would not prevent them acting as a phlanx-like unit (see Arrian’s description). Which is why I can’t see the need to suddenly equip 16.000 infantrymen overnight either.

Therefore, if the equipment is, as you say, based on reality, I still would rather see it as origination as a result of Caracalla’s ideas about Alexandrian conquests?