Cavalry re-enactment

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Looking forward to seeing Fronto's Troop! Love Catephracts! Would hate to face them in battle though! Need at least 100 of the selfloading ballista on the line!!!!! At least! :lol: :lol:

[Peroni]

he rates the Gallic's with the not jet so long neckflange as a possible helmet for auxilary cavalry.

Yes quite possible. The Gallic helmet with Kalkriese type mask from the Levy collection is a good example. It has Gallic style eyebrow decoration (albeit applied rather than embossed). Also, if you look at the Italic B helmet, that could be used by cavalry or infantry.

[John Conyard]

Let me wish you good luck for your new adventure. Putting together a cavalry impression for Comitatus has been a very positive experience for me. You can't stand still in this hobby and learning to ride as a Roman has certainly posed a challenge and taught me new skills.

Our experiences up to last September can be viewed on the Comitatus website and were of genuine interest to the delegates at the Antique Archaeology Conference in Oxford a few weeks ago. We are really learning about saddle design, weapon skills and capabilities. It's a fascinating experience.

I believe that:-

i) You should demonstrate accurate personal and equine equipment. Personal equipment is the responsibility of the individual. However saddles and tack take time. We hope to put three really good impressions on the field by July.

ii) You should demonstrate actual Roman riding and weapon skills. For example learning to strike live targets to the right and left and being able to throw darts backwards while on the move. Use actual Roman manuals, don't just charge up and down. Cars passing the all-weather arena where we practise actually stop to watch.

iii) You should practise on a wide range of saddles and horses, with expert tuition and the right mental attitude. Ours has been a painful learning experience, literally. One rider has propelled himself through a wooden fence, and at times I have felt the need to write a paper on the relative penitrative effects of ridge helms and spagenhelms.

iv) You should give everybody in your group the opportunity of riding as a Roman, while if necessary being able to hire riders to perform a professional display. Comitatus has six riders of various abilities, and I don't think we will need to hire anybody for our shows this year. The group has started to subsidise riding lessons for members, which I'm not too sure about, but it's a nice gesture.


In Britain, the standard of large scale cavalry display is not very good. I greatly admire the Ermine Street Guard saddles and tack. Their riders and horses are hired and currently are the same riders as used by English Heritage. Dare I say that first century riders generally have less weapons to demonstrate than the riders of later periods?

Comitatus has experience of working with Alan Larsen and English Heritage's riders and equipment. It provided us with the desire to put together our own accurate Roman Cavalry impressions. Our riders practise with the full range of missile weapons including plumbata, as well as the kontos. Horse archery is a great challenge and a real skill.

I firmly believe that late Roman cavalrymen soon develop not just an appreciation for Roman horsemen, but also for the riders of the steppe. It makes you want to go on a holiday in Mongolia. But until then, a Comitatus style march, but on horseback, will have to suffice. This can marry up two great re-enactment experiences, marching like a Roman and riding like a Roman.

The constant movement and abrasion experienced by equipment on horseback needs to be taken into account. Over the past winter there has been constant wear and tear on my equipment. We generally wear cloaks since they are part of normal uniform for the fouth century, and Yorkshire can be very cold in winter.

We actually practise at the same stables where Steve Rogers rides. It is always interesting to see what new piece of equipment he has in the back of his car. One day I would like to develop a new display based on the changing equipment of the Roman cavalry through the first, second and fourth centuries. I already have the equipment. It would mirror the current Comitatus infantry display demonstrating the development of the legionary. So it is always a pleasure to view Steve's new purchases.

I believe he wishes to field six Roman cataphracts in 2008, using some Sarmation inspired equipment. If he was actually portraying Sarmations I would have to disband his unit and send them to Ribchesters to learn how to be real soldiers. Then we could go off and find some powerful Barbarians to fight........,

Good Luck

John

[Caballo]

"at times I have felt the need to write a paper on the relative penitrative effects of ridge helms and spagenhelms. "

LOL and a laudes!

[Robert]

Thanks Peroni,

If you look at our website (link below, opening picture) you will see an artist impression of a late first century auxiliary cavalry detachment in full charge. We tried to get all aspects right (hasta, spatha, mail, tunics, harness), but the helmets were a major pain, as there is so little evidence for face masks in battle at this time. In the end, we opted for an early Gallic helmet impression (yeah, I know he got the crest mounting on the centurion/optio wrong, but hey, it's an artist), without the earpieces covering the ears but more as an infantry type (open), using a helmet type then very commonplace. Our aim, by the way, is to actually field this group against all Germanic riff-raff available in due time. At present, they lead a very virtual life, and when we get around to assembling kit, I will surely throw my opinions and questions at your mercy

[Theodosius the Great]

Tombstones showing galloping cavalrymen wearing their sagum :



[url:13i3d3m3]http://www.romanarmy.com/cms/images/stories/imagebase/Unknowns/lg_UnkDraconariusChester.jpg[/url]



So, it's not just imperial art that suggests Roman cavalrymen wore a sagum into battle - sometimes.

~Theo

[Tarbicus]

No armour - maybe they're hunting?

[Theodosius the Great]

No armour - maybe they're hunting?

Two have helmets but none wear body armor - good observation. Could they be light cavalry ?

I don't know about hunting. What game could you possibly hunt with a thrusting spear on horseback ? :? A possibly more plausible alternative to fighting is training or practicing, IMO.

[Marcus Mummius]

No armour - maybe they're hunting?

Two have helmets but none wear body armor - good observation. Could they be light cavalry ?

I don't know about hunting. What game could you possibly hunt with a thrusting spear on horseback ? :? A possibly more plausible alternative to fighting is training or practicing, IMO.

Boar perhaps?

[Tarbicus]

A possibly more plausible alternative to fighting is training or practicing, IMO.

Training, on your gravestone is more plausible than having a good old time hunting? Hunting boar, or something dangerous but without a weapon (no shield, therefore less likely training or in battle), and looks like only the draconarius wears a helmet or hat, the other two have a full head of hair IMHO. The draconarius could just be shown riding because it's a fun to thing to do and looks cool on your gravestone for people to remember you by.

[Celt]

John Conyard said “You should demonstrate actual Roman riding and weapon skills. For example learning to strike live targets to the right and left and being able to throw darts backwards while on the move.â€

[Theodosius the Great]

Training, on your gravestone is more plausible than having a good old time hunting?

Possibly, as I stated.

Hunting boar, or something dangerous but without a weapon (no shield, therefore less likely training or in battle)

The Strategikon recommends hunting for training purposes. So, I guess we can both be right on this :wink:

and looks like only the draconarius wears a helmet or hat, the other two have a full head of hair IMHO. The draconarius could just be shown riding because it's a fun to thing to do and looks cool on your gravestone for people to remember you by.

Lack of body armor on grave stones can be attributed to a popular genre known as 'unarmored'. This is described in the latest edition of 'Roman Military Equipment' under the section dealing with Representational Evidence. It's popularity spanned over centuries and consequently the evidence is largely ambiguous. The 'hair' on the first rider looked too perfect to me - with its perfect half-bowl cut it suggested a helmet with embossed hair.

~Theo

[Marcus Julius]

Training, on your gravestone is more plausible than having a good old time hunting?

Training would certainly be the more likely scenario that the sculptor would have seen to be able to imitate. Just a thought.

[Crispvs]

I would have to disagree with the idea that soldiers are shown at training on their tombstones. The sculpture on the tombstone was the visual memorial to a military man. A military man, particularly in those days, was also a fighting man and this was the primary reason he existed. Obviously training would be much more common than actual fighting, but we must not lose sight of the fact that training existed to make the soldiers more efficient fighters. If this is the case, why depict someone in the act of training rather than depicting him engaging in the fighting which was the primary reason for the need for him to be a soldier. The fact that many cavalrymen are depicted on their tombstones riding down a fallen or falling enemy underlines the fact that they are being depicted as men of action rather than men in training. The fact that some stones show men reclining on a couch does not detract from this in the slightest. This is normally interpreted as the dead man taking part in the funerary meal which would have accompanied his funeral and is therefore a fitting alternative subject for a tombstone.

Crispvs

[Theodosius the Great]

Due to the long period of the Pax Romana many legionairies never got a chance to use their weapons in battle during their whole careers. But putting that aside, I don't see why you need to fight a battle to display your military prowess when you can do so in your training practices. Emperors and generals inspired their men by displaying their own ability with a weapon during training excercises (Pompey and Hadrian come to mind). It may be less heroic but a training motif may not have been considered too mundane a display for a tombstone, IMO.

Besides, as I said earlier, the Strategikon recommends hunting as a way to train soldiers. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

~Theo