Making Pteruges (or at least trying to make Pteruges!)

[Crispvs]

"But back to the number and layers of Pteruges... the basis was the same for why we see many ornate pugio scabbards but, there are many more plain ones… the cost."

Do you have evidence to back this amazing statement up?

I know of only three undecorated type 'A' pugio sheaths, POSSIBLY one undecorated type 'B' pugio sheath (I am still awaiting the report) and five frame type sheaths which very probably featured decoration which is now lost. This is out of a sample of two hundred or more known examples. The predominance of plain sheaths in the re-enactment world is not a reflection of what we know of the reality of dagger sheaths.

Regarding the cost of making pteruges, I appreciate the time and effort it has taken you to make yours, but if someone was to spend their working life making them for a living then he would probably be able to turn them out quite quickly. Add into the bargain that it would be quite likely that it could be slaves making the pteruges and then all it costs the manufacturer is raw materials and food. I suspect that the decision as to whether or not to put pteruges on a subarmalis may have had more to do with the way the manufacturer was used to doing it than it did to cost considerations or the unknown eventual wearers of the items.

Still with regard to the cost, surely the cost of making a mail shirt would far outweigh the cost of making a subarmalis with pteruges. The army appears to have picked up the cost of manufacture and them passed that cost onto the soldiers who were issued with the kit. Therefore, in all likelihood, the soldier paid for the kit he had already been issued with rather than picking and choosing what he would have in order to make the most of his budget. Soldiers were well paid by the standards of their day and the cost of equipment was deducted at source from their pay. It is clearly true that many soldiers had the resources to improve on or embellish the kit they had been issued with but that would be to replace what they had lost, damaged or sacrificed in all likelihood. It is true that soldiers could recieve gifts from their families but it is also known that they had to pay compulsory deductions towards the cost of their own funeral. Therefore the cost of a tombstone is unlikely to have fallen to a soldier's family. It also appears that the army had a 'buyback' policy, further suggesting that the majority of kit was issued rather than purchased privately. I would suggest that this would be no different for a subarmalis than for any other piece of serviceable equipment.

Incidentally, muscle cuirasses are not nearly as practical for an infantryman with a dynamic fighting style as mail, scale and segmentata are.

I feel too that the base of the column of Antoninus Pius owes more to Trajan's Column than it does to the reality of the Roman army.

Crispvs