Parma

[Crispvs]

First of all, let me also offer my congratulations to Legio XI on having both such a nice parma and such a talented artist at their disposal.

Secondly, whilst not trying for a moment to suggest that signifers may have used shields larger than the Castleford tegimen suggests, and at the same time acknowledging that Secundus, Faustus and Musius are all shown with oval shields, I used to use a 36 inch round shield regularly when I was an Anglo-Saxon re-enactor and I cannot say that I ever found it ungainly to use. I also agree with the point that the signifer, although not necessarily in the front line, would still expect to be subject to missile fire and therefore would need to be able to protect himself from it.

Crispvs

[M. Demetrius]

I guess I should clarify what I meant by saying that it was ungainly, compared to a slightly smaller shield:
36" is 91 cm
30" is 76 cm
28" is 71 cm
24" is 61 cm
22" is 56 cm
20" is 51 cm

All my experiences are based on needled felt "combat", which does not directly relate to actual "I want to stick holes in your body" combat in many ways. Also realize I was already old when I began this, and have not trained for months/years like real soldiers would have. This is just my own mock combat experience.

When using a 36" shield, I found that spear thrusts near the edge were more difficult to block, owing to greater mechanical disadvantage to my wrist (central boss). Using a 24" shield, I had much more resistance to that same attack, and was able to redirect the thrust more easily. Of course, no sensible warrior would try to absorb all the force of an incoming thrust--you want to let the force go past you, so you can hopefully mount an effective counter attack before the enemy can recover.

As far as incoming missiles, I'd highly prefer a shield that gives me plenty of coverage. A 12" buckler wouldn't make me feel very confident. I would say, since my shoulders are about 22" from outside to outside, that any shield not at least a couple of inches wider than I am would be too small. You can never predict exactly what angle the incoming arrows or sling bullets might be arriving from, and my guess is the answer would be "several" in a real battle. I can see groups of slingers sending bullets downrange at various angles, in order to get behind the defenders' shields, can't you? It just makes sense. Why batter the front face of the shields, knowing almost all of the missiles would be blocked?

No defense is 100% effective, 100% of the time. Every defense that is pretty good has people on the other side sitting up late figuring out ways to get past it to the men behind it. To me, a parma carrying "-ifer" would be rarely in the hot mix of the battle, since he had purpose more than just fighting. At the same time, if things got tough, I believe he would plant the standard in the ground, draw gladius and stand with his fellows until ordered to do otherwise. So a very small shield is less defense in that confrontation, and a very large one would be awkward because of the other duties.

I guess what I'm saying is that a good compromise in my opinion is somewhere between 22-24" and 30". A 36" shield (like an aspis, say) is almost twice as wide as my shoulders, and even if slung over the back, it would be hard to march any distance while carrying it. The Romans marched a whole lot more than they battled, day for day. (And they probably stayed in camp more than either, except when in pursuit of some enemy or other.)

[QVINTVS ARTORIVS CORVINVS]

David,

You just brought to mind a valid point... So perhaps, as a Scutum is allegedly measured from the knee to shoulder vertical distance of a Legionary, perhaps the Parma is adjusted to the width of the X-ifers shoulders + 1" - 2" at least just for basic missile coverage ????

As the required coverage for a tall thin man would not be the same for someone with bowling balls for deltoids...

Pure conjecture I know, but vaguely plausible.

[Magnus]

I don't see why not...if scuta were at least built in a few sizes, can't see why an officer's shield wouldn't be tailor made to his specs.

[Cacaius]

Hello

Please take a look onto my parma size:

1. from the side
http://www.azor.freha.pl/galeria/lodz/2 ... odz_37.jpg

2. during the march
http://www.azor.freha.pl/galeria/lodz/2 ... odz_39.jpg

Its 32" = 81 cm and I feel very comfortable marching with this on long distances.
Last month we had 24 hours march through the forest and the beach, and it was no problem for me at all. Ok, its big, ok romans did long marches, but this shield is still much lighter than legionary scutum.

I can easily walk using both hands for carrying signum's pole.

On the other hand I can feel more safe on the battlefield.
Take a look on this movie ... between 0:35 -0:55 is interesting action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbtgYKvdijI&

If signum is lost or if I am in big troubles I can put signum into the ground and fight ... with comfortable shield big enough to protect me in one hand and with gladius in the other hand.


Few words about sources:

Sometimes you see it very small on the pictures, like here:



Its taken from (Osprey) Roman Battle Tactics 109 BC-AD 313, original from Trajans Column .. and the comment in the book is:

"Note, left, a standard-bearer, and auxiliary soldiers with scaling ladders. The former has a small, round shield of a type associated with standard-bearers, presumably to make it easy to sling and less awkward when handling the heavy standards."

But wait a minute.... ok, this shield is shown small on that source. But what about interpretation ?

On this source everything is way too small comparing to people's size .... Too small ladders, legionary scutum, auxilia scutum, gladius scabbards, signum etc. Everything very very small.

On the other hand we see some sources where parma is quite big, like here :




In my opinion bigger shield was more practical on the battlefield and still comfortable during the march. And we see it on sources such big as well.

On the other hand I guess that parma's where in different sizes, but anyway I bet on bigger than smaller sizes.