Roman Shield Designs/Patterns (Late Republic-AD200)

[Mythos_Ruler]

Please forgive. I did a forum search and did not find a specific shield design thread for the Romans of this period. Yes, there is a very long and comprehensive thread on Greek shield designs, but I could not find one for the Romans.

I am mainly interested in these shield designs and patterns:

- Scuta patterns used for Marius' "new" legions during the Late Republic.
- Scuta patterns used for Early Imperial legions.
- Scuta patterns used around the time of the Dacian Wars, perhaps up til AD200.
- Auxiliary or Oval shield patterns from these periods as well.

I have seen images of shield patterns for the late Empire, while cool, that's not my main concern at this time.

[Theodosius the Great]

Here's a thread :

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They are good for Dacian era shield patterns but everyone uses them for whatever period they want :wink:

~Theo

[Mythos_Ruler]

Here's a thread :

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They are good for Dacian era shield patterns but everyone uses them for whatever period they want :wink:

~Theo

Hmm, that's a start, thanks. Any ideas on colors? The reference image isn't very detailed.

[Theodosius the Great]

This thread shows Augustan era frescoes with Romans carrying white shields.

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This website shows an actual Roman shield from 250 A.D. :

http://www.romancoins.info/MilitaryEqui ... hield.html

The primary color being red, as you can see.

~Theo

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Check out the post with the trajan column plates, I think it was on there I saw the details of scuta still in good detail!

[Dutchhoplite]

In Ancient warfare magazine aug/sept 2008 are several reconstructions of late republican shield patters , mostly geometrical.