The Army of Herod the Great; (New Osprey)

[Theodosius the Great]

Now I'm thinking the boots in figures A2, C2, and E3 are supposed to be embades, or Thracian boots, but that the artist misinterpreted the upper portions. If I'm right they should have long olapping flaps around the rim of the boots. The Palestrina floor mosaic clearly shows two men wearing these boots.

~Theo

[M. Demetrius]

Seems like those boots would need a tie strap or something like it under the fold-down, but at the position they are on the calf, I wonder how they would stay up. Above the curve of the calf, you have a chance that the muscle will prevent the leg part of the boot from sliding down, but these boots are not that tall. Maybe a shoe expert could lend some info on how they would be made. Perhaps the leather is stiffer, like a modern cowboy boot?

[Theodosius the Great]

Seems like those boots would need a tie strap or something like it under the fold-down, but at the position they are on the calf, I wonder how they would stay up.

Kineas would know. He made a pair of these boots and shows them in this thread.

http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat.html?fu...&start=200

So, the boots are accurately based on something I'm still not aware of. The book is very useful in a limited way since the author doesn't cite the sources for some of his reconstructions. It is, afterall, an Osprey book so I can't really complain.

Wasn't the gamma to be used on feminine cloaks (P. Connolly, "Living in the Time of Christ")?

Yes, the cloak found at the cave is thought to have belonged to a woman. Also, the Dura synagogue frescoes depict a woman with the gamma on a corner of her cloak while a man wears the notched band on his sagum. Connolly seems to accept that interpretation as he depicts a Jewish man with the notched band above the hem of his cloak. The gamma may have only been used by Jewish women as Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin suggests in his work "The Bar Cochva Caves" 1971 (pg.66-85).

~Theo

[edited: updated my response about the gamma]