Enamelled cuirasses?

[ParthianBow]

I'm reading a Roman novel at the moment, and have come across a reference to what I think are ordinary, although they might not be, legionaries, guarding Octavian, and wearing 'enamelled cuirasses'. I've never heard of these, and my automatic reaction was hock: Has anyone else heard of these? We're talking 30 BC here.

[mcbishop]

I'm reading a Roman novel at the moment, and have come across a reference to what I think are ordinary, although they might not be, legionaries, guarding Octavian, and wearing 'enamelled cuirasses'. I've never heard of these, and my automatic reaction was hock: Has anyone else heard of these? We're talking 30 BC here.

Whilst by then the technology for enamelling had been around for a while, and had even been used to decorate small portions of 'Celtic' (using that word can invoke displeasure, so I am protecting it within quotes) weaponry (such as the Battersea Shield), as a technique it did not lend itself to whole cuirasses, of whatever kind (the writer is presumably thinking of some sort of muscled affair). More importantly, the Roman army did not develop a taste for enamel decoration until much later, the late 1st or early 2nd century AD to be slightly more precise, after they had worked their way through moulded, punctim, and niello inlaid decoration. An enamel inlaid belt plate in the Corbridge Hoard is one of the earliest pieces (probably Hadrianic).*

I suspect this is a small flight of fancy, akin to the Bishop Acid Test of Historical Novels (i.e. how soon does a slave galley pop up ;-)

Mike Bishop

[edit] * Having written this, a little niggling feeling led me to Paul Bidwell's Roman Exeter: Fortress and Town where Fig.25,7 shows an enamel inlaid strap terminal from 'a late first-century pit cut through the corner of the barrack-block adjacent to the fabrica', that same pit producing a Purbeck marble statue of an eagle thought to come from the principia.

[Dan Howard]

Homer describes bronze armour and bronze faced shields with intricate enamelled decoration. Schliemann found some examples of gold and bronze decorated with enamel at Hissarlik (Troy) but not armour or shields. It doesn't tell us anything about Roman practices but it suggests that enamelling was practiced a thousand years earlier and may have been used to decorate armour. What about individually enamelled bronze scales rather than solid bronze cuirasses?

[markusaurelius]

What about individually enamelled bronze scales rather than solid bronze cuirasses?

That would be a sight to see!!

[ParthianBow]

Mike and Dan, thanks very much for your replies. It was as I suspected. In the same novel, I've found other mal a propisms too, but it's a good read. Not enought historical detail, though.
I like the Bishop Acid Test! There's an ancient world blogger out there who uses a 'Dormouse test' in her reviews of HF, and she reviewed The Forgotten Legion. I'm half-pleased to say that I didn't mention them for more than 200 pages in my first novel. Needless to say, they haven't been mentioned since :oops:

[Nathan Ross]

There's an ancient world blogger out there who uses a 'Dormouse test' in her reviews of HF

It was Mary Beard who first came up with the 'dormouse test'. She's not immune to a few gaffes of her own either:

link from old RAT

An enamelled cuirass isn't so bad though ('painted' would have been okay... although it does sound less ostentatious!). Certainly not in the league of galley slaves and throwing Christians to the lions hock:

What was the book, if you don't mind saying?

Regards - Nathan

[PhilusEstilius]

Where Mike Bishop mentions the Roman army developing a taste for enamel in the Ist--2nd AD I just begin to wonder about the small statue of the Emperor Nero in the British Museum which shows him in a cuirass inlayed with enamel ( should we consider only the statue inlay or might we consider did this Emperor have such a cuirass ? )

[mcbishop]

Where Mike Bishop mentions the Roman army developing a taste for enamel in the Ist--2nd AD I just begin to wonder about the small statue of the Emperor Nero in the British Museum which shows him in a cuirass inlayed with enamel ( should we consider only the statue inlay or might we consider did this Emperor have such a cuirass ? )

The Baylham House statuette (of Nero striking the 'Alexander pose') is in fact inlaid with niello and silver but it's a good point Brian is making, as it shows the principle of inlaid decoration on a representation of a cuirass (which on most stone cuirassed emperor figures is shown as relief). Of course, what it does not tell us is whether it is niello and silver depicting niello and silver on the original cuirass or something else altogether (perhaps painted, as suggested above). There is a more complete photo in Graham Webster's Boudica, London: 1978 (plate 5).

Mike Bishop

[ParthianBow]

It was Mary Beard who first came up with the 'dormouse test'. She's not immune to a few gaffes of her own either.
An enamelled cuirass isn't so bad though ('painted' would have been okay... although it does sound less ostentatious!). Certainly not in the league of galley slaves and throwing Christians to the lions hock:

What was the book, if you don't mind saying?

Regards - Nathan

Because Beard loves dishing out criticism, it's good to hear that she isn't perfect :mrgreen:

As to the name of the book, I couldn't possibly say. I sort of know the author, so want to spare them blushes, should they ever happen on this post. :wink: