Late Roman belt

[markusaurelius]

I saw this rather lovely set at the Crypta Balbi museum in Rome last week. No find location cited though, anyone recognise it?

Not to open up two arguments on the same post (cross strap & belt placement), but I
wonder if there is some truth to the placing of the belt pieces from the Crypta Balbi museum. I located this Late roman belt piece while cruising the web. I could not understand how the side of the piece had a spot for a loop attachment, when all other reconstructions showed that the two flat ends of the belt piece were mated together. Either together on either side of the main belt piece, or together on on side (something I could never figure out the purpose of).

Having the two belt pieces on either side like in the museum display would seem to support the belt piece with the end loop. If the belt plates were placed in the order that they were, on either side, then the end loop could have acted as a "Cross strap" attachment to help hold the belt up, or as an attachment point for one of the sword attachments as shown from the Bog finds from Illerup.

The two tie loops at the top of the Saxon belt also support the use of a "cross strap" style Baltius to hold the belt and sword up, as the weight of the sword attached to the belt, would certainly pull the belt askew without it. This late roman belt from Leiden, also has three loops, possibly for a similar use, two for the baltius/cross strap and one for the sword (although the leather and placement of the parts are clearly a museum creation)

[attachment=2527]LateRomanBeltLiedenwthreeloops.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=2528]illerupexample.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=2529]Lateromanbeltplatewloop.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=2530]crossstrap.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=2531]crossstrappossible.jpg[/attachment]