Roman Chain (no not Chain mail)

[jkaler48]

Several types of Roman chain may be of interest:

Chain used on Ships and River Boats

Chain and Hook for Ship combat

Construction chains carried by the Legion

and

Restraint chains used for slaves and prisoners

I find very little on internet searches (I guess chain isn't something museums post photos of.)

And a RAT search returns TOO many threads because of "Chain Mail"
Anyone have any information?
Chain from a UK Roman shipwreck:
[attachment=4630]chainfromukshipwreak.jpg[/attachment]

[jkaler48]

Posted in the wrong spot. Someone please move. Sorry.

[Redguru]

try doing your search with the subtract sign in front of words you don't want to see, for example:

chain -mail -maille

[Vindex]

Hmmm...related to a padlock? (assuming the scale is centimetres). See the photograph from Fishbourne at the top of the article as a comparison of chain type.

http://romanlocks.com/Padlocks.htm

[jkaler48]

Iron age Restraint chain from Wales
[attachment=4632]picture16.jpg[/attachment]

[Cunicula]

That's the gang chain from the Iron Age Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard from Anglesey. It isn't Roman, though
http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/2363/

For anyone in the area, items from the hoard, including one of the two gang chains, went on display yesterday at Oriel Ynys Mon in Anglesey until November

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north...s-18826596
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-18847026

[jkaler48]

Thanks, I made the correction. I thought there would be more interet in this topic as a chain is supposed to be one of the Roman legionary's basic load of entrenching/construction tools. The chain does show one of the forms of link construction that was also used by the Romans.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I'll try to dig up some more pics, I am pretty
sure they are lurking somewhere!

[Vindex]

I have to admit to not really knowing what the topic was about; whether you were asking a query or sharing information!

I've got some more chain photos somewhere too and interestingly enough, a small piece of chain was found in the soil block associated with the segmentata and possible chamfron (my interpretation!) from Caerleon and I have been getting VERY excited about the possibilities of it being a curb chain (part of a horse's bit).

[jkaler48]

BOTH! Sharing what little I could turn up and asking for more information.
Seem there were a number of different link styles used from the information that has turned up so far. I am of course interested most in THE chain as in the one carried by and used for construction tasks by individual legionaries.

[jkaler48]

Here is one chain version I am having made. It is a copy of one reconstruction that appeared in a photo of Roman tools. I do not know the source or information about the original. I chose this link type because of the lower cost per foot to have it made by a blacksmith.
[attachment=4638]chain2.jpg[/attachment]

[Vindex]

In the attached pdf from W H Manning's Catalogue of the Romano-British Iron Tools, Fittings and Weapons in the British Museum (ISBN 0-7141-1370-0) figures S8 to 11 are all held to be in a military context, Hod Hill, so the latest date would be mid first century.

The finds are assumed to be from Hod Hill because they form part of the Durden collection (perhaps the most famous piece being the Hod Hill spatha) and are therefore cavalry/auxiliary as opposed to confirmed Legionary use.

Manning's short intro to the Chain section may be of use to you.

[Vindex]

And here's the intriguing piece of chain from the Caerleon soil blocks...which I would LOVE to be a curb chain (third and fourth picture).

[Vindex]

Having got Connolly's Greece and Rome at War out to look up a reference mentioned elsewhere on RAT I have been thumbing through it ever since.

On p 242 , if you have the book, there is Connolly's impression of the kit a Roman soldier carried. Amongst other things is a length of chain which is titled "figure eight chain from Numatia"

I assume (always dangerous!) that the inference is that this was the type of chain the legionnaries had as part of their campaign kit. The other images are a shield cover, a part of a tent, cooking vessels and a palisade stake.

[jkaler48]

Chain is one of the less often reconstructed parts of the kit along with the "Hook" which I have the suspicion was likely a long handled brush hook. I have one chain nearly finished and the blacksmith is making samples of several different link types as seen in this thread.