Crosswise belts

[Latinitas]

According to "Armed Batavians" two narrow belts were worn crosswise from the late Augustan period till the middle of the first century AD. With the introduction of the Pompeii type gladius around 50 AD, one belt was discarded and both sword and dagger were attached to the wider remaining belt. Plates on narrow belts were cast, flat and undecorated or had niëllo, while plates on wider belts were made from thin metal sheet with chased decoration in relief (like concentric circles).

This seems to suggest that you are restricted to a narrow belt with flat, cast (niëlled) belt plates when you want to wear crosswise belts. Is it authentic to wear two wide belts with concentric circles crosswise or not? And one narrow belt with a wider belt crosswise, is that authentic too?

[Palmerius2002]

I am waiting for my library loan copy of:

Graham Sumners Roman Military Dress

There are several Osprey books which show how the
belts are worn on statuary. That might be the best bet
unfortunately I am just starting out in the hobby.

I wish a specialist in the Roman Era Art Historian
could post on here from Europe or the UK with more
digital image reference of the period.

New people visiting the Roman Army Talk forum and
people starting out as beginner re-enactors could use
a good reference.

[M. Demetrius]

Latinitas, I thought crossed (double) belts went back much further than Augustus. Maybe I'm wrong. If so, I'm sure someone will gladly point that out. Heh. 8+)

[Flavivs Aetivs]

I think you're right on that Demetrius, I remember seeing depictions of Polybian soldiers with crosswise belts, but I don't remember where.

[Quintius Clavus]

There is relatively little sculptural evidence of soldiers in the Republic. I beiieve the soldiers on both the Aemelius Paulus Monument and on the Altar of Athenabarbus (pardon any misspellings), show legionary soldiers wearing single belts.
Double belts become common in the early Principate - Augustus and after. Mike Bishop has a whole series of tombstone images; I think they can be accessed through his website. I also don't believe that they were "restricted" to just two narrow belts. Two belts are worn until quite late in the First Century AD. The Herculaneum soldier had one belt around his waist and the other was somehow wrapped about his sword - at least that is the interpretation I've seen. He is datable to the Vesuvius eruption of AD 79, during which he died. I saw all of the belt parts, sword, dagger and tools in 2005 at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada.
While the evidence from Trajan's column has to be viewed with some skepticism, I seem to recall some of the soldiers on it are sculpted with multiple belts - and that is legionary soldiers IIRC.
I wear two belts as a reenactor. One is narrow and has cast plates similar to the ones found at Hod Hill and at sites on the Continent, too (no niello, though) and a second belt with stamped sheet brass plates, which have the image of a head (of Tiberius?) with two cornucopiae. The stamped plates are wider and that belt is wider. I also have my "apron" attached to the wider belt as well as my pugio. My gladius is with the narrow belt. They work well together and are quite comfortable.
My belts cross somewhat, but I do wear them fairly tight around my waist to do their job of taking up some of the weight of my lorica hamata.

[A_Volpe]

Latintas, I'm not sure I agree on the assessment that once the 'pompeii' style sword became popular meant that two belts
went out of fashion. It's more likely the introduction of lorica segmentata may have been more of an influence for a sword slung from a baldric, with one balteus belt, usually holding the dagger, becomes "popular", but even that conclusion can be a bit shaky; as has been mentioned, double belts are seen well into the 1st Century, even after segmentata becomes more 'common'. IIRC there are one or two sculptures showing Romans (Auxiliaries?) wearing Maille armor with a gladius slung on a baldric and a single belt. Romans appear to have been 'fashionistas' and fashions changed fairly often - One fashion appears to be the belt(s) and how they are worn.

Whenever I'm doing a Late Republic impression, I wear a single, plain belt, about 2 1/2 inches wide, with my gladius tied to it. I was going off of the Ahenobarbus sculptures. The belts seen in those appear to be somewhat wide, plain, and sit across the hips fairly straight. We don't seem to see the two belts until the Augustan period. Although for my Late Republic impression, I have been re-thinking that perhaps I may need a second belt, maybe underneath the sword holding belt, as putting the armor on, and the belt, and having to make the necessary adjustments for comfort and fit feels hap-hazard. But that's of course my own thinking.

I agree with Quintius Clavus, Bishop has some excellent information on sculptural evidence. The most frustrating aspect of using sculptures is the paint has all worn away and many of the details have eroded or been broken, so there's still a lot of information we're missing, unfortunately. So there's still some guesswork in regards to what we're "seeing" represented in sculptures, although they are perhaps the best references we have available.

Another good source that has links and leads to additional source material, is at http://larp.com/legioxx