I need info on Roman equipment in Judea around the time of Christ. I was told that the soldiers who crucified him were Syrian auxilias. I would like to know is it true, if not, then who. Also I need info on their equipment, helmets, armors, weapons. I wanna be as accurate as possible for a possible event next Easter.
I advice you to search this forum(you can also use searcher) because things like these were debated in detail several times here already.It should be easy to find it.Only one quick and short reply from me know-identity of those soldiers is far from being certain.So no matter who told you that they were Auxiliaries from Syria and promoted it as a fact-take it with reserve.It is very highly that they were soldiers from auxiliary regiments but they did not have to be from Syrian garrison and there is even small possibility those soldiers could potentially be even from the Legions(But Auxiliaries seem far more likely).
Several others and I have been discussing the topic of what legion was in Judea during this time. You may want to check out the topic on this website titled "Legion near Judea at time of Jesus"
I was responsible for equipping (and training) the Roman soldiers for the 'Christ in the Centre passion play in Leicester for a number of years. Most of the equipment I borrowed from members of my own group, meaning they were equipped with mail armour, mainly brass helmets of 'auxiliary' or Coolus type, a mixture of Pompeii gladii and spathae, and spears according to what I could borrow. One thing I made sure of though was that the shields were all of the flat oval clipeius type with a blazon inspired by one from Trajan's Column to ensure that they were obviously auxiliaries. To give them a proper connection to an actual unit I painted a small tabula ansata on the back of each, containing the words: COHORS I SEBASTENORUM. If I had been able to I would probably have chosen to equip them with conical helmets too, as this shape seems to have been fairly widespread in the East. Mail and scale would probably both be appropriate for both body armour and helmet neck guards.
Here are a few pictures from 2011 and 2012 to show what I mean. I did not finish my squamata until the middle of 2011, hence the change in appearance for yours truly. I sorted out a better piece of material to use as a paludamentum as well (it looks black in the picture but the actual material I used in deep green, for no reason other than that that was what I had lying around. The third picture shows the clipeii with the small round shield and conical helmets I made fr the temple guards. As these were not intended for re-enactment use, I glued fabric over the faces but mocked up shield bosses from modified balti dishes and didn't bother with shield edging. Had I done so though, I would have used rawhide edging. The odd appearance of the conical helmets is due to the fact that I made them out of a mixture of plastic bowls and large funnels. The joins were intended to be hidden under 'turbans' wrapped around the lower halves of the helmets.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
Here are a junior sized helmet and clipeius which I made to a rather higher standard for the children's passion play at my own church. The helmet's neck guard is mail and the shield is faced with linen and has a stitched rawhide edge.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
