04-15-2005, 01:16 AM
Here are a couple of questions for Dan Peterson, Mike Bishop or anyone else who has a reasoned opinion on the subject:
(1) What is your opinion on the use of the pugio by regular soldiers in the later first and second centuries? We know they are not shown on Trajan's Column, and there seems to be a dearth of archaeological evidence for their use in the second century. Yet there seems to be a resurgence of their use in the late second and third century, in a form little changed from the first, which implies at least some level of continuous use. Did they fall out of fashion with some units but continue in use with others, or were they used only by officers, or what?
(2) Do we have a good idea of how the dagger was suspended once it re-enters widespread use in the late second/third century? It seems to me that the "dagger frogs" used on the balteus are not much in evidence (if at all) on archaeological record after the first century, and the openwork belt plates of the later second and third centuries seem to imply a much narrower balteus, with no obvious provision for suspending a dagger. Are their any belt parts or relief carvings which give an idea of how a dagger was suspended in the third century?
Gratias in advance!
T. Flavius Crispus / Dave Michaels
(1) What is your opinion on the use of the pugio by regular soldiers in the later first and second centuries? We know they are not shown on Trajan's Column, and there seems to be a dearth of archaeological evidence for their use in the second century. Yet there seems to be a resurgence of their use in the late second and third century, in a form little changed from the first, which implies at least some level of continuous use. Did they fall out of fashion with some units but continue in use with others, or were they used only by officers, or what?
(2) Do we have a good idea of how the dagger was suspended once it re-enters widespread use in the late second/third century? It seems to me that the "dagger frogs" used on the balteus are not much in evidence (if at all) on archaeological record after the first century, and the openwork belt plates of the later second and third centuries seem to imply a much narrower balteus, with no obvious provision for suspending a dagger. Are their any belt parts or relief carvings which give an idea of how a dagger was suspended in the third century?
Gratias in advance!
T. Flavius Crispus / Dave Michaels
T. Flavius Crispus / David S. Michaels
Centurio Pilus Prior,
Legio VI VPF
CA, USA
"Oderint dum probent."
Tiberius
Centurio Pilus Prior,
Legio VI VPF
CA, USA
"Oderint dum probent."
Tiberius
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