Posts: 2,045
Threads: 116
Joined: Apr 2003
Reputation:
0
Avete omnes,
Can anyone point me toward some online sources for images or diagrams of actual Roman baldric clasps or reconstructions from the 1st c. BC to the 3rd c. AD? Any help would be most appreciated.
Valete
Matt
See FABRICA ROMANORVM Recreations in the Marketplace for custom helmets, armour, swords and more!
According to a well-known friend of mine, there are no baldric clasps whatsoever shown on any Roman friezes, monuments, etc. Many baldric decorations, often in the form of metal stids/discs similar to what's on the cingulum apron, are to be seen (the Feyum portraits) but nothing that can be definitively called a clasp. Surprising, when you consider they are standard fare on most reenactor's equipment.
Severus
Posts: 3,607
Threads: 226
Joined: Sep 2002
Reputation:
5
Replika from Holger Ratsdorf: [url:1sgwbvir]http://www.hr-replikate.de[/url]:
Christian K.
No reconstruendum => No reconstruction.
Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas.
Posts: 1,962
Threads: 106
Joined: Apr 2003
Reputation:
7
Salve
I think it's assumed that pieces are for cavalry equipment.
Posts: 643
Threads: 64
Joined: Nov 2003
Reputation:
0
Lucius, Severus,
I agree totally with You, I was always wondering: why should the Romans construct such a superfluous thing like a baldric clasp. You really don't need it to hang the baldric on Your shoulder. IMHO it makes only sence on a horizontal belt, but on the other hand I have to admit that the construction of the 'baldric claps' itselves requests some vertical load to keep it closed reliably.
Greets - Uwe
Posts: 775
Threads: 44
Joined: Nov 2003
Reputation:
0
Yet, fasteners for small straps are found. An interesting one is in the possession of my friend Terry Nix. It was found in a Roman fort in Germany and dates from the 1st c AD. It has a Star of David on it.
"In war as in loving, you must always keep shoving." George S. Patton, Jr.
Posts: 2,045
Threads: 116
Joined: Apr 2003
Reputation:
0
Indeed these ideas are all partly why I asked the question in the first place; clasps seem to be quite common on reconstruction baldrics, and yet the only evidence I've seen of an actual artifact is a single line drawing- which didn't have any explanation of why it was so identified.
I don't find their existence or use difficult to understand at all as one rarely rarely finds any kind of leather strap that cannot be opened along its length anywhere- it could simply be a decorative element as well (Gods know the Romans had enough of that kind of thing on their equipment)... and ESPECIALLY since intricate things with no discernablely advantageous purpose like the segmentata lobate hinges existed. I'd just hoped to find the evidence on which the assumption of their widespread use is based- it's very interesting to hear that there's little or no sculptural depiction of them. That makes me wonder how the artifacts were identified in the first place...
Matt
See FABRICA ROMANORVM Recreations in the Marketplace for custom helmets, armour, swords and more!