07-01-2006, 08:38 PM
Thanks for posting that picture. It's much clearer than the ones I'd found on the internet and had posted above.
I say the relief is very stylized so it is hard to judge actually what the gladiators are wearing, a tunic or a lorica hamata. When thinking that gladiators were always armed in a manner that they were an even match to their oppononent and that a fight didn't end too soon because they got severely wounded quickly I would favor that the scissors wear a hamata. Especially when there were not matched against another scissor but a retiarius they needed some type of protection due to the lack of the scutum the secutor usually has.
But it's all speculation I guess. If we're ever to find out what they really looked like... :?
I say the relief is very stylized so it is hard to judge actually what the gladiators are wearing, a tunic or a lorica hamata. When thinking that gladiators were always armed in a manner that they were an even match to their oppononent and that a fight didn't end too soon because they got severely wounded quickly I would favor that the scissors wear a hamata. Especially when there were not matched against another scissor but a retiarius they needed some type of protection due to the lack of the scutum the secutor usually has.
But it's all speculation I guess. If we're ever to find out what they really looked like... :?
