11-11-2006, 09:32 PM
Gentlemen,
I am enjoying the discussion about the scutum and other equipments but I have to ask this one question, ...
I may be preaching to the preacher but what is the motivation to do this right? Why do some lose sleep with research. Why do some spend what would to many be considered more than necessary to do this correctly...
I am new to the Roman scene but not to living history. Before this I had been involved in American Civil War for approximately 25 years. When I started I was not much into the research part of the hobby, but as I progressed the research became the more enjoyable part of it all.
I considered myself what some call a "hardcore" "stitch-nazi" with my Confederate impression. I wanted to have the most researched gear and equipment as I could, regardless if it was purchased or made with my own hands. Why? Not for bragging rights, but to know I was as close to those original soldiers as possible (short of chronic diahreah and lice)..
Clothing was cut different and fit different. Your hat at sat on your head different. Equipment hung on your body different. Trying to do it with a modern interpretation lost the desired effect...to take me back to the 1860 and to feel, if just for a fleet moment, what it was like to be a soldier...
That is my same goal with my new venture into the Roman world. I want to, in the end, have that same fleet moment when I could say I knew, as close as I could, I knew what it may have felt to me a Roman soldier...
I am sure we all have our different reasons for doing this, and ALL OF THEM are respectable for their own reasons...but for me a real wood slat made scutum is what I want.....hand loomed, natural dyed, and hand sewn clothing is what I want, well researched and correctly made footwear is what I want...real Roman period food and drink is what I want to experience...
I know 99.99% of the folks I will talk to may not know the difference. Heck 99.99% of the reenactors and historians may never know my scutum is made of slats of laminated wood, my tunica is hand loomed, and my shoes are patterned from originals, but I will and will be able to tell them so... :wink:
I am enjoying the discussion about the scutum and other equipments but I have to ask this one question, ...
I may be preaching to the preacher but what is the motivation to do this right? Why do some lose sleep with research. Why do some spend what would to many be considered more than necessary to do this correctly...
I am new to the Roman scene but not to living history. Before this I had been involved in American Civil War for approximately 25 years. When I started I was not much into the research part of the hobby, but as I progressed the research became the more enjoyable part of it all.
I considered myself what some call a "hardcore" "stitch-nazi" with my Confederate impression. I wanted to have the most researched gear and equipment as I could, regardless if it was purchased or made with my own hands. Why? Not for bragging rights, but to know I was as close to those original soldiers as possible (short of chronic diahreah and lice)..
Clothing was cut different and fit different. Your hat at sat on your head different. Equipment hung on your body different. Trying to do it with a modern interpretation lost the desired effect...to take me back to the 1860 and to feel, if just for a fleet moment, what it was like to be a soldier...
That is my same goal with my new venture into the Roman world. I want to, in the end, have that same fleet moment when I could say I knew, as close as I could, I knew what it may have felt to me a Roman soldier...
I am sure we all have our different reasons for doing this, and ALL OF THEM are respectable for their own reasons...but for me a real wood slat made scutum is what I want.....hand loomed, natural dyed, and hand sewn clothing is what I want, well researched and correctly made footwear is what I want...real Roman period food and drink is what I want to experience...
I know 99.99% of the folks I will talk to may not know the difference. Heck 99.99% of the reenactors and historians may never know my scutum is made of slats of laminated wood, my tunica is hand loomed, and my shoes are patterned from originals, but I will and will be able to tell them so... :wink:
Roman Name: Gaius Marcius Gracilis
AKA: Mark Headlee
AKA: Mark Headlee