So why do this right at all..

[Mark Headlee]

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:

[Robert Vermaat]

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:

Yup. And that's what it's all about. :wink:

[Neuraleanus]

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...

Likely none of us has everything 100% correct, but it is fun attempting to achieve that. You never know what impact a conceivably little change might make. You try something out, maybe it doesn't work out all that well, you modify it and try again. All the more so with roman reenacting as so much, particularly the little details have been lost and must be rediscovered. I know from my own personal experience, I've now made my sixth pair of caligae, they're still not perfect, but with each succeeding pair I learned a bit more and the shoes have become a bit better. I had never thought that I would ever want to learn another language, but roman reenacting has prompted me to learn latin. You're correct in saying that in earlier times things were different. Discovering how things were different is part of the fun and frequently the seemly little things matter a great deal.

[Martin Moser]

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...

Yes, that nicely sums up what is driving me when I try to use only things backed up by the current state of historical knowledge (as far as I can keep up with it).

It also bugs me at events to hear people with "dubious" equipment and knowledge making bold statements about how things were done or used, and then find that those statements are either plain wrong, or based on some whacky theories never proved. What's so bad about admitting that you just can't answer somebody's question?

So what I'd like to see is to have more people pointing out what is guesswork, what is backed up by actual finds and where and what compromises they made, both with their equipment and their explanations and less my-eqipment-is-perfect-and-I-know-it-all types.

Hm, I think I just fell into one of my pet rants there, sorry ... ;-) )

[Matthew Amt]

Agreed wholeheartedly. Knowing that as many little details are RIGHT is just a good feeling to have. I hate apologizing for something that's not correct. Bragging rights are important, too, what we call "The OOOooo Factor" ("OOOOooooo, look what HE has!!") (Usually followed by "That bastard!")

One thing to keep in mind about Roman stuff when comparing to "modern" eras (sorry, I usually refer to Civil War as "current events"!), is that there is a lot less certainty about too much of the stuff. With only a few fragments of shields remaining, mostly from the wrong era, we have to make little guesses about tiny details like wood thickness, which can make a big difference in the finished product. Most of us who aren't spinners and weavers just don't have any idea what actual Roman fabric might have been like, or how it might have been different from modern fabric. Heck, even the experts aren't always sure! Mind you, I still think we should get as close as we reasonably can.

It gets worse when you go farther back in time, too. Most of what I'm doing these days is the Bronze Age, and you wouldn't BELIEVE how well-documented everything Roman is by comparison! "Is that a tunic he's wearing? Or a cuirass over a kilt? Bronze, leather, linen, or wool?" So it's annoying that FAR too much of my Bronze Age kit is full of conjecture. We leap on a good artifact like slavering dogs, only to find that it disappeared in the 19th century and all we have is one old drawing of it...

So treasure your nice complete documentation!

Valete,

Matthew

[John M McDermott]

Wait till you put on an authentic 1st c Roman tunic. The Romans seem to have had no concept of tailoring.

[Tarbicus]

Wait till you put on an authentic 1st c Roman tunic. The Romans seem to have had no concept of tailoring.

:lol: Very comfortable though.