Reenacting and Book

[Jim Lennon]

Antonius,
I'm in Levittown. Contact me off list.

[email protected]

Jim Lennon

[Caius Fabius]

Seriously, you are not alone! I won't say how long ago I started, but way back then, there was no internet. There was no place you could go to ask or find answers to questions, unless you wrote to professors at various universities (and most never replied!), or bought the one or two Osprey books by Michael Simkins or the book by Peter Connolly or found 'Robinson' in a library.

My first 'gladius' was a rebuilt Qwama from Atlanta Cutlery, and my first Roman helmet was made by a SCA armorer to match photos from the Osprey Men at Arms book. Then I started corresponding with Dan Peterson, who was always ready to help, and later Michael Simkins, who made some of my kit.

We created "Legio IX HISP" in Texas and Oklahoma (1970-80's), but the membership spanned 500 years of Roman history and were almost all SCA members. I got lucky and my military duties sent me to Europe, where I was able to start visiting museums and meeting professors and authors, but there still was no internet, no base of dozens of like-minded people, and certainly no resource like Dan Peterson's book, or Matt Amt's website. (No you don't have to have a website to be a "real Roman re-enactment group" but it does help in the 21st century).

After about 30 years of doing this, I can thank "Gladiator" and the Internet for making it so much easier to communicate, and find other people who like this stuff. Sure, we may have to travel a few miles to an event. I travel to South Carolina, California and places in between, (as well as Europe when possible). But we are NOT ALONE!

We probably don't work together as well as we could, and we probably have way to many "Legions" and "Centurions" and not enough 'auxiliaries' or 'slaves', but you can find resources, from the new Deepeeka lines to one of a kind commissioned pieces. You can be warned by people who have had poor business experiences, or found incorrect helmets, swords and stuff not to buy. You can be made aware that this or that dealer does not deliver on time or what he promised, and you can spend hours and hours here at RAT learning and discussing the hobby, however you define it.

Welcome aboard! You CAN be a Legion of one! hock: