Background colour for 1st & 2nd AD roman shield (not Red

[Craig Gascoigne]

Hi all

I am after some help and direction.

I looking for some reference material on the background colours of Roman shields in the first and second century AD.

I belong to group that done republican roman, But we starting to branch out into imperial and looking for back ground colour other than red.

does any one have any reference material that refers to other colours.

Thanks Craig Gascoigne

[jkaler48]

A matter of a lot of speculation but not much evidence I've heard.
Red seems to be for sure (Duras Europa finds) - And probably because it was the cheapest color paint to use in ancient times. The Ermine Street guard uses blue. I heard that Roman Marines may have used blue. Most evidence of shield colors on monuments was lost due to time and maybe early restoration/cleaning efforts. Some more informed members may have more information. Most reenactment units use red with blue coming in second.
Many of the reeactment unit shield patterns can be seen on the Roman Shield
Yahoo Group.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Actually John the ESG uses Red, We in the RMRS use Blue.
:wink:

[arklore70]

Craig,
there is a group in Canada that I believe is using green as the background color with their scuta. In addition you may want to contact Terry Nix, as he has an article on background shield color that might help you on in the decision making process.

[email protected]

v/r
Mike

[Folkert van Wijk]

And probably because it was the cheapest color paint to use in ancient times.

Can you please explain this jkaler48 :?: :?: hock:

[jkaler48]

Well maybe not cheaper than chalk based white or charcoal based black but cheaper than colors using more expensive resources. See this article about the history of Paint:
http://www.brendasemanick.com/art/historyofpaint.htm

Even today "Barn Red" is one of the cheapest paint colors available.
(I used it on my shields)

[Paullus Scipio]

Whilst the Notitia Dignitatum provides evidence for the colours of later Roman shields, and names the units they belong to, we have no such evidence for early Imperial times ( other than the Dura shields - which are red, dark blue, or dark green IIRC - there is a lesser-known rectangular scutum from Dura. It is a very faded shield, basically green and yellow with a red border around the boss in the centre. ) I know of no colour depictions of legionary scuta for the 1-2C AD, but contemporary gladiator depictions of two scuta are solid red and solid yellow, both with patterns of 'whorls' in black and white on the red scutum, and black and red on the yellow scutum.
The only other clue we have is in the late Roman writer Vegetius, who, in speaking of the 'antiqua Legio' ( and he seems to have conflated accounts from different eras) says:
"Lest the soldiers in the confusion of battle should be separated from their comrades, every cohort had it's shields painted in a manner peculiar to itself.The name of each soldier was also written on his shield, together with the number of the cohort and century to which he belonged..." ( an elaborately decorated shield boss in the British Museum has the name of Junius Dubitatus of the eighth Legion.The inscription, LEG VIII AVG, shows that the shield belonged to a soldier in that legion. In fact, we know his name because he marked it on the left edge of the panel with a pointed tool: IVL MAGNI IVNI DVBITATI, which translates as 'the property of Junius Dubitatus, of Julius Magnus' century'.

It is not clear from this whether each cohort had it's own badge/design, or the Legion had the same badge, but shields of a different colour. Evidence is conflicting, for example it appears different Praetorian cohorts could have different badges, but Tacitus' anecdote about two legionaries infiltrating enemy lines to disable a catapult by picking up enemy shields seems to imply Legions had recognisable 'emblema'/badges.... ( if every cohort had a different badge, there would be too many 'badges' for them to have been recognisable perhaps, but cohort badges can not be ruled out...)

The back of shields seem most commonly to have been a dull red, regardless of facing colour.

...And that's pretty much all the evidence I know of. Anyone got any more?

[Magnus]

Mike, we were going to go with red...but after consideration decided to stick with red. Though we're still using green tunica.

[Tarbicus]

Mike, we were going to go with red...but after consideration decided to stick with red. Though we're still using green tunica.

Mixing colours is really rare to see, and probably looks cool. Any chance of posting photos when you're done, Matt?

[Magnus]

Will do Jim! We're heading to an event mid-June where we'll be the red and green christmas legion, so I'll make sure to get pics.

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

I know of no colour depictions of legionary scuta for the 1-2C AD, but contemporary gladiator depictions of two scuta are solid red and solid yellow, both with patterns of 'whorls' in black and white on the red scutum, and black and red on the yellow scutum.

Here is a fragmentary glass beaker from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, showing two gladiatorial shields in red and blue. The beaker dates to ca. 2nd c. CE.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I wonder if the pics of the Gladiator glass from Vindolanda are available yet, wit hthe new piece they just found a year or so ago. It would be usefull.

@ Paullus. as the lesserknow rectangular scutum also of the curved type, or was it flat? Any pictures? I have never heard of this one....

[Paullus Scipio]

Hi Byron!
....here are two depictions, though I can't recall if these are the ones I had in mind.....sorry about the quality.......

The 'whorl' pattern is reminiscent of a legionary pattern on Trajan's Column....