06-07-2007, 01:26 PM
Paullus suggested in the Cannae thread that the subject of a Carthaginian impression might make an interesting thread so I have started one up. 8)
At a recent Legio XX event during the course of conversation the subject of elephant rides was brought up and all those involved in the conversation agreed that if we ever attended an event where someone was offering elephant rides then at least one of us would have to put together a Carthaginian impression.
While the odds of us participating in an event where the organizers have arranged for elephant rides probably are not very good, however, I decided that was no reason to not put together a Carthaginian impression!
Paullus posed the following in a previous post:
To narrow things down a bit, I was thinking of choosing a soldier from Hannibal's war. For starters, this is the Punic War most people are familiar with - even if they only have a vague notion of "some guy who marched some elephants over some mountain range to fight someone else" :roll: Another good thing about this era is that it will tie in nicely during our Roman Days event with the Samnite and Celtic reenactors.
Relatively speaking I am already well on my way to having the kit for a Spanish caetrati - I already have a falcata and a small round buckler so all I would need to buy/make/borrow is...the rest of the kit: a white tunic edged in scarlet/purple, the proper foot gear, a wide belt, and a "sinew" cap or a helmet. Yes, a helmet is stretch but I doubt I would be able to find sinew wide enough to make a cap...not to mention I find the idea rather unappealing. I suppose I could always make one out of thin leather.
One of my reenacting projects that I have been working on, more on and off to be honest, is a quilted linothorax which I think would do quite nicely for a Carthaginian heavy infantryman prior to the point at which they re-equipped themselves with Roman armor. As I understand it from the paucity of knowledge I have found so far on native Carthaginian troops, the members of the Carthaginian phalanx were equipped in a Hellenistic fashion at the beginning of the Second Punic War. This seems to mean they wore some sort of light armor, some sort of helmet, a round shield, had some sort of sword along with a pike or a spear.
Any thoughts?
At a recent Legio XX event during the course of conversation the subject of elephant rides was brought up and all those involved in the conversation agreed that if we ever attended an event where someone was offering elephant rides then at least one of us would have to put together a Carthaginian impression.
While the odds of us participating in an event where the organizers have arranged for elephant rides probably are not very good, however, I decided that was no reason to not put together a Carthaginian impression!
Paullus posed the following in a previous post:
Quote:What era ? Carthaginian Hoplite from the wars in Sicily ? or later ? Assuming you mean Hannibal's war, Gaul, Spaniard, Celt-Iberian,African? Greek mercenary? Italian mercenary ? ( sub-types: Samnite, Lucanian, Bruttian ? )
African in native equipment or after the adoption of captured Roman equipment ?
You've opened a can of worms worthy of its own thread ! !
How about doing it ??( assuming you mean heavy infantry) - there's plenty of room for speculation, and differing opinion, which RATters thrive on !!
To narrow things down a bit, I was thinking of choosing a soldier from Hannibal's war. For starters, this is the Punic War most people are familiar with - even if they only have a vague notion of "some guy who marched some elephants over some mountain range to fight someone else" :roll: Another good thing about this era is that it will tie in nicely during our Roman Days event with the Samnite and Celtic reenactors.
Relatively speaking I am already well on my way to having the kit for a Spanish caetrati - I already have a falcata and a small round buckler so all I would need to buy/make/borrow is...the rest of the kit: a white tunic edged in scarlet/purple, the proper foot gear, a wide belt, and a "sinew" cap or a helmet. Yes, a helmet is stretch but I doubt I would be able to find sinew wide enough to make a cap...not to mention I find the idea rather unappealing. I suppose I could always make one out of thin leather.
One of my reenacting projects that I have been working on, more on and off to be honest, is a quilted linothorax which I think would do quite nicely for a Carthaginian heavy infantryman prior to the point at which they re-equipped themselves with Roman armor. As I understand it from the paucity of knowledge I have found so far on native Carthaginian troops, the members of the Carthaginian phalanx were equipped in a Hellenistic fashion at the beginning of the Second Punic War. This seems to mean they wore some sort of light armor, some sort of helmet, a round shield, had some sort of sword along with a pike or a spear.
Any thoughts?
Dan Zeidler
Legio XX
Legio XX
