05-30-2010, 11:33 PM
Ritchie
I haven't seen either of those stones before. Thanks!
I notice that the cavalryman's face is turned out towards the viewer (on the stone itself rather than the drawing). This puts him in company with just two others I know of. One is Longinus Sdapeze from Colchester, who was faceless for a long time (and was generally assumed to have been in profile) but when his face turned up about six years ago it turned out to be facing out to the viewer, and the stone found about four years ago in Lancaster, where the cavalryman was also shown with his face turned out towards the viewer.
Regarding the award of phalerae to regular soldiers, I think one of the reasons why it is often assumed that they were only awarded to officers is that books and magazines (and the R.A.com imagebase for that matter) generally only show pictures of figural stelae. These are, of course, the most visually impressive and also provide us with the best images of soldiers, but all too often it is the same handful of stones which are shown (how many popular books on the Roman army feature M. Favonius Facilis or T. Flavius Bassus by comparison with (for example) P. Sulpicius Peregrinus or Nertus Lingauster, to name but two). It is also incredibly rare for a stone without a figural representation to make it into the pages of a popular book or magazine, even though these are actually more numerous than the figural stones. A number of stones exist though, which show representations of phalerae, which are of rank an file soldiers, or of former soldiers who do not appear to have progressed past the rank of miles gregarius.
Cesar,
That looks VERY good. Well done!
Crispvs
I haven't seen either of those stones before. Thanks!
I notice that the cavalryman's face is turned out towards the viewer (on the stone itself rather than the drawing). This puts him in company with just two others I know of. One is Longinus Sdapeze from Colchester, who was faceless for a long time (and was generally assumed to have been in profile) but when his face turned up about six years ago it turned out to be facing out to the viewer, and the stone found about four years ago in Lancaster, where the cavalryman was also shown with his face turned out towards the viewer.
Regarding the award of phalerae to regular soldiers, I think one of the reasons why it is often assumed that they were only awarded to officers is that books and magazines (and the R.A.com imagebase for that matter) generally only show pictures of figural stelae. These are, of course, the most visually impressive and also provide us with the best images of soldiers, but all too often it is the same handful of stones which are shown (how many popular books on the Roman army feature M. Favonius Facilis or T. Flavius Bassus by comparison with (for example) P. Sulpicius Peregrinus or Nertus Lingauster, to name but two). It is also incredibly rare for a stone without a figural representation to make it into the pages of a popular book or magazine, even though these are actually more numerous than the figural stones. A number of stones exist though, which show representations of phalerae, which are of rank an file soldiers, or of former soldiers who do not appear to have progressed past the rank of miles gregarius.
Cesar,
That looks VERY good. Well done!
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.romanarmy.net">www.romanarmy.net
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.romanarmy.net">www.romanarmy.net
