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+--- Thread: The Bull Standard (/showthread.php?tid=21370)
The Bull Standard - Gaius Julius Caesar - 10-04-2012
Quote:Gaius Julius Caesar post=321945 Wrote:As i mentioned, the 4 legions had an animal symbol each. I think it was related to tribal symbols in early kingdom/Republican period.
Did the tribes have symbols as such? I've looked through T.J. Cornell's The Beginnings of Rome and can't find anything besides the names of the tribes and a discussion of the people or places they were named from.
As i said, these were used by the original Legions raised, their orginal use I can only speculate on, although I am sure this idea came from my readings, and not something I pulled out of my ass.
mile:
The Bull Standard - Titus Manlius Verus - 10-05-2012
Quote:I think that Marius replaced the older standards: minotaur, wolf, boar and bull by the eagle.
I always think that capricorns, bulls, rams, lions,..., were shield emblems and not properly standards... :???:
True, Marius did reform the old republican system of military standards. However,the emblems that each legion carried were, according to Matyszak, like mascots, and he theorizes that the ones who ordered legions to be formed, assigned them an animal as a mascot. Often, it would appear, the legions were given the zodiac signs of the one who raised them (i.e. a bull for Caesar [although it's speculated that Caesar attributed this to the Gaulic bull-god], the capricorn for Augustus, etc.). Also, I believe shields were painted by cohort, so shields varied from cohort to cohort; while having some uniformity per legion.
The Bull Standard - Vindex - 10-05-2012
Found this phot in my collection from Chesters Museum. Says Third Century. Bull, goat or horse???
[attachment=5350]PIC_0409_2012-10-05.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=5351]PIC_0408.JPG[/attachment]
The Bull Standard - Flavivs Aetivs - 10-05-2012
It's a Bull.
The Bull Standard - D B Campbell - 10-05-2012
Quote:Found this phot in my collection from Chesters Museum.Ron Embleton certainly thought it was a bull.
[attachment=5352]Embleton_Standard-bearer.jpg[/attachment]
Thanks for reminding us about this one, Moi!
The Bull Standard - Gaius Julius Caesar - 10-06-2012
Jersey Milk Cow?
illy:
The Bull Standard - Vindex - 10-06-2012
Despite Mr Embleton's estimable interpretation, the stele figure looks bare headed as well as has been pointed out elsewhere (I'm getting confuddled about which aquilifer/standard thread I'm in!!!).
FWIW I think it is a bull.
The Bull Standard - Nathan Ross - 10-06-2012
Quote:the stele figure looks bare headed... I think it is a bull.
Yep, looks that way. Good image btw
mile: So who was this beast-carrying bloke? If the TC reliefs are anything to go by, they seemed to march with the aquilifer, similarly bare-headed (maybe to avoid animal-confusion! Which may be why the aquilifer didn't wear a skin headdress either...) - so why no mention of them in literature or career inscriptions?
And what would they be called? - taurifer?... porcifer?
illy:
The Bull Standard - M. Demetrius - 10-06-2012
Mascotifer?
The image has two bovine-like horns, so I'd vote for bull, too.
The Bull Standard - Albertomv - 10-08-2012
It resembles a mule to me (very long "ears") :grin:
Probably a bull