04-30-2007, 09:12 PM
Quote:They're all Roman? The last mosaic just made my mind up about the tunic colour debate, if ever I was forced to make a decision, if they are all Roman.
The last one (the Praeneste Nile mosaic) is controversial. The main problem is that that area of the mosaic (under a large tent, with several soldiers assembled) has apparently been restored at some point, and so the details are unclear. The shield that man is carrying is semicylindrical, which is not something seen on other Ptolemaic shields (other than the Kasr el-Harit shield, which is also controversial because it seems to have been found in a Ptolemaic context and date to the late Ptolemaic period, but it seems very Roman in form). Some of those soldiers also wear Thracian helmets with peaks, which again muddles the whole issue.
But to answer the original question, rectangular thureoi were not uncommon in the late Hellenistic period. They were carried by Thracians, appear a couple of times on the Pergamene weapons reliefs, can be seen in Celtic contexts, and were not uncommon among the Italian peoples. They can be seen in numerous late Republican sources. The 1st C. BC was when the scuta with top and bottom edges began to emerge, and that is what you see in that second relief.
Edit: And the first is actually a gladiatorial relief.
Ruben
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
