A Niedermörmter type Helmet with Newstead Segmental Armour

[Crispvs]

Scott,

When you say 'a second century impression', which part of the second century (I assume you mean the 2nd century AD) do you mean? You need to be a bit more specific than just choosing the whole century.
Like every army before and since, the Roman army was continually changing little by little and developing over time. In the same way that a soldier serving under Tiberius in Panonia would not have looked the same as a soldier serving seventy years later with Agricola in Britain, a soldier of the early second century under Trajan would not have looked at a soldier eighty years later serving under Septimius Severus or Clodius Albinus. If you limit yourself to a twenty five year period (ie the first, second, third or fourth quarters of the century) we can be a lot more specific about what you might need or might be permitted to have in order to give a fairly accurate picture of a soldier of the particular part of the second century you are interested in.

Helmets are a good thing to use as an example of what I mean. For the opening of the second century you would be likely to see a lot of imperial series helmets. As Trajan's Dacian campaigns got under way a lot of helmets would be seen with added cross bars. By the second quarter of the second century you would expect to see helments like the Hebron and Thielenhofen helmets, where crossed re-enforcements are an integral part of the design and lunar shapes are sometimes added in the spaces between the bars. Cheek guards have grown a bit longer and neck guards are quite deep. By the time of Marcus Aurelius in the third quarter of the century, the crossed re-inforcements have developed from their original round section to vertical flat section and are slotted to fit into each other at the crossing point. In all likelihood the occipital regions of these helmets were becoming deeper. By the time of Severus' war with Albinus in the 190s, we would probably be seeing helments like the Niedermoemter and Guttmann mouse and loaf helmets.

In the same way that helmets developed and changed accross the century, so did belts, sword types, scabbards, footwear and clothing.

Therefore, pick your preferred quarter century and I am sure we will all try to advise accordingly.


Fabius,

For the use of pugiones in the second century I remain unconvinced that daggers were in use by soldiers thoughout the century, but it seems correct to concede that they may have been re-introduced during the Antonine period in their later form. The grip plate from Barr Hill does not necessarily date to the middle of the century, as it would in all likelihood have been deposited in the well at the time the fort was demolished (in the 180s?). It need not have been particularly old when it was deposited, just broken. I do not know the dating of the Buciumi find at this stage unfortunately.
I suppose therefore that it would be acceptable to have a pugio attached to a suitably late second century belt (Vtere Felix seems like a suitable option), as long as it was the later type of dagger (the Kunzing type for want of a better term). The things you should still avoid are the mid first century belt types most people associate with Roman soldiers, caligae (which had long since been superceded by the kind of enclosed boots which can be seen in some profusion at Vindolanda) and a gladius (superceded by the spatha). You should also be looking at the broad baldrick with the large eagle (or similar) phalera for your sword suspension. This method was certainly in use by the 190s and seems to have remained popular for the next sixty years or so.

Crispvs