The ubiquitous belt of Favonius Facilis...

[Tim Edwards]

This has popped up at various junctures before, but it something I'd like to start a fresh discussion on.

At one time or another, most Roman groups will have displayed a copy of the belt set seen on the tombstone of Marcus Favonius Facilis, centurion of the XXth legion, which was found at Colchester.

Favonius' belt set bears a clear resemblance to a number of contemporary tombstones from the Rhineland, where similar motifs are likewise depicted on daggers and belts.

However, I have never, in any of the books I have read, nor museums I have visited, seen actual belt plates like those worn by reenactors copying this style. Likewise similar patterns appearing on dagger sheaths are not closely matched by finds from the ground.

Despite this, most groups have adopted the pattern at one stage or other, not only for centurions, but sometimes for standard bearers, common legionaries and republican era troops. This belt pattern is now being marketed by Deepeeka (#AH3847), and I suspect that a great many have been purchased by individuals simply copying other reenactors, and not looking at the archaeology for original finds.

My belief is that these depicted plates were generic motifs employed by the sculptors to depict what in real life would be extremely intricate and thus difficult to carve at a smaller scale in stone.

It would be churlish to claim that all such reconstructions are categorically wrong, but I do find them somewhat dubious when we have no actual finds to base these on, despite the thousands of actual plates that have been recovered.