Working on an triumvirate impression

[Theodosius the Great]

BTW, a Mainz gladius is probably too late for a Caesarian impression. A gladius hispaniensis would be a better choice.

Huh, do you think so? I thought I remembered Connolly showing one from Alesia. Could be wrong. There's precious little else to go on, of course...

I just checked Connolly's "The Roman Army" and he does indeed seem to show a Mainz carried by a Caesarian Legionary. But on page 35 he says that the 1860 French excavations at Alesia turned up no Roman swords - only a dagger and several pilum heads. So, maybe he's speculating about the Mainz in his drawings. Bishop and Coulston make no mention of the Mainz during the Republic which was the basis for my hypothesis.

It's true that the old oval keeps showing up pretty late, BUT generally on Praetorians

Yes, there's much more evidence for Praetorians carrying them as seen on coinage dating to Caligula's reign and on numerous monuments. This isn't surprising given the Praetorians got more free publicity in the form of imperial monuments in the early Principate. Individual Legionaries would have a to pay out of their own pockets to leave a nice, fancy stele of their own.

I only know of two Legionary tombstones, from Bishop and Coulston, that show the old oval scuta still being used. First there's that of Quintus Petilius Secundus which can be seen here : [url:3rvxyk94]http://www.romanarmy.com/cms/component/option,com_imagebase/task,view/cid,46/Itemid,94/[/url]

And that of Publius Flavoleius Cordus which can be found here : [url:3rvxyk94]http://www.romanarmy.com/cms/component/option,com_imagebase/task,view/cid,7/Itemid,94/[/url]

Neither of these have been dated but both men are shown wearing the double-belt set which, to me, suggests an Augustan date at the very least.

(One thing that bugs me about theories on Praetorian gear, is that if the Praetorian Guard was first formed by Augustus, why would they be using things that date to *before* his reign? Hmmm....)

Praetorians have their origins in the Republic, IIRC. All late Republican generals had a Praetorian cohort to act as a personal bodyguard. Augustus simply appointed himself multiple cohorts and based them in certain cities. At least, that's my understanding.

~Theo