07-06-2010, 03:32 PM
Quote:Strictly speaking, this item, worn around the ribs, and tied with "the knot of Hercules" ( reef knot), with the ends tucked in, is a girdle, not a belt ( 'zoma' in Greek).
It was supposedly a symbol of high command and is often seen worn over the 'muscled cuirass' on Imperial Roman statues and such-like. As you say, Alexander wears one over a Tube-and-Yoke corselet on the mosaic. Given the accuracy of detail shown on the mosaic, it is probably not an anachronism, and may have originated with him, and worn in imitation thereafter......
Yeah, this certainly isn't a Roman thing - it's seen quite often throughout the Hellenistic period.
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
