08-10-2010, 12:29 AM
Quote:I am not convinced at all the material used for the reconstruction was correct. Imho mail would be the only military sane/valid armour for what we see on the centurios tombstone. Unless it was a dress item, the garment with the long shoulder doublings was either a hamata wrongly depicted by the stone mason, or a hamata of a type we do not know yet.
The protection the reconstruction as depicted in AWM would give on the field of battle comes nowhere near the protection an iron hamata would give,...
Myself. I would go for a type of hamata we do not know yet rather than blame the mason, who by all accounts appears to have been quite good and possibly attached to an army unit. Naturally I followed the discussion on the Greek pages about the thora-lino-spola or whatever it is called now and consensus seemed to agree on padded linen covered with a thin layer of leather as being quite acceptable as body protection and you have to admit that total agreement amongst RATers is practically unique! My article points out that the cuirass design itself, whatever its methods of construction, is rare and that over the years experts too have disagreed over many other points of the sculpture.
I totally agree with you that an iron hamata appears far superior to anything non metallic but then there have been many reasons and instances throughout history of soldiers not wearing what they should do, or not being issued with what they should have! Also I don't doubt for a minute that you yourself could lecture me on why what I view as that gross black lacquered stuff the Samurai wear, with floppy bits hanging all over it, is in fact technically and artistically far superior to the all encasing nice and neat shiny metal stuff the European knights wore! :wink: :wink:
Personally I am more interested in what people think of my belt reconstruction for Facilis. Although it is possible that a standard set of belt plates were enlarged for ease of sculpture this does not account in my view for the continual crenelated design. A design, which by the way appears on a number of other sculptures with or without the other interspersed motifs.
Jurjen, with regards to the coloured pteryges, there are examples of the blue and red coloured type on Etruscan period sculpture and your other reasoning appears sound. However unless some actual first century examples turn up you will not convince the doubters by quoting illustrators as evidence! :roll:
It would also be nice to see your subarmalis without the armour and apologies to everyone else for going off topic.
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
