07-25-2015, 11:21 PM
Graham Sumner wrote:
Robert I was thinking more in terms of the actual Roman soldiers doing this, although many modern groups ask for donations. In Roman times you would have been the local constabulary and if you read some of the documents from Egypt soldiers adding their own cut to the local taxes is a matter of course. Often this is done on demand from the soldier. So anyone who paid a road tax to go past your turret would also have to give you personally something or else! This practice was so common it appears in local business accounts.
The surviving late Roman helmets are all silvered or gilded are they not?
Agreed with both but the latter has no relation to the former - helmets were manufactured and gilded by the state (by the barbaricarii in the state fabricae) and had nothing to do with the wealth of the soldier.
Well it has to do with the state. Either the state issued wealthy equipment to it's soldiers or soldiers themselves further enhanced their gear. In both cases this would reflect on the wealth of the state. The original question was whether ordinary soldiers had wealthy gear or not and I think the implication is that they did.
The ridge helmets too are another item which were once described as cheap mass produced helmets for the poor late Roman infantryman. Do you still ascribe to this theory?
Graham.
Robert I was thinking more in terms of the actual Roman soldiers doing this, although many modern groups ask for donations. In Roman times you would have been the local constabulary and if you read some of the documents from Egypt soldiers adding their own cut to the local taxes is a matter of course. Often this is done on demand from the soldier. So anyone who paid a road tax to go past your turret would also have to give you personally something or else! This practice was so common it appears in local business accounts.
The surviving late Roman helmets are all silvered or gilded are they not?
Agreed with both but the latter has no relation to the former - helmets were manufactured and gilded by the state (by the barbaricarii in the state fabricae) and had nothing to do with the wealth of the soldier.
Well it has to do with the state. Either the state issued wealthy equipment to it's soldiers or soldiers themselves further enhanced their gear. In both cases this would reflect on the wealth of the state. The original question was whether ordinary soldiers had wealthy gear or not and I think the implication is that they did.
The ridge helmets too are another item which were once described as cheap mass produced helmets for the poor late Roman infantryman. Do you still ascribe to this theory?
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.
