10-04-2011, 02:36 PM
Quote:Have any of you reenactment people experimented with finding a way of placing five of these behind the shield as described by Vegetius, and if so do you have photographs?
Of course! I think I started with that almost 10 years ago.
Below is my first attempt, 5 very large plumbatae from Len Morgan behind my flat Dura scutum. I now think these plumbatae are too large and too heavy, given the weight known from plumbata finds. I have not tried a new configuration of smaller ones behind a dished shield yet. These days, I use the large red missile carrier also in the top image, after a description in the Strategicon, a Later Roman military manual.
This is at LRE I at Archeon, 2005:
Also at LRE I, with in the foreground Rob Finlayson of the batavi with a small quiver attached to his scutum:
And finally, also at LRE I (we tested our plumbatae there for an article), Ivan Perelló (Faventinianus) of the Coh I Germanica with a solution of 4 plumbatae behind a smaller shield:
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)