Secutor Equipment

[Tim Mathews]

Hello,

I am wondering what materials would be suitable for a 1st Century Secutor Arm Manica, leather, metal or linen?
Most of the pictures below to me look as if they could be linen?




As for shields, these images do not have boss, is this typical and if so what is the arrangement to hold on the rear?

Would a samnite belt also be acceptable as they seem to have the wide belt.

What sort of sword is this that they use, I am told of the spatha but are there any pictures of one?

And one last thing What is the tie on the right leg for? It looks just above the knee, doesnt seem to serve a purpose, and there appears to be some sort of shoe/sandal with top foot protection

Thanks Tim

[jvrjenivs]

Manica: As far as I know the we didn't found any metal manicae in Pompeii, and are most military manicae from 2nd century or later. Therefore I would say for 1st century use a linen one, which seems the most common.

We hardly have any pictures of the backside of the scuta, so how the handle was, we most of the time only can guess. If we look at the pictures you posted it looks like there is a horizontal grip, just like a normal legionairy scutum. It looks like some scuta had umbo's and some didn't have, if we look at the pictures. You could also look at different shield designs.

For a first century impression a saminte belt is very acceptable.

Did we found spatha in Pompeii? I didn't knew of that. I would just use a pompeii gladius for late first century (pompeiian) impression, as the secutor is a big-shielder, not an equis.

[Tim Mathews]

Here is a picture of the back of the scuta


I would assume the saminte belt was worn by more higher status gladiators, given the metal decoration, would a more simple one be acceptable, constructed of leather with a different coloured leather in replace of the bronze, with leather ties instead of clasps?

[jvrjenivs]

I would assume the saminte belt was worn by more higher status gladiators, given the metal decoration, would a more simple one be acceptable, constructed of leather with a different coloured leather in replace of the bronze, with leather ties instead of clasps?

A samnite belt could be decorated but, can also be of plain bronze sheet. So, I don't see why a secutor couldn't wear it. As a samnite belt has to made for a good fit (see my pictural tutorial somewhere on this board, on how to make one), you could make a more flexible length one, using leather with leather, or metal decorations, but I don't know how much resources we have for this, as we have little real finds of belts, which were gladiatoral for sure.

[Tim Mathews]

How thick was the bronze sheeting you used? I have read your post but couldn't find that info anywere on it.

[jvrjenivs]

.5 mm

[john m roberts]

The grave stele of the secutor Bato shows the inside of the scutum, with a horizontal grip near the bottom edge instead of in the center. Whether this was standard with the secutor scutum or a variant is unknown. The secutor is often depicted holding his scutum ouit near-horizontally so this arrangement may be to facilitate that maneuver.
The ties and straps on the limbs are common on many types of gladiator. They seem to have no function except to look good. The dangling fringes would wave with every movement, making the moves more visible to distant spectators. The "spat" footgear is another puzzle. It may have begun as a pad for the bottom rim of the greave, then have become simply customary gladiator garb. The arena was full of obsolete holdovers from earlier times, rather like the many non-functional doodads on modern military dress and ceremonial uniforms - epaulets, aiguillets, bearskin shakos, swords, polished boots and so forth.

[ARudling]

When fighting as a murmillo I can perform the same scutum held flat manouver with the usual centre grip, I use it to hold opponent off for a sec or two also to try & unbalance them.

Thats with an 18lb scutum btw ... & I'm not the biggest or strongest guy in the world either.

Adam

[richard robinson]

My friend, a long time murmillo, had theorised that the band around the knee was for knee support as he noticed that when he assumed the "gladiators crouch" there was always pressure on the right knee.
So- it is possibly an equivalent to a modern day sports person wearing a band around their knee or elbow for extra support.
Regards,
Richard