Some Sarauter revisionism

[Paullus Scipio]

Looking again at the picture of the back of the 'shield' you posted, Giannis, there is something very wrong....... the porpax seems to be attached to the back of the bronze shield facing directly, which should not be the case for a 'real battle shield'. ( if the organic wood and leather have rotted, the porpax should have been found loose, with maybe some loose clenched nails/rivets. Come to think of it, no real example would be found attached......unless the central part of the core survived, as in the Vatican shield popularised by Connolly)

What is the provenance of this example? Is it a miniature or full size? Could it be a purely votive item ( I believe it comes from Olympia)? Have restorers found the porpax and facing together but loose, and simply mistakenly 'stuck' the two together? In which case it may not have been off-centre originally at all.....

If it is correct that no porpax would be found attached,(unless part of the 'core survives, like the vatican example in Connolly) then it is pointless to speculate about just where the porpax was originally.... :?

BTW, does anyone have a photo of the rear of the second vatican shield? ( see attached)